As the ice recedes and technology for recovering resources in extreme conditions improves, the Arctic could become the theatre for future global conflicts. Here’s the story so far.
North Korean Workers’ Party Secretary Choe Ryong-hae in Moscow in November.
EPA
This week our series on Russia’s relations with its neighbours reaches China, Moscow’s one-time great communist rival with whom it found much in common in the opening years of the 21st century. Neil Munro…
Vladimir Putin with Mongolia president Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj in Ulaanbaataar in 2014.
EPA
This latest part of our series on Russia’s relations with its neighbours focuses on the huge empty land of Mongolia, Moscow’s original Soviet satellite state in the 1920s. These days it sits on the verge…
Presidential palace in Kazakh capital Astana.
Mariusk Kluzniak
In this instalment of our series looking at Russia’s relations with the countries along its border, we reach Kazakhstan, Moscow’s closest ally in central Asia. Region specialist Julia Kusznir tells a story…
Vladimir Putin with Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, in Baku in 2013.
EPA
For this latest instalment in our series on Russia’s relations with its neighbours, we turn to the oil-rich nation of Azerbaijan. Rovshan Ibrahimov argues that the country has rebounded from plumbing lows…
Protesters in Tbilisi voice their anger about Russia’s activities in Ukraine.
EPA
This latest instalment in our series on Russia’s relations with its neighbours focuses on Georgia. Caucasus-watcher Julie George explains how the Ukraine situation has magnified the uneasy truce that continues…
Iranian president Hassan Rohani with his old mate Vladimir Putin.
EPA
Clément Therme, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS)
This week’s instalment in our series on Russia’s relations with its neighbours turns the spotlight on Iran. Clément Therme, a specialist in relations between the two countries, looks at how Ukraine and…
“Ukraine is me”: Nationalists in Kiev.
EPA/Tatyana Zenkovich
Twenty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall that ushered in the end of communism in eastern Europe and the break-up of the Soviet Union, all the signs point to a new Cold War between Russia and…
Eyeball to eyeball: Putin on state business with Turkey’s Recep Erdoğan.
EPA
In this latest instalment in our series on Russia’s relations with its neighbours, we head south-east to Turkey. The former centre of the Ottoman Empire has been booming in the past decade – and Russia…
Bulgaria’s parties fought for East and West in this month’s election.
EPA
Plamen Ralchev, University of National and World Economy
As part of our series on Russia’s relations with its European neighbours, we put the spotlight on Bulgaria. The country’s old tensions over commitments to East or West have come to the fore over the Ukraine…
Romanian president welcoming NATO secretary general to Bucharest earlier this year.
EPA
In this fifth part of our series on the countries along Russia’s borders, we turn to south-east Europe. As Romania specialist Tom Gallagher explains, the Ukraine affair has made Bucharest distinctly uneasy…
Belarus’s Aleksandr Lukashenko grasps Moldova’s Nicolae Timofti on a recent state visit.
EPA
Belarus and Moldova are two former-Soviet states which have moved in very different directions since the end of the Cold War. Moldova has looked firmly west, but struggled to escape Russia’s influence…
Norway King’s Guard Band and Drill Team in Moscow’s Red Square in 2011.
EPA
Anxiety over the crisis in eastern Ukraine has ratcheted in recent days amid claims of an effective Russian invasion, and warnings of NATO making a 4000-troop reaction force available to the region. As…
Polish president Donald Tusk wants the EU to be tough on Russia.
EPA
The Poles and Russians have had a difficult relationship going back centuries. In recent times, the key problem has been competing geopolitical ambitions over the former Soviet republics. Poland wants…
NATO Baltic air policing mission highlights rising tensions north of Ukraine.
EPA
Anxiety over the crisis in eastern Ukraine has ratcheted in recent days amid claims of an effective Russian invasion, and warnings of NATO making a 4000-troop reaction force available to the region. As…