Latest Articles about Economics
China Building Railroads Northward, Enriching Moscow but Threatening Russia
Chinese firms are building railways into the Russian north in order to secure access to the enormous reserves of natural resources there. From one point of view, these efforts are helping Moscow, which itself lacks the funds to build railways in the far-flung areas east... MORE
Russian Challenges in Missile Resupply
After more than three months of its undeclared war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia fired over 2,100 cruise missiles and short-range ballistic missiles at targets inside the embattled country. Now it is facing a growing deficit of these types of stand-off weapons (Twitter.com/DefenceHQ, June 11).... MORE
Assessing Czech and Slovak Dependence on Russian Gas
On May 31, Denmark’s largest energy company, Ørsted, and the Netherlands’ state-owned GasTerra became the latest victims of Russian natural gas supply termination for refusing to pay for this resource in Russian rubles, as demanded by President Vladimir Putin. In prior weeks, Moscow halted gas... MORE
Iran Opens Ababil-2 Drone Factory in Tajikistan: Reasons and Implications
On May 16–17, with much of the attention in Eurasia still fixated on the Russian-Ukrainian war, the chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, paid a visit to Tajikistan, where he met with President Emomali Rahmon and senior military officials.... MORE
Putin’s War Accelerating Ukraine’s Demographic Collapse, Experts Say
Ukraine experienced sharp demographic decline even before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale re-invasion earlier this year. The Ukrainian population fell from 52 million in 1993 to just over 41 million by the start of 2022. For that matter, it would have been declining... MORE
Surveys and Opinion Makers Shed Light on Events Affecting Belarus
Between April 8 and 18, Chatham House conducted its ninth online survey of Belarusian urbanites since August 2020. According to that latest poll, 40 percent of Belarusians do not support Russia’s war with Ukraine, whereas 32 percent do. “Since our sample focuses only on the... MORE
Georgian Transit Booming Because of War in Ukraine and Anti-Russian Sanctions
On June 3, the Georgian Ministries of Internal Affairs and Finance announced that all employees of the Border and Customs Department would begin operating each of the country’s physical border checkpoints continuously, in emergency mode, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (Businessfeed.ge, May... MORE
Reopening Ukraine’s Grain Export: Is a Quick Decision on the Horizon?
Recently, Turkey stated that it expects a decision on grain exports from Ukraine by sea “in the coming days.” But even after an agreement is reached with Russia, it will take about five weeks to begin the operation, according to İbrahim Kalın, the spokesperson for... MORE
As War Rages in Ukraine, Turkey Expanding Its Soft Power in North Caucasus
Although Turkey is no longer as dramatically active in the North Caucasus as during the 1990s, when it backed Chechen aspirations for independence, Ankara is quietly expanding its use of soft power mechanisms there. As Russian analyst Andrey Areshov writes, these overtures toward the region—increasingly... MORE
Russia Throwing Soviet-Era Tanks Into Ukraine Grinder, Reserving Armatas for Moscow Parades
A group of Soviet-built T-62M main battle tanks were recently spotted in an occupied area of Kherson Oblast. The units were equipped with metal grids over the turrets, apparently as some sort of improvised protection (Mil.in.ua, June 5). That account marked a continued trend in... MORE