Section: The Jamestown Foundation (USA)
Russian Occupation Crackdown Against Crimean Tatars Intensifies
Now that Vladimir Putin has admitted that he seized Crimea by force rather than annexed it to Russia following the free expression of the will of its population (Euromaidan Press, March 10), it is possible that more people will focus not only on that violation of international law but also on the way in which the Russian occupation authorities...
Is Kharkiv Province Another Enclave of Separatists?
On March 6, the car of the commander of the Ukrainian special police battalion “Slobozhanshchyna,” Andriy Yanholenko, exploded in the government-controlled eastern city of Kharkiv. The commander and his spouse were inside the car at the time of the explosion and both were hospitalized. Yanholenko received medium-level injuries, but his wife is in...
China’s Tacit Approval of Moscow’s Ukraine Policy
Since Moscow initiated military operations in Ukraine in February 2014, China has seemingly adopted an ambiguous stance as Russia’s annexation of Crimea and destabilization of southeastern Ukraine evoked international condemnation. During the past year, Beijing and Moscow strengthened their strategic partnership by deepening economic ties...
Free Rein of Special Services Makes Russia Ungovernable
It took a week for the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) to produce a pair of plausible suspects in the shocking murder of Boris Nemtsov on February 28 (see EDM, March 2). Last Saturday (March 7), FSB Director Aleksandr Bortnikov reported to President Vladimir Putin that two men implicated in the crime were under arrest; and on Sunday,...
Belarusian Collaborators in World War II
When, in December 1918, the Red Army captured Minsk and the short-lived (established on March 25, 1918) Belarusian People’s Republic (BPR) ceased to exist, multiple nationalist activists fled Belarus and found refuge in several European countries, including Germany. After Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist (Nazi) Party came to power in...
Moldova’s New Government: Daunting Challenges Ahead
Moldova has a new government, the Alliance for a European Moldova (AEM), since February 28, after elections and an agitated interregnum. It is a minority coalition and, moreover, an internally divided one, requiring cooperation with the Communist Party’s “constructive opposition” (see EDM, March 5). The new prime minister, Chiril Gaburici,...
The Murder of Boris Nemtsov: An Unsolved Conspiracy
Boris Nemtsov (55), former governor of Nizny Novgorod, former deputy Duma speaker, deputy prime minister under President Boris Yeltsin and, more recently, an opposition leader and vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin, was gunned down last Friday night, February 27, in downtown Moscow, just a hundred meters from the Kremlin (see EDM, March 2)....
Moldova: European Choice With Communist Support?
Following yet another protracted political crisis, the Moldovan parliament has voted to approve a minority government, the Alliance for a European Moldova (AEM), on February 18, thanks to the Communist Party’s support. The AEM government needed 51 votes for approval. It could only muster 39 votes on its own; but it received 19 Communist...
Despite Multiple Troubles, Russia Continues Its Pressure Against Georgia
One might expect that while Russia’s political, diplomatic, military and economic resources are tied down in its protracted war in Ukraine, the Kremlin would have difficulty focusing on other regions within the post-Soviet space. But even a casual glance at Russia’s recent activities in Georgia immediately dispels such assumptions....
North Caucasus Economic Woes Likely Due to the Shrinking Role of the Central Government
In February, the Arbitration Court of North Ossetia declared the Vladikavkaz Thermal Networks joint stock company insolvent and put in under external management until June 1, 2015. Vladikavkaz Thermal Networks is a monopolistic public utilities management company in North Ossetia’s capital, Vladikavkaz. The company owed overall over $12...
