The Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum, held in Sochi on October 23–24, 2019 (see EDM, October 28, 2019), reaffirmed Russia’s growing interest in Central Africa. Among the countries comprising this region, two—the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Republic of the Congo—received the... MORE

The Belarusian government’s decision to try to fight the COVID-19 pandemic without a nationwide quarantine dominated international coverage of this East European country for several weeks. And yet, that perhaps understandable focus muscled out attention to a number of other key stories related to Belarus.... MORE

On March 30, the European Union announced it would provide substantial support to the six Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries—Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine—to mitigate the health and socio-economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic (Ec.europa.eu, March 30). About a week later, additional details of... MORE

After a delayed start, Russia is now being hit by the COVID-19 outbreak with devastating force; yet, it has only praise for China’s policy of containing the disease, despite the obvious fact that this containment failed to prevent a local outbreak in Wuhan from becoming... MORE

Thanks to having quickly adopted strict countermeasures, Azerbaijan, so far, appears to have succeeded in flattening the curve of new COVID-19 infections and slowing the domestic spread of the novel coronavirus responsible for this disease. As of April 14, 1,197 persons tested positive, 351 persons... MORE

New research (which includes two articles written by Russian experts) published by the prominent think tank the Canadian Global Affairs Institute has spurred interest and hopes in Russia’s expert community about the possibility of normalizing ties between Russia and Canada through cooperation in the Arctic... MORE

Moscow’s dispatch of medical equipment and expertise abroad during the coronavirus pandemic has been anything but disinterested. Instead, it is clearly intended to serve Russia in a variety of ways. The Kremlin is using this aid to shore up alliances, as in the case of... MORE

While the whole world copes with the crisis caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic responsible for COVID-19, Moscow has been attempting to take advantage of the situation. Under the pretext of helping them tackle a “common misfortune,” the Kremlin hopes, at a minimum, to pressure... MORE

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