News about a new deal on oil production cuts, agreed between Russia and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and then augmented by the communique of the G20 energy minsters last Friday (April 10), had been expected; as such, the developments made little... MORE

Introduction Although no new deals were struck during People’s Republic of China (PRC) President Xi Jinping’s trip to Myanmar on January 17 and 18, the visit was significant for several reasons. The visit was the first by a PRC president to Myanmar in 19 years,... MORE

COVID-19 has now started to spread to Russia’s North Caucasus republics, and regional authorities have been scrambling to mobilize scant resources to stave off the pandemic. As of March 30, officials confirmed infections in Adygea, Chechnya, Kabardino-Balkaria, as well as Krasnodar and Stavropol regions. The... MORE

In mid-March, the Russian media was celebrating the fact that air service had been restored to a part of rural Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, a federal subject in the Russian Far East, that had not seen any civilian planes for 25 years. Since then, however, many... MORE

Editor’s Note: A series of trade disputes between the United States and China (frequently termed a “trade war” between the two sides) commenced in January 2018, with a series of import tariffs levied on Chinese goods by the U.S. government, followed by retaliatory tariffs issued... MORE

On March 19, 2019, Nursultan Nazarbayev resigned as president of Kazakhstan and was constitutionally succeeded the following day by the speaker of the Senate, Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev. Less than three months later, on June 9, the president ad interim was confirmed in his role through a... MORE

The timing could not have been worse for Russia to provoke a spat with Saudi Arabia over oil production quotas in early March. Moscow’s decision to withdraw from the OPEC+ agreement restricting oil production in order to maintain higher oil prices triggered a harsh reaction... MORE

The veil of uncertainty (see EDM, March 17) surrounding Belarus’s short- to medium-term socio-economic prospects continues to thicken. Alexander Chubrik, a reputable economist, writes about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse who have arrived in Belarus at the same time (Tut.by, March 16). They represent... MORE

As the novel coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic continued to spread across the Eurasian landmass and beyond, the energy-producing states of the South Caucasus and Central Asia were dealt a separate, serious economic blow by Russia. Specifically, Russia’s decision to pull out of the... MORE

On March 6, 2020, the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan approved the decision to apply for observer status with the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) (Kun.uz, March 7). The move brings to a close months of speculation about whether Tashkent would end previous president Islam... MORE