On December 4, Major-General Oleksandr Rozmazninov, of Ukraine’s General Staff, reported a Russian deployment of the Iskander-M tactical missile system to Crimea. (Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, December 4). This and other Russian military deployments to the annexed peninsula have prompted debates on the shift in the military... MORE

On December 10, a delegation from the Serbian National Assembly, led by parliamentary speaker Maja Gojkovic, visited the Azerbaijani capital of Baku (Azernews.az, December 10). During their two-day visit, the members of the Serbian delegation met with several high-ranking Azerbaijani officials, including President Ilham Aliyev.... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin termed his recent trip to India “productive” and “positive.” Indeed, twenty agreements were signed with India, pertaining mainly to economic issues, energy supplies and arms sales (Kremlin.ru, December 11). Thus, Russian petroleum giant Rosenft will sell ten million tons (200,000 barrels... MORE

A tactical shift is noticeable in Russia’s policy toward Ukraine. The Kremlin has adjusted its rhetoric, and Russian diplomacy its terminology. They seem to suggest that Russia is restraining its territorial and political objectives in Ukraine. In parallel, Russia is suspending offensive military actions by... MORE

Russia seems about to suspend the military phase of its multi-dimensional assault on Ukraine. The Kremlin’s “Novorossiya” project (see EDM, May 27) is shelved until further notice. Instead, Moscow is switching to what Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov has termed “a post-war phase, so to... MORE

Implications related to the signing of the Russo-Abkhazian Agreement on Alliance and Strategic Partnership, on November 24, have been reverberating across the region, and have had profound effects on Armenia. For one thing, the agreement again stimulated a discussion about the possible restoration of the... MORE

In the spacious, though somewhat faded and dimly lit lavishness of the Soviet-built official air terminal of Vnukovo-2, on the afternoon of December 6, President Vladimir Putin met for two hours with his French counterpart, Francois Hollande. This previously unannounced meeting was, according to the... MORE

The conflict that arose after Russia’s temporary ban on imports from 23 Belarusian meat processors and on Belarusian food transit to Kazakhstan (see EDM, December 3) has not been resolved yet. During the first week of December, Belarusian officials at all levels of government expressed... MORE

The “Putinian Pax Energetica”—Russia’s strategic use of energy exports and pipeline politics to influence countries in its neighborhood—is faltering, and Italy now appears to be taking countermeasures to deal with it. On December 1, during a state visit to Turkey, Russian President Vladimir Putin finally... MORE

The Kremlin has a lot to explain following the dangerous deterioration of Russia’s international situation and the drastic degradation of its economy. And President Vladimir Putin opted in his annual address to the Federal Assembly, delivered last Thursday (see EDM, December 4) to provide one... MORE