In recent months, the Kremlin dramatically stepped up efforts to push its interests and political agenda across the post-Soviet space as part of various “negotiations” and “conflict resolution procedures.” A particularly striking example of this can be seen in the results of the most recent... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here.    Viktor Medvedchuk’s party, Opposition Platform–For Life (OP-FL), holds 44 seats in Ukraine’s 450-seat parliament. Despite its limited support, it is the single-largest opposition party, and the only outspoken pro-Russia fraction in the Ukrainian parliament since the July... MORE

On March 10, in Moscow, Ukraine’s leading Russophile politician Viktor Medvedchuk conferred with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Duma leaders about adding an “inter-parliamentary dimension” to the Normandy forum (Russia, Germany, France, Ukraine), which is an inter-governmental process. The idea, credited to Medvedchuk, is to... MORE

On January 15, 2020, as Russia slowly emerged from its prolonged New Year’s and Orthodox Christmas holidays, President Vladimir Putin suddenly announced a series of constitutional changes. The same day, Putin reshuffled his government, replacing his long-serving loyal prime minister and former president, Dmitry Medvedev,... MORE

As fears of the COVID-19 pandemic grip much of Russia, the country’s Cossacks have been enlisted to help contain the deadly virus. In the city of Ekaterinburg, Ataman Gennady Kovalev of the Ural Cossacks announced biweekly patrols in the Seven Keys region of the city,... MORE

“Utmost uncertainty” is perhaps the most fitting label summarizing the current situation in Belarus. Against the backdrop of a possible recession, international oil prices plummeted on March 9, in the wake of Russia’s decision to pull out of the so-called OPEC+ agreement with Saudi Arabia,... MORE

Since the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991, a perpetual high priority for the Russian Federation has been to maintain or extend Moscow’s influence over the other former Soviet republics as far as possible, particularly in the military sphere. This... MORE

Introduction Over the years, unremitting hostility between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran has created opportunities as well as dilemmas for the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The Trump administration’s unilateral withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May... MORE

Belarus continues to scramble in search of alternate oil sources two months after its traditional Russian suppliers halted flows through the Druzhba Pipeline (see EDM, January 22, February 13). The five suppliers that have provided Belarus with 90 percent of its oil for years cut... MORE

In the last several years, Turkey has shifted from promoting pan-Turkism in the Turkic-speaking countries of the post-Soviet space to backing neo-Ottomanism, a move which reflects both developments inside Turkey and Ankara’s assessments of what will best work for its interests in the post-Soviet space.... MORE