It is sometimes said that when Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined NATO in 2004 each still harbored some lingering regret that they were not joining the NATO of 1949 — an alliance with a resolute and single-track focus to deter any territorial threat that Moscow could contemplate. The alliance that …

While much of the bandwidth of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) summit in Islamabad this month was reserved for the Afghanistan crisis, with the Taliban attending, another window of diplomatic restart was achieved within the Arab Gulf narrative as Syria’s heavily-sanctioned private airline, started direct flights between Damascus and …

Ukrainian military forces have conducted combat drills with U.S.-made Javelin anti-tank missiles in a conflict area with separatists in eastern Ukraine as tensions run high with Russia, Ukrainian Dom television channel said on Wednesday. Ukraine, which seeks to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), has since 2018 received a …

The United States has marshaled support from its European allies for significant sanctions against Moscow should Russian President Vladimir Putin proceed with a new invasion of Ukraine. But the strategy of relying heavily on the sanctions threat to shape Russian behavior faces challenges and limitations. Political divides on the issue …

Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan disrupted the erecting of a security fence by the Pakistani military along the border between the two countries, Afghan officials said on Wednesday. Pakistan has fenced most of the 2,600 km (1,615 mile) border despite protestations from Kabul, which has always contested the British-era boundary demarcation …

At a traditional year-end news conference, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said a potential meeting with the U.S. was a positive sign, but he also demanded a quick response to his security concerns. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Thursday sounded a positive note about the security talks …

Poland says the EU’s decision reflects a trend towards ‘bureaucratic centralism’ in Brussels that ‘has to be stopped’. The EU has launched legal action against Poland for ignoring the bloc’s law and undermining judicial independence, prompting a sharp rebuke from Warsaw. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Wednesday said the …

If Russian troops massed around Ukraine do invade in the coming weeks, as many fear they will, Dec. 21, 2021, may go down as the day President Vladimir Putin fired the first rhetorical shot. Mr. Putin, seated before a group of high-ranking military officers on Tuesday, laid out an elaborate …

Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) agreed to restore a full ceasefire between the Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, the OSCE said on Wednesday. “I was delighted that participants expressed their strong determination to fully adhere to the …

Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu offers no evidence of provocative accusations. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu claimed Tuesday that U.S. mercenaries were preparing Ukrainian special forces and radical armed groups for “active hostilities” in eastern Ukraine, and had delivered “an unidentified chemical component” to the region “to commit provocations.” Shoygu did …