Many still view Belarus’s foreign and security policies through the prism of several popular but simplistic narratives. One of them classifies Belarus as Russia’s geopolitical backyard and, thus, tends to interpret every international move by Minsk as dictated by the Kremlin. Within another narrative, the... MORE

Thanks to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as well as its own efforts, Latvia almost certainly is protected against a Russian military threat of the kind some in Moscow constantly threaten the Baltic States with. Indeed, a new Estonian government report specifically concludes that... MORE

The Georgian Parliament endorsed in its first hearing the country’s new military reserve system, concluding a nearly year-long working process on its reform (Civil Georgia, January 30, 2017; see EDM, May 25, 2017). The respective amendments, drafted by the Ministry of Defense, will come into force on June... MORE

Officials from the United States and Russia, together with non-governmental sources, all agree on the core narrative: On February 7, 2018, east of the Euphrates River, in the oil-rich province of Deir el-Zour, a battalion-size armed group loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, supported by... MORE

Belarus’s Ministry of Culture has allowed the airing of Armando Iannucci’s comedic movie The Death of Stalin (Tut.by, February 5), earlier banned in Russia. Predictably, Russian ultra-patriots called this decision “ideological sabotage” (Russkaya Narodnaya Liniya, February 6). According to some Belarusian interpretations, the discrepancy between... MORE

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has moved up this year’s presidential elections to April 11, instead of the originally scheduled date of October 17 (President.az, February 5). The unexpected decision sparked heated debates inside the country, focusing mainly on the possible technical-practical and domestic aspects of... MORE

As Russian-Egyptian military and economic cooperation increases, many comparisons have been made with Egypt’s early post-independence era (1956–1971), when Cairo grew close to Moscow. Egypt’s current strategic position, however, bears closer similarities to the foreign policy of the first decades of rule by the founder... MORE

Kazakhstan’s parliament introduced new legislation, on January 24, 2018, pertaining to the National Security Council (KNSC) (Abctv.kz, January 24). The legislation notably follows last year’s adoption of a new military strategy, which focuses on ways to strengthen national security and domestic stability (see EDM, October... MORE

Throughout its history, Russia has faced a fundamental geographic problem: the rivers on which the country relies, both during shipping seasons and in winter-time as “ice roads,” flow almost exclusively from north to south rather than east to west. No Russian government has ever succeeded... MORE

With the March 18 presidential elections fast approaching, the Russian media has been increasingly saturated with stories showcasing the purportedly unmitigated success of Russia’s military modernization. Although there is little doubt about the widely expected re-election of President Vladimir Putin, his defense team appears to... MORE