Features
Displaced from Karabakh watch reconstruction process with hope, concern
Azerbaijani IDPs are eager to return home. But they are uncertain about how their new lives are going to look.
Armenia’s Pashinyan, Turkey’s Erdogan set for unprecedented face-to-face Prague meeting
Encounter is “huge” says analyst. However, hopes for a breakthrough in resolving Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict are low.
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Mongolia consumers feel weight of inflation as food prices rise
Each morning, food distributor Suren Bat-Tur goes to the Bars wholesale food market in Ulaanbaatar to purchase produce for resale. Lately, the mushrooms, coriander, tomatoes and other grocery items he buys have hit eye-watering prices.
Central Asians targeted in Russia’s desperate mobilisation drive
Rights activists insist Central Asian labourers are being conned.
Orban faces perfect economic storm of his own making
Hungary’s radical right-wing leader is struggling to cope with the country’s unfolding cost of living crisis, a task made much harder because of his pre-election spending spree and his isolation inside the European Union.
Czechs try to transform EU's relationship with Israel
As the current rotating president of the European Union, Prague has convened a meeting of the long moribund EU Israel Association to try to boost EU links with the Jewish state.
Belarus’ turn to China
Last week, Belarus began its accenssion to the Shangai Cooperation Organization and the two countries both signed a deepened strategic partnership. But what does Belarus have to gain from increased integration with China?
East and West clash in Bulgaria’s snap general election
Old alliances have broken down, with Russian vs Western orientation becoming the biggest dividing line in Bulgarian politics.
Old faces set to keep ruling Bosnia post-election
The main nationalist parties are expected to retain their leading positions in Sunday’s elections, with hopes for reforms fading away once again.
Georgia’s border clogged with thousands of Russians fleeing the Kremlin’s mobilisation
After Vladimir Putin escalated the war in Ukraine with a mobilisation order, thousands of Russians are trying to enter Georgia to avoid being drafted and sent to the front lines in the war in Ukraine.
Meloni won the elections, but her programme won’t make Italy the next Hungary
Giorgia Meloni, leader of the right-wing nationalist party, “Fratelli d’Italia” (FDI, “Brothers of Italy”), won a convincing victory in the general elections, but raised fears that the country will move closer to Moscow as a result.
More pain stored up for Emerging Europe in 2023
Government efforts to shield populations from the energy crisis and rampant inflation have shifted the economic impact to next year, says the EBRD as it downgrades GDP growth forecasts for 2023.
Belarus Corruption Watch: How sanctioned Belarusian oligarch Mikalai Varabei’s family has managed to keep its real estate holdings in the EU
Despite having come under EU sanctions in late 2020 for being the “oil money man” of Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko, Mikalai Varabei and his family have somehow managed to preserve some of their riches in the EU.
PANNIER: In Turkmenistan, new president maintains course into the abyss
Serdar Berdimuhamedov, the head of state who rarely smiles, has also given his country little reason to do so.
Russian oil exports still booming and the EU is still a major buyer
One of the side-effects of the EU stepping up imports of US oil is that it has increased European demand for Russian diesel.
Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins set to benefit from hardline stance on Ukraine war
Baltic state's election campaign has been dominated by the cost of living crisis and Russia's invasion.
Kazakhstan shows generous side amid Russian stampede, but tensions are rising
Pressure to accommodate draft dodgers makes it difficult for a country that nationalists in Russia have targeted with veiled threats over claims to northern territories.
BRUEGEL: National policies to shield consumers from rising energy prices
The current increase in wholesale energy prices in Europe has prompted governments to try to shield consumers from the direct impact of an energy crisis that is sweeping the Continent and the rising prices that are costing hundreds of billions.
Kazakhstan offers Europe chance to kick its Russian uranium habit
Obstacle to hopes is Russia’s ownership of 40% of world's uranium conversion infrastructure, vital to making nuclear fuel.
Stagflation taking North Macedonia back to the 80s
Soaring prices have left citizens struggling to cover food and transport costs and worried about how they will afford to heat their homes during the winter ahead.
