The Fight for Russia’s Borderlands

With his party on course for a big win in legislative elections, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says he wants to solve the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but that'll be easier said than done.

Despite winning concessions, demonstration organizers continue to call on citizens to take to the streets of Tbilisi as a wary government weighs its next move.

The frontier state's pro-Russian and pro-EU blocs have banded together to oust a common foe, but their vastly differing foreign orientations will make them awkward partners.

Regardless of the specifics of Warsaw and Washington's potential new defense agreement, any increase in the U.S. military position in Poland -- no matter how small -- is bound to prompt Russia to build up its own position.

Washington and Warsaw could ink a deal for a permanent deployment of troops as soon as Sept. 1, which will undoubtedly prompt Russia to build up its own military presence in neighboring Belarus.

The succession process itself will be smooth, but once acting President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev takes over, he'll have to deal with growing instability, economic slowdown and the competition for influence between China and Russia.

Examining Moscow's footprints in Syria and Ukraine could offer clues of how an involvement in the U.S. backyard could play out.

Internal political opposition and external pressure mean the landslide victory for Volodymyr Zelenskiy won't easily translate into the ability to steer the country in another direction.

The West has refused to recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea, instead demanding its return to Ukraine. In so doing, the West is standing on principle rather than pragmatics.