On February 1, Russian and then Belarusian media reported some unexpected news: Moscow decided to set up a border zone between its Smolensk, Bryansk and Pskov regions and Belarus (RIA Novosti, February 1). The decision was met with an immediate negative reaction in Minsk, where... MORE

The sharp escalation in artillery battles in the Donbas (eastern Ukraine) war zone one day after the January 28 telephone conversation between United States President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was certainly not a coincidence. No leaks about the content of the 45-minute-long... MORE

German Chancellor Angela Merkel received Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on January 30, in Berlin, for an “exchange of views” on the “conflict in Ukraine,” “the peace process and the implementation of the Minsk armistice” (Bundeslanzlerin.de, January 27, 30). Those code words are widely used in... MORE

Over the course of the past month (January 2017), United States President Donald Trump significantly (by over 25 percent) surpassed President Vladimir Putin by the number of citations he has garnered in the Russian media. This is the first time since 2011 anyone has superseded... MORE

On January 26, Viktor Dolidze, Georgia’s state minister on European and Euro-Atlantic integration, declared that his country will “probably” not participate in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) upcoming May summit at the new Headquarters, in Brussels (iPress.ge, January 26). Dolidze’s vague clarification raised eyebrows... MORE

Russia’s increased engagement in the Libyan civil war, in particular the “attention” that the Kremlin is paying to Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, one of the conflict’s major actors since the ousting of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, has not gone unnoticed by the Italian government (Repubblica,... MORE

Minsk continues to drift away from Moscow. Among the most recent indications of this trend was President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s remark about “wars for independence” during his meeting with university professors. “We obtained independence very cheaply,” said Lukashenka. “All peoples fought for it like our brothers... MORE

Since Alyaksandr Lukashenka became president of Belarus over two decades ago, Moscow has consistently viewed his country as its ally, difficult at times but one that, when the chips were down, would be in Russia’s corner. The West, meanwhile, has routinely denounced him as the... MORE

The South Caucasus region has been undergoing a new polarization, with Armenia and Iran increasingly facing off together against Azerbaijan and Israel. Last December’s visits by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Baku and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to Yerevan are indicative of this trend.... MORE

Moldovan President Igor Dodon’s visit to the Kremlin (see EDM, January 26) fell short of its main goal—that of strengthening Dodon’s and his Socialist Party’s position in Moldovan domestic politics. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s high popularity in Moldova could have helped Dodon’s political fortunes significantly... MORE