The ongoing geopolitical escalations between Russia and Ukraine bought back focus on the Minsk Agreement of 2014 and 2015. Chatham House informs the 12-point ceasefire agreement broadly called for an OSCE monitored ceasefire, exchange of prisoners, withdrawal of armed formations; military equipment, fighter and mercenaries from Ukraine and establishing an OSCE-monitored ‘security zone’ along the border. The ‘Minsk Conundrum’ The …
MOSCOW — Amid fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, tensions have also soared in the country’s east, where Ukrainian forces are locked in a long conflict with Russia-backed separatists. In April 2014, Russia-backed rebels seized government buildings in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, proclaimed the creation of “people’s republics” there and battled Ukrainian troops and volunteer battalions. It also …
When Kazakhstan’s ruling party, Nur Otan, obtained 71 percent of the vote in the January 10 parliamentary elections, nobody seemed surprised. While the 7 percent voting threshold seemed unsurmountable in 2007, when Nur Otan won all 98 seats, in 2012 two historically loyal parties entered the Majilis: the Democratic Party Ak Zhol and the Communist People’s Party of Kazakhstan. The …
