Gagauzia’s elites, who remain in Russia’s sphere of influence, resist efforts by incumbent President Maia Sandu’s PAS party to bring Moldova into the EU and away from Russian influence.
Russia
If the US and the EU require other countries to halt their ties with Russia while these ties have nothing to do with security issues, it would be logical to expect a more coherent approach from the West: it should set the same conditions for Armenia if the Caucasian nation wants to pivot to the West.
Morocco, like many other African countries, maintained neutrality regarding arms supplies to Ukraine. The kingdom became the first African state to provide military aid to Kyiv. Once the shipment of all purchased armoured vehicles is completed, Morocco will rank second after Poland in supplying combat tanks since the start of the conflict.
Technically, by agreeing to return to the demarcation of the borders according to the Alma-Ata Declarations, the Armenian side validates the Azerbaijani thesis of the “just war”. The demarcation agreement will lead to the departure of the Russian border guards from the Armenian side – they were stationed there by request of Yerevan because it was afraid of military escalation.
In an attempt to change the vector of the Russian-Ukrainian confrontation, President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a decree “On the territories of the Russian Federation historically inhabited by Ukrainians” and submitted it to the National Security and Defense Council. The Ukrainian leadership concludes that to end the war, it is necessary to destroy the Russian Federation as an empire seeking expansion and revenge, using a combination of military and propaganda means.
Armenia, like other post-Soviet countries, particularly in the southern region, traditionally pursues a multi-vector foreign policy. The aim of such a policy is to utilize different options to maximize foreign assistance and support. This often involves addressing unconventional tasks to balance conflicting foreign policy vectors. Armenia faces a similar task of balancing in the new configuration.
Since the onset of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war in February 2022, Russian authorities and propagandists have been actively exploiting the great-power chauvinistic sentiments of ethnic Russians and Russified representatives of national minorities. “Russian national idea” has acquired an archaic appearance reminiscent of the doctrine of “official nationality”
Iran would become Armenia’s new patron and it could eventually join the ranks of pro-Iranian proxies, with dire consequences for the country. In this scenario, Iran would also gain new arguments and resources in its interaction with Russia, Turkey and India, which it could exchange for something else. This could create new threats to Israel.
The hesitancy by the Biden administration to withhold advanced weaponry damaged the Ukrainian counteroffensive and may have led to Russia’s current upper hand in the conflict. As Russia has now adapted to the war, it will be much harder to change the momentum back.
Terrorist act was most probably organized by ISIS-Khorasan. For Israel it is important that the Moscow synagogue was originally the primary target. Russian security services demonstrated very low effectiveness during the “Crocus city” events.