Russian president Putin is worried how he might be able to be re-elected after 2024 without amending of the Russian Constitution. The nature of the Belarus – Russia Treaty that was signed in 1999 by Lukashenko and former Russian President Boris Yeltsin is providing some new ideas for Putin. Will it fly out or not, and what the challenges are ahead?

The very fact of the Trump - Putin summit and the possible improvement of relations between the United States and the Russian Federation met with appreciation of the official Beijing and Chinese experts, for which the main intrigue of the meeting was the opportunity to achieve some kind of mutual agreement between the two countries on their joint actions against the interests of the People's Republic of China.

Experts of the Ukrainian council on foreign relations (USFR) described the ongoing internal developments in Armenia and underlined the roots of the mass protests in this country. In any case, slowly but steadily this country is getting rid of the former Soviet past.

The article is devoted to the task of studying the threats to the national security of the states, first of all the Baltic and the Balkan Peninsula States, in relation to which the Russian Federation willings to restore its dominant status and enhance its information influence. With this method on a systematic and proportional basis Russia uses diplomatic, intelligence, energy and information tools which have destabilizing nature. The key focus of the study is the media component of the information impact. The scientific hypothesis sounds like: the destructive use of questionable national media and their replenishment takes place systematically and efficiently there, where Russia's state interests exist for the restoration of its dominant subregion. National media are seen as a means of multiplication of externally initiated destabilizing political influences. However, as noted in the article, the cost of advocacy measures is increasing, and efficiency is significantly reduced as a result of a number of factors.

У 2018 році Україна продовжить зіштовхуватися із міжнародними викликами, при цьому їх масштаби та зміст будуть значно складнішими, ніж дотепер. Геополітичний ландшафт не дасть офіційному Києву можливості «розслабитись», і така ситуація матиме кілька вимірів: з одного боку, буде складніше утримувати «проукраїнську» коаліцію за участю США і Європейського Союзу, а з іншого – це дасть можливість відшліфувати дипломатичну майстерність у відстоюванні національних інтересів.

The Silk Road project of delivering goods from China to the European Union’s market plays significant role for both Ukraine and Slovakia through which territories export comes to the market. Two mentioned countries have a unique chance to build up new facilities for delivering Chinese goods to the EU’s market and subsequently expand its influence over one of the biggest market in the world.

The ongoing investigation process of catastrophe occurred with Malaysia Airlines flight MH-17, which is conducting, by Netherland’s authorities has been overshadowed by unpleasant situation with one of the politician Pieter Omtzigt from Dutch Parliament. He tried to manipulate the investigation process by presenting fake witness who confirmed Ukraine’s involvement into the tragedy. What does it mean for Ukraine?

In a 60-minute interview in mid-January 2017, the U.S. president Donald TRAMP criticized the European Union as "basically a vehicle for Germany" claiming that it was a "very catastrophic mistake" on Angela Merkel’s part to admit a million refugees - whom he refers to as "illegals". Is it still the tension between the EU and US or it slowly comes on the normalization level?

From the EU point of view, the recent elections in France and Germany poses some new elements in the context of further settlement of the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Holding its control over the internal political processes in both mentioned countries, Macron and Merkel will be forced to soften their positions towards Russia.