Latest Articles about Domestic/Social
Winter in the Long War Is Coming for Russia
Russia’s strategy for prevailing in the long war with Ukraine does not have a protracted timeline and looks no further than 2024. It is based on three premises: economic performance will keep the war machine going; Western support for Ukraine will erode and contract; and... MORE
Azerbaijan Moves to Disarm Karabakh Separatists (Part Two)
*Read Part One. On September 20, Azerbaijan called for a ceasefire in the operation against armed detachments of the separatist regime in Karabakh (Trend.az, September 20). In a televised address to the nation, President Ilham Aliyev stated that Baku’s conditions were accepted by the separatist... MORE
Russia Toys With Statistics on Contracted Soldiers
On September 26, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev announced that the Russian Armed Forces have recruited more than 325,000 contracted soldiers since January 1. Based on earlier declarations, the Ministry of Defense is trying to hit the target of 521,000 contracted... MORE
Polish-Ukrainian Grain Dispute Explained
On September 15, the European Commission decided not to extend the ban on imports of certain grain exports from Ukraine. The ban was imposed after five European Union member states—Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia—effectively pressured Brussels to impose it, fearing destabilization of their domestic... MORE
Belarus’s Disunity and Its Impact on European Security
In 2022, the Day of National Unity was added to Belarus’s calendar as a new official holiday (see EDM, September 28, 2022). It is celebrated on September 17, the same day the Soviet Red Army entered Poland in 1939. Soviet Belarus more than doubled in... MORE
Radical ‘Diplomacy’ Harms Moscow’s Allies
Russian President Vladimir Putin has struggled to maintain control over religious radicals and other aggressive advocates of his war against Ukraine, though his political ideology and worldview do not significantly differ from their own (see EDM, August 17). Conversely, these same radicals, recognizing the Kremlin’s... MORE
Nansen Passports May Make a Comeback for Belarusian and Russian Émigrés
Nansen passports may soon be making a comeback as a means of coping with the possibility that thousands of Belarusians and potentially tens of thousands of Russians will be left without statehood due to actions by their governments and their flight abroad (Nezavisimaya gazeta, March... MORE
Tatarstan Capitalizes on China’s Expanding Role in Middle Volga
Russians have become increasingly accustomed to, if not comfortable with, the expansion of Chinese influence in the Russian Far East, along the Northern Sea Route, and in some of the former Soviet republics of Central Asia and the South Caucasus (see EDM, March 9, May... MORE
Russia Blocks Circassians Return to Their Homeland
In recent months, tensions have been mounting between Moscow and the Circassian diaspora (see EDM, May 19, 23). The Circassian national movement has gained traction in promoting the Circassian language and encouraging a return to its historical homeland in the North Caucasus. Yet, the Kremlin... MORE
Belarusian Opposition Faces Domestic Realities
In the years following Stalin’s death, a certain type of journalistic doublespeak took shape in the Soviet Union. It allowed those who did not want to taint their public image to convey reasoning that veered off from the Communist Party’s dogma. Apparently, this writing style... MORE