During Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s meeting in Washington with his US counterpart, Donald Trump, on January 16, a suggestion reportedly came up to transfer the venue of talks and negotiations about the war in eastern Ukraine from Minsk to Astana. An avalanche of opinions followed.... MORE

Russian affairs used to attract outsized attention at the annual gatherings of the World Economic Forum in Davos. But this year, the global business elite appeared not to be interested in either the problems or opportunities connected to this troubled and trouble-making power. Moscow’s delegation... MORE

The Belarusian opposition is looking forward to the centennial of the Belarusian People’s Republic (BPR). Proclaimed by a group of nationalist activists on March 25, 1918, this entity existed until December 1918 under German military occupation. The BPR lacked most of the typical trappings of... MORE

The Syrian civil war allowed the Kurds to form a semi-independent Democratic Federation of Northern Syria, also known as Rojava, dominated by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its affiliated militia—the People’s Protection Units (YPG). In 2012, forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad withdrew... MORE

On January 10, Maltese authorities revealed that 730 prominent Russian businessmen and politicians (along with their families) have acquired Maltese citizenship (Gov.mt, December 22, 2017). The list contains the names of such well-known Russian millionaires, top managers and financial-sector representatives as Arkady Volozh (the principal... MORE

The President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev recently described 2017 as a year of recovery from the economic crisis for his country (President.az, January 10). Yet, at the same time, Azerbaijan, along with the other states of the South Caucasus, Georgia and Armenia, spent the past... MORE

Technological breakthroughs in Russian military aviation and the expansion of a Russian airbase in Kaliningrad mean that the opening of a Russian military airfield in Belarus would do less for Russia’s defense posture than many had thought only a few years ago. At the same... MORE

On January 9, the so-called “president” of the Russian-backed “South Ossetian republic” (“Tskhinvali region”), Anatoly Bibilov, undertook a three-day visit to Republika Srpska, a constituent entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina. There, he held a meeting with Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik and took part in the disputed Day of the Republic celebrations in the... MORE

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared at last week’s (January 18) special meeting of the United Nations Security Council that Russia had no intention of joining the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (a.k.a. the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty—NWBT). In his opinion, the NWBT... MORE

Belarus experienced multiple ups and downs during 2017, but has emerged with its sovereignty intact and in many ways increasing freedom of action on the international stage. The country overcame its 2.5-year-long economic decline largely due to favorable price dynamics of key Belarusian exports. Structural... MORE