Absorbed with the drama on the Sochi ski tracks and hockey rinks, the Russians cannot fail to notice that the athletic superpower that is confidently leading in the Olympic medal count is actually Germany. Relations with this key partner used to be so important for... MORE

Not a single book about Belarus omits the issue of Belarusians’ deficiency in the area of national consolidation/identity and of perilously close (in a sense of undermining a separate identity) ties with Russia. Yet, recently, two national identity boosters have come along. First and foremost,... MORE

On February 5, President Nursultan Nazarbayev held his annual meeting with the foreign ambassadors and lead representatives of the local offices of major international organizations in Astana. More than 80 senior foreign diplomats accredited to Kazakhstan heard the president’s speech at the Akorda presidential residence... MORE

China is increasingly interested in railway construction in the former Soviet Central Asian states as a land alternative to maritime transit for shipping high-value, low-volume products such as electronics to European markets. If all goes according to plan, in May 2014 the final technical decisions... MORE

Georgia’s policy toward the North Caucasus has never been marked by continuity. It experienced ups and downs throughout the ages, according to historical evidence. The Chechens helped the Georgians against the Khazars in the distant past, and the first king of Georgia, Farnavaz, was married... MORE

Almost all of Russia seems to be glued to the television, watching the Sochi Winter Olympics where Team Russia—currently in seventh place in the overall medal count—is apparently failing to take much gold. But meanwhile, on February 13, President Vladimir Putin granted an audience at... MORE

Several days prior to the opening of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, peculiar events started to take place at the Russian-Georgian border. According to multiple accounts, Georgian border guards unexpectedly stopped allowing some residents of the North Caucasus to cross at the Upper Lars... MORE

On January 30–31, the deputy prime ministers of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Tokon Mamytov and Murodali Alimardon took part in negotiations to try to relieve tensions from recent border clashes, which involved exchanges of fire between their border guards. Mamytov and Alimardon reached an agreement to... MORE

On February 4, 2014, Kazakhstan and El Salvador established diplomatic relations. Kazakhstan’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Kairat Abdrakhmanov, and his Salvadorian counterpart, Enrique Garcia Gonzalez, signed a communiqué to this end in New York on January 30 (Trend, February 4). On January 16,... MORE

On January 20, Abkhazia’s separatist government moved its so-called “border zone” with Russia almost seven miles (11 kilometers) deeper into Abkhazia. The measure is designed to widen the security area around the city of Sochi and tighten safety measures ahead of the Olympic Games (civil.ge,... MORE