Latest Articles about Foreign Policy
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Russia–African Union Consultations: Economics, Politics and Ideology
The first annual Political Consultations within the scope of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum—a discussion format established following last year’s (October 23–24, 2019) inaugural Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi—took place on July 8, 2020. Held via videoconference, the meeting assembled Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his... MORE
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The Saga of the Russian Mercenaries in Belarus: Competing Narratives
The case of the 33 associates of the Russian private military company (PMC) Wagner Group, apprehended in a sanatorium (a cross between a recreational and a medical facility) in Zhdanovichi, a suburb of Minsk (see EDM, July 30), has so far resembled a captivating detective... MORE
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The Russian Side of the Murky Story in Belarus
The presidential elections in Belarus were expected to be a tightly controlled affair, resulting in a convincing victory, on August 9, for the incumbent, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who has firmly retained power since July 1994. The plan, however, unraveled as a result of the remarkably strong... MORE
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New Ukraine Ceasefire Agreement Officializes Donetsk-Luhansk Militaries (Part Two)
*To read Part One, please click here. The agreement on additional measures to strengthen the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, effective from July 27 for an unlimited duration (see Part One in EDM, July 29), resuscitates the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC, an inactive... MORE
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Beijing Implies Tajikistan’s Pamir Region Should Be Returned to China
A major scandal has broken out between China, on the one hand, and Tajikistan and Russia, on the other, regarding alleged Chinese claims on the Pamir region. This past month, official outlets of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) repeatedly republished an article by Chinese... MORE
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Russian Wagner Mercenaries Arrested in Belarus
On July 29, the Belarusian KGB and OMON special police forces arrested 32 Russians residing at a countryside resort, Belorusochka, just outside of Minsk. The Belarusian authorities have accused the Russians of being members of the notorious private military company (Chastnaya Voennaya Companiya—ChVK) Wagner Group,... MORE
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The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
Introduction Since its advent in 2015, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)—an ambitious program of infrastructure development projects primarily financed by Chinese capital and built by Chinese state-owned companies—has been a key component of China’s larger Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) (China Brief, July 31, 2015;... MORE
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European States Reappraise Their Diplomatic and Investment Relationships with China
Introduction As the European Union seeks to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic that paralyzed much of its normal political agenda, some member states have also been seeking a way out of major Sino-European initiatives. For example, People’s Republic of China (PRC) diplomats have invested considerable... MORE
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New Ukraine Ceasefire Agreement Officializes Donetsk-Luhansk Militaries (Part One)
Moscow has maneuvered Ukraine’s Presidential Office into quasi-recognizing Russia’s military proxies in “certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions” (Russian and Ukrainian acronym: ORDLO) for the first time. The vehicle for this breakthrough is the agreement on “Measures to Strengthen the Ceasefire Regime,” negotiated... MORE
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Moscow Has Compelling New Reasons for Neutrality in Armenian-Azerbaijani Conflict
Many in Baku, Yerevan, Moscow and the West have expressed surprise at the Russian government’s efforts to remain neutral in the face of new fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan. But in fact, Russian military commentator Aleksandr Staver says, Moscow has always had good reasons to... MORE