A series of meetings since late December 2017 between officials from Uzbekistan and ROSATOM, the Russian state nuclear energy corporation, suggests that both sides have reached an agreement to build a two-reactor nuclear power plant (NPP) in this Central Asian republic. According to Bakhrom Ashrafkhanov,... MORE

Iran has traditionally had enormous influence in Nakhchivan, the large western exclave of Azerbaijan. Partially, this is an outcome of history—Nakhchivan’s population was more Persianized than other portions of Azerbaijan. But more recently, and perhaps more importantly, Iranian influence stemmed from the fact that it... MORE

An interesting asymmetry of agendas has shaped up for the much-anticipated United States–Russia summit in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16 (see EDM, June 28). For President Vladimir Putin, the unscripted face-to-face in itself constitutes a major success and signifies that Russia, despite all its alleged... MORE

During the fifth meeting of the Ulaanbaatar Dialogue on Northeast Asian Security, held on June 14–15, in the Mongolian capital, regional energy and environmental cooperation projects were major highlights (Mongol Messenger, June 15; UB Post, June 16). Progress was particularly apparent on the “Strategy for... MORE

During the June 22 Eastern Partnership (EaP) meeting in Minsk, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov outlined his country’s key areas of cooperation with the European Union and said the two sides are close to signing a document listing their “Partnership Priorities” (Mfa.gov.az, June 22). EU-Azerbaijani... MORE

The visit by United States National Security Advisor John Bolton to Moscow to meet with President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials resulted in an agreement to hold a long-awaited “historic summit” with Putin and President Donald Trump in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16.... MORE

A team of top-level Russian guests, including President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and the heads of both chambers of the Russian parliament, Valentina Matvienko (Federation Council) and Viacheslav Volodin (State Duma), visited the Belarusian capital of Minsk, on June 19. This high-ranking delegation... MORE

Russians have long feared that the demographic imbalance between an overpopulated China and an underpopulated Siberia and Russian Far East will eventually result in Beijing’s taking control of what is now part of the Russian Federation. And Moscow has manipulated that fear since Soviet times... MORE

On June 6, the Bulgarian parliament approved a proposal by the ruling coalition to explore possibilities of restarting the Belene nuclear plant project (NPP), a project that, five years ago, was widely recognized as unprofitable and beset by corruption. However, the legislative body rejected the... MORE

Moscow suffered a major military-diplomatic defeat recently in Kyzyl, the capital of the Siberian Russian Republic of Tuva. During the opening session of the Commonwealth of Independent States’ (CIS) Defense Ministers Council, the chief of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, urged the CIS... MORE