On September 11, Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s newly appointed minister of defense, held his first conversation over the phone with his American counterpart, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. As stated in the press release following their conversation, the two officials exchanged their views on the... MORE

At the beginning of September 2023, Pope Francis embarked on a four-day trip to Mongolia. The visit marked the 43rd foreign journey he has made since beginning his pontificate (Business-gazeta.ru, September 10). The Holy Father used the occasion to outline his views on the proper... MORE

The threat of complete closure of the borders between Belarus and certain European Union member states is diminishing (see EDM, September 7). On September 7, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda declared that the issue is losing relevance as the situation with the Wagner mercenaries on Belarusian... MORE

On September 1, the ruling Georgian Dream party announced the initiation of impeachment procedures against President Salome Zourabichvili (Facebook.com/KobakhidzeOfficial, September 1). The ruling party’s discontent stems from Zourabichvili’s recent visits to Berlin, Brussels and Paris. Georgia is a parliamentary republic. In Georgia’s constitution, the president... MORE

On August 29, a new version of Russian commercial aircraft, the SJ-100 (formerly known as the SSJ-100), completed its first flight. The main difference between the new SJ-100 and the old SSJ-100 is that extensive import substitution efforts were carried out to source the necessary... MORE

From September 8 to 10, polls will be open across Russia as part of the annual “single voting day,” during which 26 governors will be elected and 16 regions will select new members of parliament (TASS, September 8). Usually, these elections do not bring many... MORE

One of the most important trends in the post-Soviet space has been the sharp reduction in the relative size of non-titular nations in the newly independent countries. Yet, while Moscow’s opportunities to exploit these national minorities have declined as a result, the Russian authorities still... MORE

According to Diana Panchenko, a Ukrainian journalist considered by some to be a “pro-Russian propagandist,” most commentators seemed to fixate on one particular admission coming from Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s two-hour interview on August 17 (Zerkalo, August 17). Specifically, Panchenko referred to the widespread discussion... MORE

Until June 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin was apparently quite confident in his power and the lack of any true challenge to it. Anti-Putin activists were successfully squeezed out of the country, the most vociferous were imprisoned or killed. The more measured dissatisfied voices largely... MORE

On August 18, the Russian Foreign Ministry banned entry to the country for 20 Moldovan officials, 18 of which come from the ruling Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, August 18). This came in response to Moldova’s supposed “unfriendly” policy, when... MORE