EU Leaders snubbed the Russian Victory Day parade, which celebrates the ending of World War II (called the Great Patriotic War in Russia) by refusing or otherwise rebuffing offers to attend. Russian media conglomerates blamed pressure from the United States and Russian leaders rebuked the European political elite for “boycotting those who lost hundreds of…
Russian President Vladimir Putin played host to an annual telethon and question-and-answer session earlier this week in Moscow. During the Q&A session, the Russian president stated that he expects Russia’s economy to reach growth levels seen before the current crisis within a period of two years. While likely to attract naysayers in the West, the…
The ruble has been on a relatively steady upward trajectory since the beginning of the year, and yesterday traded for the first time under the exchange rate of 50:1 on the dollar since last November. In total, the currency has regained 22% of its value. Most analysts point to rising oil benchmarks and Russian sovereign…
It’s generally the contention among observers of Central Asia that most governments fear a spillover of violence from Afghanistan into their own territories, feeding nascent Islamist movements and causing large-scale violent disruptions in governance. This is hard to refute given the drawdown of American troops in Afghanistan and the increasing recruiting activities of ISIS among…
Tajik President Emomali Rahmon recently attended a water usage conference in Daegu, South Korea. As expected, Tajikistan’s first and only president made reference to Tajikistan’s abundant water resources, and vowed to make greater use of them in the coming years. Specifically, he called for scientists and other experts from around the world to come to…
The deals with the private sector done, Ukraine is now scrambling to renegotiate its sovereign debt with other governments, most notably Russia. Additionally, Kiev’s Finance Ministry are working to provide currency swap lines to boost the country’s emergency cash reserves for the coming months (neatly coinciding with the return of gas debt talks with Russian…
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko categorically rejected the possibility of a federalized Ukraine when asked about the possibility. Poroshenko intimated that the plan was merely an attempt to “destroy” Ukraine and capitulate to the perceived Russian goal of breaking parts of the country apart. Nevertheless, despite his rejection of a federalized Ukraine, Poroshenko expressed support for…
