Martha Brill Olcott, an expert on the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, which includes Kazakhstan, says that Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has been that country’s only president since gaining inde…

CFR’s Stephen R. Sestanovich says the Obama administration believes it has put relations with Russia on "a more practical" basis but convergence remains elusive on how to address Iran’s nuclear progr…

Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s sentencing to another prison term was a foregone conclusion, underscoring both the continued power of President Putin and Khodorkovsky’s arrogance in trying to thwart him, says…

Charles A. Kupchan, CFR’s top Europe expert, says with Kosovo on the cusp of announcing independence, he finds the continued Russian opposition “perplexing.”

Multiethnic states, whether they are empires of diverse nationalities like the former Soviet Union, former colonies like Nigeria and Indonesia, or conglomerations of native and immigrant peoples like…