Moscow’s latest moves against Moldova, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s call for opening a Russian consulate in Transnistria (politicom.moldova.org/news/russia-opening-a-consulate-in-transnistria-does-not-mean-recognizing-the-region-236048-eng.html), have attracted far more attention, but a speech by Mikhail Formuzal, the head of Gagauzia, to a meeting at an Istanbul university last week (regnum.ru/news/polit/1640299.html) may... MORE

The drawdown of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) combat forces from Afghanistan by 2014 will limit the future potential of the Northern Distribution Network (NDN). Moreover, the withdrawal has left defense planning staffs among International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) members trying to resolve the conundrum... MORE

At the end of March, Mukhamed Cherkesov, the leader of the Circassian organization in Karachaevo-Cherkessia, addressed a plea to republican officials to help Circassian refugees from Syria. Cherkesov alleged that Syrian Circassians have been encountering unusually steep bureaucratic hurdles in Karachaevo-Cherkessia and been forced to... MORE

Boris Berezovsky, an entrepreneur and politician who personified the loaded term “oligarch,” effortlessly dominated the political debates in Moscow last week after his mysterious death in a mansion outside London on March 23. His 12 years in exile had been lonely, but hundreds of friends... MORE

Recent events around Belarus draw attention to a chasm between the Belarusian policies pursued by Russia and by the West. This month, Russia agreed to retain an unprecedented scale of duty-free oil deliveries to Belarus. Under the current deal, Russia exports crude oil to Belarus,... MORE

On March 7, Kazakhstan’s parliament ratified the bilateral agreement with Russia on the duty-free import of Russian oil into Kazakhstani territory. The initial agreement on Kazakhstani-Russian cooperation in the field of energy was signed back in December 2010, but it did not exempt hydrocarbon supplies... MORE

The European Union is Russia’s number one trading partner, and for many years Moscow was seeking to establish a privileged political and economic relationship with select Western European “friends” like France and Germany. Moscow’s most important foreign policy objective since the Cold War was to... MORE

China's new leadership recently announced its intention to reorganize its separate maritime law enforcement agencies under one governing body. State Council Secretary General Ma Kai announced the changes on March 10 at the 12th National People's Congress as part of broad institutional reforms involving the... MORE

Tensions in the South China Sea once again appear to be on the rise as recent Chinese naval activity has attracted the attention of regional actors. On March 26, Hanoi publicly complained that a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy vessel had set a Vietnamese fishing... MORE

During the new Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Moscow, both sides pledged to develop not only energy and trade partnerships, but their defense ties as well. The renewed focus on security cooperation between Russia and China did not remain unnoticed in Japan. Moreover,... MORE