On February 11, Andriy Bohdan—known as the “shadow cardinal” of Ukrainian politics and a former lawyer of oligarch Ihor Kolomoysky (see EDM, October 9, 2019)—left his post as the chief of the presidential administration. He was replaced by Andriy Yermak, heretofore a presidential advisor informally... MORE

Oppressive silence followed the February 7 Russian-Belarusian summit in Sochi, Russia. President Alyaksandr Lukashenka left that North Caucasus resort city without making any public statement. However, it was clear that silence would not last long given the emotional and charismatic personality of the Belarusian leader.... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. *To read Part Two, please click here.   Lacking a parliamentary majority and facing elections later this year, Moldovan President Igor Dodon and his Socialist Party are staking out a more centrist political position for themselves, which also... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here.   President Igor Dodon and his Socialist Party are governing Moldova without a parliamentary majority of their own and having to face two years of serial elections (February 2019 parliamentary elections, October 2019 country-wide local elections, November 2020... MORE

On February 18, President Vladimir Putin signed an ukaz (executive order) dismissing his long-time cohort and political advisor Vladislav Surkov (55). The Kremlin tradition known as nomenklatura requires that someone dismissed from a top job be immediately provided with another one. A couple of weeks... MORE

Tensions between Russia and Bulgaria looked on the verge of resolution at the end of last month. But trust between the two countries has since declined. In late January, Bulgaria announced its intention to replace half of its Russian natural gas consumption with volumes from... MORE

The proceedings of the annual Munich Security Conference always attract keen attention in Moscow, and last weekend (February 14–16) was no exception. The discussions at this high-level forum are indeed highly consequential most years, but Russian interest continues to be stimulated by reflections on Vladimir... MORE

Presidents Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Vladimir Putin met in the Russian resort town of Sochi, on February 7, to resolve the multi-layered energy pricing disputes between them (see EDM, February 11). These talks were ultimately not as fruitless as their numerous summits in 2019 (Tut.by, February... MORE

On February 11, in Chisinau, President Igor Dodon assembled Moldova’s ambassadors accredited abroad and delivered policy guidelines to them in two speeches: one to the plenary conference and another to Moldova’s ambassadors accredited to European institutions, European Union member states and other Western countries. These... MORE

Editor’s Note: This is the second part of a two-part article that addresses the ways in which the evolution of China’s internationally-focused economic policies are likely to impact—and in many instances, to clash with—the economic policies and interests of the United States. The first part,... MORE