Marren Haneberg

Eleven reporters from Kommersant quit on May 20 after two of their colleagues were fired for refusing to reveal their sources in a report about “a possible change of leadership in the upper chamber of parliament” (RFE/RL). These reporters made up the entire political staff at Kommersant, one of Russia’s most prominent newspapers. Another 180 staff signed a joint letter that denounced the newspaper’s shareholders for “destroying one of Russia’s best media outlets” to make “short-term political gains” and “that until further notice, Kommersant would not report on any Russian political news” (“HRW: Kommersant Shake-Up…”, Soric).

In a surprise move on March 19, Nursultan Nazarbayev stepped down as Kazakhstan’s president, a position he held for nearly 19 years. He declared as interim president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, “a longtime diplomat who was speaker of the upper house of parliament, the Senate” (“Kazakh Ruling Party…”). Nazarbayev’s resignation left a hole in Kazakhstan’s political structure which its people have never had the opportunity to fill, as he the only leader Kazakhstan has known as an independent country (“Kazakh Ruling Party”).

Russia and the US are the world’s top two possessors of nuclear weapons, holding 92 percent of nuclear weapons globally (Ploughshares Fund). Russia is modernizing its nuclear arsenal and some of its modernizations, such as the SSC-8 ground-launched cruise missile system, led the US to plan an exit from the INF Treaty in August 2019.

On April 11, Russia announced that the RS-28 Sarmat missile reached its final testing phase (TASS, “Putin: Russia’s ICBM…”). The missile, an upgrade of the SS-18, is set to start production in 2021. Nicknamed “Satan 2” by NATO, it “has practically no range restrictions” and “is untroubled by even the most advanced missile defense systems” according to Putin (O’Connor).

In what researchers at Oxford Internet Institute described as “the most globally advanced case of computational propaganda,” Ukraine was Europe’s most frequent target of disinformation campaigns in 2018 (Bohdanova). According to the EU vs Disinfo database, Ukraine had “461 references among a total of 1,000 disinformation cases reported in 2018” (“Ukraine Under Information Fire”). Some of these cases included Kremlin-based false reports that Ukrainian authorities planned to construct a 120 kilometer waterway that would isolate Crimea from Ukraine. Another story surfaced that US secret services and the Ukrainian government were working together to poison water in Donbas (Zoria).

On March 31, Ukrainians will head to the polls to elect their next president. Leading the candidates are incumbent Petro Poroshenko, former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, and newcomer to the political field, comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who are polling within 10 percentage points of each other.

Introduction

Russia is a longtime ally of Syria, with relations dating back to the 1970s Soviet Union (Rahman-Jones). In 2015, Russia began supporting the Assad regime with weapons, air support, and ground troops. While Russian President Vladimir Putin claims the goal of Russia’s action in Syria is to fight terrorism, the US-led coalition claims Russian airstrikes have targeted “the non-IS rebel forces battling Assad’s government,” which the US supports militarily (Ahmado). By supporting opposing sides, the US and Russia have been fighting a proxy war in Syria.

Russia has played the role of mediator between North and South Korea and has a “relatively equal relationship” with both countries (Economy). Other countries involved in North Korea, such as the United States, China, and Japan, align more closely with one country or the other. In its relations with both countries, Russia demonstrates that it does not want the US involved in these security issues, encouraging “inter-Korean diplomacy” to end the dispute. Russia demanded that South Korea reject the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile system and urged North Korea to “refrain from provocative actions,” declaring North Korea’s nuclear system a “threat to security in North-east Asia” (Economy).