Russia is currently engaged in negotiations with Iran on “energy development.” Encapsulated in a recently announced agreement to build two nuclear power plants in Iranian territory last week after Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif visited Moscow. This past Monday, Iran’s negotiator for nuclear talks, Abbas Aragchi, expressed his extreme disappointment with the Obama administration adding…
Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom will begin natural gas exploration operations this month, more than a year after the Moscow-based energy giant bought out Kyrgyzstan’s national gas company Kyrgyzgas. The commencement of operations will take place several months after Gazprom obtained ownership of Kyrgyzstan’s entire natural gas infrastructure, a move that was unpopular throughout the…
In early September we had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Thomas Simons, a visiting scholar at Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, as well as a former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and former Ambassador to Poland and Pakistan. Dr. Simons has published extensively on Eurasia and the former Soviet Union,…
Last week, Iran failed to meet a deadline to provide crucial data on its past nuclear enrichment program, the IAEA said. This marks the first time the agency has failed to resolve an issue relating to Iran’s potential nuclear deal with the P5+1 powers. As a result, the IAEA team will have to make its…
An external audit of votes cast during Afghanistan’s presidential elections has finally been completed. The audit, which took into consideration an estimated 8 million suspicious ballots, took nearly seven weeks and was the source of much conflict throughout. Both leading candidates, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, abandoned the audit the its neared its completion, albeit…
World leaders assembled for the NATO summit in Wales today, with the lead issue being the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. NATO leaders met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Thursday to discuss providing arms and materials to assist in the ongoing fight against Russian-backed separatists and alleged Russian troops. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned…
The souring of US-Russia relations continued yesterday, as U.S. President Obama, speaking at a NATO in Wales, urged NATO to train and arm the Ukrainian military to defend itself from Russia. The American president described Russian activity in Ukraine as a “brazen assault” on Ukraine, and called for members of NATO to consider the accession…
In a telephone conversation with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, President Vladimir Putin asserted yesterday that Russian troops would be able to “take Kiev in two weeks if necessary.” This created quite a stir just ahead of the NATO summit planned to start this morning in Wales to discuss the unraveling situation in Ukraine.…
Russia’s incursion into Ukraine is ongoing, and has left no indication of slowing anytime soon. The powers that be in Moscow have recently issued statements warning NATO not to intervene in Ukraine, using thinly veiled allusions to Russian nuclear power to ensure their message was understood. Russian activity in Ukraine has begun to preoccupy other…
President Vladimir Putin warned over the weekend in the wake of increased sanctions from Australia and the EU that “Russia is one of the leading nuclear powers,” while speaking at a pro-Kremlin youth camp. He additionally denied any involvement in destabilizing eastern Ukraine while simultaneously warning Western powers that he would use force to defend…
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