Moscow is increasingly worried about something it has not yet figured out how best to counter: Beijing’s use of soft power to promote the “sinicization” of cultures in the countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus. This process, if successful, could lead those states... MORE

From the earliest days of war in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, some bloggers and security experts noted key similarities between the situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk and that of Azerbaijan’s Karabakh and surrounding areas. In both cases, war had de... MORE

As the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in the United States became clear, many Russians began to reflect on what the result might mean for Russia’s position in global affairs. While most Russians did not have a preference for the winner, the fierce political... MORE

The Kremlin is presently redoubling its attention to Belarus, issuing public pronouncements in rapid succession. Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s (Svetlana Tikhanovskaya) calls from abroad for a general strike on October 26 ultimately fell flat. And street demonstrations have been shrinking with each passing week... MORE

Though Iran professes neutrality in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, calls for an immediate ceasefire, and offers to mediate between the warring sides (see EDM, October 21), Tehran’s political elite is sharply split on how to respond to the fighting in the South Caucasus. Their diverging approaches... MORE

Four years ago, in November 2016, Donald Trump’s victory in the United States presidential election was celebrated in Moscow. The news of Hillary Clinton conceding was greeted with spontaneous applause by the deputies of the Kremlin-controlled State Duma, during a plenary session. Champagne was uncorked... MORE

The dispute in France over freedom of speech and sacred Islamic symbols that has embroiled the country following a series of attacks there by Islamist radicals has had unexpected reverberations inside the Russian Federation (see EDM, November 2). Chechnya’s governor, Ramzan Kadyrov, publicly clashed with... MORE

The protest movement under way in Belarus appears to the world as yet another “color revolution” for “regime change.” The target this time is the autocracy of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s, following the rigged presidential election in August and disproportionate use of force against protesters from... MORE

The series of terrorist attacks in France, in late October, attracted much attention in Russia, sharply dividing public opinion and leaving President Vladimir Putin in an awkward limbo. The Kremlin leader excels at positioning himself as a counter-terrorist champion when the issue is clear and... MORE

Introduction Recent years have been contentious in terms of nuclear arms control negotiations between the United States and the Russian Federation. The United States withdrew from the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in February 2019, citing Russian violations of the agreement. In April 2019,... MORE