After years of preparations, Azerbaijan is hosting the first ever European Games, which kicked off on June 12 and will end on June 28. Besides being a high-profile international sporting event, the Games also serve as an important symbol for Azerbaijan to prove its ties... MORE

Members of the so-called Islamic State (IS) have been quite active in the Pankisi Gorge, one of the most picturesque mountain gorges in Georgia, since the very start of the conflicts involving the IS in Syria and Iraq. Pankisi, situated in the northeastern part of... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently committed much time and effort to, on the one hand, intimidate and, on the other, to coax the Western public, businessmen and potential investors into accepting Russia as a benign power that is simply defending its national interests. Putin... MORE

Discussions surrounding the proposed Iran-Armenia railway project have intensified in early June, after a statement made by Russian Railways’ CEO, Vladimir Yakunin, who said that the project would not be expedient: “It is like opening a window to nowhere, to the wall of a neighboring... MORE

Following last year’s annexation of Crimea, Russia’s initial tactic was to propagate multiple connections between the people on the peninsula and the country’s population. A year later, North Caucasian activists say that the Russian government is insulating Crimea from the North Caucasus and preventing the... MORE

At a time when Moscow’s relations with the West are continuing to deteriorate, and with the unresolved Ukrainian crisis looming large in the background, Russia is seeking to strengthen its partnerships with the Middle East and Asia, first and foremost with China. The recent St.... MORE

In the 18 months since the Sochi Winter Olympics, Russian entrepreneurs and Russian officials have taken advantage of the lack of international attention to increase their destruction of the natural environment in and around Sochi, to further weaken the housing and infrastructure of residents there,... MORE

Official statements, interviews and comments from some members of the Russian government and military top brass on the Ukraine crisis denote the use of the “carrot and stick” in the Kremlin’s policy. Moscow claims, for example, that the Minsk II agreement represents the best way... MORE

Following his appointment as governor of Odesa province by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (see EDM, June 2, 4, 5), Georgia’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili has outlined his policy priorities in the post newly entrusted to him. Saakashvili holds a strong political mandate from the Ukrainian... MORE

On June 18, 248 Ukrainian lawmakers—out of the 422 present in the Verkhovna Rada (parliament)—approved President Petro Poroshenko’s request to fire Valentyn Nalyvaychenko as head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) amid rising public criticism and top officials’ growing recriminations over the government’s inability... MORE