Surkov seen remaining in charge of Kremlin policy on Donbas, Abkhazia and South Ossetia
After a media boomlet suggesting Mikhail Babich, the recently recalled Russian ambassador to Minsk, would replace Vladislav Surkov…
Zelenskyi playing on Putin’s fears Ukraine could be an alternative Russia, Kirillova says
Even before his inauguration, incoming Ukrainian president has launched an information war against Moscow, calling on others in…
Were Babich and Belarusian siloviki preparing a coup? Lukashenka appears to think so
Sergey Dorenko, editor of This is Moscow Speaking, says that the Lukashenka regime is engaged in searches and…
When a foreign state buys off officials in another country, it’s more than just bribery
Andrey Dynko, a Belarusian commentator, has reminded the world of something many would like to ignore: when a…
Might Zelenskyi play the Muslim card against Russia?
Yesterday, incoming Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the leaders of the Muslim community of Ukraine for two…
Russian literature no longer has the standing abroad it once had
Russians have long comforted themselves with the fact that however many bad things others can say about them…
Change of Russian ambassadors won’t slow Moscow’s effort to absorb Belarus, iSANS expert says
The replacement of the brash Mikhail Babich by the more diplomatic Dmitry Mezentsev will not bring any fundamental…
Is handing out passports in the Donbas Putin’s solution to Russia’s demographic collapse?
Vladimir Putin’s decision to offer Russian citizenship to those living in Russian-occupied portions of Ukraine and possibly others…
Who is behind reports of a coup plot in Belarus?
Coups and even more reported coup plots are typically murky affairs with one group suggesting someone is planning…
Zelenskyi doomed to be Putin’s personal enemy, Portnikov says
Even though the Kremlin wanted Petro Poroshenko to suffer in the recent elections, it did not want an…
60 percent of 500,000 Azerbaijanis in Ukraine are Ukrainian citizens, leader says
Sixty percent of the roughly half million Azerbaijanis living in Ukraine are citizens of that country and committed…
Russia didn’t ‘feed’ the USSR: the entire USSR ‘fed’ the nomenklatura, Mirovich says
One of the most widespread myths in Russia today is that in Soviet times, Russia took care of…
Russia has nothing to offer China except raw materials and empty words, Russian analyst says
Vladimir Putin’s flatfooted offer to China to combine Beijing’s plans for an east-west transit network with Russian hopes…
Kremlin’s ‘Mobilization Party’ believes limited nuclear strike would save its power at home and boost Russia’s abroad, Piontkovsky says
A newly coalescing “Mobilization Party” in the Kremlin is convinced that it can only save its own position…