From the earliest days of war in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, some bloggers and security experts noted key similarities between the situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk and that of Azerbaijan’s Karabakh and surrounding areas. In both cases, war had de... MORE

On October 26, President Vladimir Putin formally adopted the “Strategy for the Development of the Russian Arctic Zone and Provision of National Security Through 2035” (Pravo.gov.ru, October 26). The document is to be implemented in three stages: 2020–2024, 2025–2030 and 2031–2035. In a related comment,... MORE

With future prospects for the nuclear arms control regime uncertain and the Kremlin unable to play its traditional political game of summitting with Western leaders due to the COVID-19 pandemic and international condemnation of Russia’s violations of the chemical weapons ban treaty, Russian President Vladimir... MORE

Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in fierce fighting in Karabakh since September 27. Unlike in most previous clashes over this Armenian-occupied Azerbaijani territory, the present conflict has involved heavy and sophisticated weaponry wielded by both sides, but especially Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces. And while the... MORE

On October 12–16, peacekeeping forces of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) conducted the military exercise Unbreakable Brotherhood 2020, in northern Belarus (Mil.ru, October 12). Moscow and Minsk have dramatically augmented the extent of their military cooperation in response to the political upheaval that... MORE

Introduction Recent years have been contentious in terms of nuclear arms control negotiations between the United States and the Russian Federation. The United States withdrew from the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in February 2019, citing Russian violations of the agreement. In April 2019,... MORE

Introduction On October 19, it was announced that Australia would be joining India, Japan, and the United States in the 2020 Malabar Exercises for the first time since 2017. The 2020 Malabar Exercises are anticipated to be held in the Bay of Bengal and the... MORE

Introduction In his video message marking the International Day of United Nations (UN) Peacekeepers on May 29, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Ambassador to the UN Zhang Jun (张军) said that China is a major contributor to UN peacekeeping operations (UNPKO) and will “implement... MORE

Russia’s General Staff uses the annual strategic-level capstone military exercise to test a number of aspects of the Armed Forces, ranging from combat readiness, improved command and control (C2), to rehearsing different levels of conflict, including inter-state warfare (see EDM, September 23). In recent years,... MORE

Chechnya and Ingushetia saw a surprise surge in clashes between government forces and rebels in recent weeks. The government side has suffered casualties for the first time in months. It is too early to say if this uptick in violence represents a lasting trend or... MORE