Russia has seized Crimea from Ukraine by military force, wholly unprovoked, and without having to fire a shot (see EDM, February 28, March 3–7, 10). Furthermore, Russia has “legislated” its own right to intervene militarily in any part of Ukraine by unilateral decision of Russia’s... MORE

Since the Crimea crisis erupted, international attention focused naturally on Russian troop movements and signs of fresh moves by Moscow to isolate the Crimean Peninsula or step up the tempo of the military deployment into Ukrainian territory. However, during this period, Russia also initiated an... MORE

One unique feature of the still surging crisis in Ukraine is the intensity of high-level communications between the key parties to it—which should have eliminated the possibility of misunderstanding, but apparently has not. Last Friday night (March 7), United States President Barack Obama had yet... MORE

On March 4, Stefan Fule, the European Union’s Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy, came to Georgia on an official visit. He held high-level meetings with Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, and Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze (Channel 1 TV, Rustavi 2,... MORE

On March 4, when President Vladimir Putin broke his public silence on events in Ukraine and Crimea, to many in Russia it seemed that the worst-case scenario of possible open hostilities and annexations was over. Crimea was, of course, occupied by Russian troops, but it... MORE

Domestic and international security concerns have dominated the on-going session of China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress. This is despite high expectations that Premier Li Keqiang will unveil thorough-going economic reforms in his maiden Government Work Report (hereafter Report), which was delivered at the Great Hall of... MORE

On March 6, the Crimean parliament voted in favor of unification with Russia, and declared that a referendum on this decision will be held either on March 15 or March 30 (https://qha.com.ua/iste-kirim-parlamentosu-nun-kararlari-131096tr.html). Crimean Tatars immediately refused to accept this resolution (https://censor.net.ua/video_news/274444/krymskie_tatary_ne_priznayut_referendum_moskovskih_marionetok_glava_medjlisa_video).This news comes a day... MORE

According to Moscow’s SOVA Center for Information and Analysis, radical Russian nationalists tried to arrange several more skhods (translated as “people’s gatherings”—generally involving street marches and demonstrations) in January 2014, as the country was preparing to host the Winter Olympics in Sochi (https://www.sova-center.ru/racism-xenophobia/publications/2014/01/d28925/). In the... MORE

As the crisis in Ukraine unfolds and shows signs of escalation, Western media circles and policymakers appear to be underestimating a number of mysterious elements in Russian security thinking and its military planning and actions. These issues stem from the prolonged silence from Russia’s President... MORE

President Vladimir Putin announced today (March 4) that Russia’s ground troops, deployed across Crimea since March 1, have “reinforced the protection of our installations” (“obiekty”) on that territory of Ukraine. The Russian president’s remarks neither acknowledge nor dispute Ukraine’s sovereignty in Crimea. However, Putin depicted... MORE