This is a legacy website featuring a collection of work by the Carnegie Endowment’s global network of scholars on topics including Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia, and the post-Soviet states. This site is a product of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace based in Washington, D.C. For more recent work by Carnegie scholars in this field, please visit Carnegie Politika.
Good relations between Russia and China, promoted by economic and political cooperation, are one of the major and most valued aspects of Moscow's current foreign policy.
The Pacific island microstates of Nauru and Tuvalu have found an incentive to take sides in the efforts of Caucasian breakaway territories like South Ossetia and Abkhazia to gain international recognition of their sovereignty.
Negotiating with the Taliban now, when concessions are still possible, is the best hope for securing protections for the Afghan people, putting Afghanistan on the path towards a new constitution, and ending the coalition’s failing military strategy.
The return of Viktor Yanukovych, who was elected president of Ukraine in February, has sparked fears among some that the momentum of Ukraine’s domestic political and economic reforms would be lost.
The recent controversy surrounding Moscow’s Mayor Luzhkov underscores how the current leadership is unable to build a consensus or reach a compromise among the leading business groups and has dealt a heavy blow to the mayor's legitimacy.
As the melting Arctic ice cap opens new shipping lanes and makes it easier to access strategic energy reserves, countries are racing to gain control over the Arctic’s abundant natural resources.
There are significant arenas for military cooperation between Russia and the United States, including enforcing stability in Afghanistan and fighting against international terrorism.
While the Caucasus is too often treated as a subset of Russian history or as merely a gateway to Asia, it remains an important and combustible region, whose inner dynamics and history deserve a much more complex appreciation from the wider world.
While obstacles remain, the conditions are looking good for launching the negotiation process between Russia, the United States, and Europe on the creation of a joint missile defense system for the entire Euro-Atlantic region.
With inflation rising, trade balances falling, and economic growth slowing, the outlook for Russia's economy is bleak. Official plans for strict budget tightening will only add to the troubles.
U.S.-Russia cooperation on civilian nuclear energy would enhance mutual security, promote economic growth, cement the gains of the reset, and provide the relationship with long-term stability.
The current political and economic situation in the South Caucasus is partly the result of the misconceptions about the region that have been propagated by both outsiders and locals.
The blast in Vladikavkaz is the latest episode in what is becoming a latent civil war in the North Caucasus, where the Russian authorities are facing an opposition with its own specific religious and political ideology.
Narrow bilateralism is an abiding problem in regional policies in the South Caucasus, and it is only complicated by the multiple policy agendas of outside interests such as Russia or the United States.
Turkey’s recent constitutional referendum passed with the support of little over half of the Turkish population, giving Prime Minister Erdogan an electoral victory and consolidating his political authority.
The real challenge facing Kyiv today is to deliver on the promise of effective government in the short term, without sacrificing Ukraine’s long-term strategic interests.
As the October 10 parliamentary elections approach, Kyrgyz political parties must clarify their positions on the most pressing issues facing voters, such as reforming the electoral system.
While previous presidential envoys were typically former military officers, recent appointees, like the new envoy to the Siberian Federal District, are professional economists, demonstrating Moscow’s awareness of the need to develop regional economies.
Turks are preparing to vote on a set of proposed constitutional amendments that risk undermining the independence of the judiciary and eroding one of the necessary checks on the power of the executive branch.
Russia, Europe, and the United States are critical players in Moldova’s development and have an opportunity to help transform Moldova into a real post-Soviet success story and prove that a prosperous democracy can exist in the space between East and West.