Staunton, May 28 – In what the Kremlin is likely to see as the most disturbing blowback of its backing of the Donetsk separatists in Ukraine, a group of veterans of the Georgian-Abkhaz war have stormed a government building in Sukhumi and demanded the resignation of that breakaway republic’s president, an indication of how easily […]
Staunton, May 5 – Commentators have long celebrated the fact that the USSR broke up with little violence in 1991 – the conflicts in Abkhazia, Tajikistan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Transdniestria and Chechnya typically have been treated as exceptions that prove the rule. But now, many of the unresolved issues from 23 years ago are leading to violence […]
Staunton, April 29 – Despite Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s comment four days ago that he “hadn’t heard” about any South Ossetian calls for that republic to follow the example of Crimea, a conference organized by the influential Russian Institute for Strategic Studies says that South Ossetia will be part of the Russian Federation by […]
Staunton, March 30 – Ever since the Russian invasion of Georgia in August 2008, South Ossetian leaders have wanted their republic to be annexed by the Russian Federation and combined with the larger North Ossetian Republic. But Moscow had been reluctant to take that step. On the one hand, the Kremlin clearly believed that any […]
Staunton, March 27 – The Western powers have long talked about “red lines” in Syria and elsewhere: actions or events that they say have suggested underscore their concern and indicate where they will act. Now, Russian President Vladimir Putin has done the same, and his “red lines” underscore that his moves in Ukraine are part […]
Staunton, March 19 – In the past, “every country had its own map, each of which was more or less different,” a Georgian writer says, but with Marco Polo and Google, most came to accept a similar map of the world, one in which borders are clear and fixed. But Russians remain an exception. According […]
Many Western publications are asking whether Russia will militarily intervene in Ukraine, particularly in the southeast region of Crimea. We have been following this question very closely. But this isn’t just a question being asked in the West — the Russian media is asking the exact same question. Some in Russia are as worried for […]
