Latest Articles about Foreign Policy
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Southern Gas Corridor Raises Significant Financing, but Still Faces Provocations
On February 6 and March 15, the European Investment Bank (EIB) allocated loan packages of €1.5 billion ($1.8 billion) and €932 million ($1.14 billion) to complete the construction of the Southern Gas Corridor’s (SGC) two main segments, which will carry Caspian-basin natural gas from Azerbaijan... MORE
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Russia’s Long-Term Agreement With OPEC: A Temptation Moscow Might Resist
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman stated, on March 26, that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is considering signing a new long-term agreement with Russia and other non-OPEC members. This accord that would allow the group to control prices on the international... MORE
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Russia Escalates Novichok Crisis, Shifting Onus to US
Moscow announced last week (March 29) that 60 American diplomats would be expelled, delivering a “mirror” response to every Western country that had sanctioned Russia in solidarity with the United Kingdom (see EDM, March 29). What appeared to be a tit-for-tat response in a diplomatic... MORE
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The Kremlin Strategy in Baikonur: Putting Kazakhstan’s Space Program in a Box?
Russia has pledged to transfer 44.8 square miles of Baikonur Cosmodrome territory and two Zenit-M rocket launch platforms to Kazakhstan by the end of May 2018 (Izvestia, March 1). This became possible thanks to the recent amendments to the lease agreement between the two countries,... MORE
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Russia Employs New ‘Hybrid War’ Methods Against Georgia
The Moscow-backed authorities of separatist South Ossetia released, on March 23, Georgian citizens David Gerkeuli and Iosif Gundishvili (Imedinews March 23). The two men had been arrested by South Ossetian KGB agents (the special service of this breakaway republic still carries the old Soviet name)... MORE
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Moscow Surprised by Western Show of Solidarity With Britain
The strong demonstration of Western solidarity with the United Kingdom in response to the March 4 poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, England, by a nerve agent known as “Novichok,” secretly developed in the Soviet Union, has apparently caught... MORE
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Russia’s Arms Sales: A Foreign Policy Tool in Relations With Azerbaijan and Armenia
During his recent visit to Yerevan, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federation Council of Russia, Konstantin Kosachev, stated that Russian weapons sales to Azerbaijan are carried out within the framework of agreements that were reached prior to the so-called “four days... MORE
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Baku Pushes New Azerbaijan-Iran-Turkey-Georgia Grouping to Enhance Intra-Regional Cooperation
On March 15, Baku hosted the first official ministerial meeting of a new quadrilateral regional format, encompassing Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iran and Georgia (Trend, March 15). The new grouping was conceived to enhance cooperation among the four neighboring states, particularly in the security sphere. Until now,... MORE
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Georgian Government Insists on Direct Talk With Moscow-Backed Separatists
On March 9, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili appealed to the government of Russia to take “reasonable, at least minimal steps, for bringing [Georgian-Russian] relations out of [their] vicious cycle.” Moreover, he once again reiterated Tbilisi’s readiness to engage Abkhazian and Ossetian separatists in direct... MORE
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The Belt and Road Initiative: Is China Putting Its Money Where its Mouth Is?
Five years after it entered discussions surrounding China’s foreign policy, the Belt and Road Initiative remains a subject of political priority and public attention. Beijing has recently made a habit of attempting to persuade visiting heads of state to offer formal endorsement of the initiative,... MORE