Russia is going to write off 90 percent of Cuba’s $32 billion Soviet-era debt as part of a deal to end a 20-year dispute, according to diplomatic sources cited by Reuters. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev agreed to write off the island’s debt during a visit to Havana in February 2013, stressing details would be finalized by the end of the year. In October, the two sides announced a refinancing... 

Russian president Vladimir Putin has said that Jews made up “80 to 85 percent of the first government of the Soviet Union” following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Putin’s speech, made on June 13 2013, was reported by the official Jewish Telegraphic Agency in an article six days later dealing with Putin’s visit to the Moscow “Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center.” According to the JTA... 

When Orwell wrote his most famous novel, which happened to be the most emblematic of dramatic past century, he was not writing about Soviet Union and Stalin. He was basically writing a dystopia about Britain, the ruined Britain of Churchill and Lord Beveridge, a desperate country ruled now by conservative nihilism, social security services and the ideology of iron curtain and cold war. Orwell gave... 

Prime Minister Vlad Filat. Moldova’s pro-European government has received a vote of no-confidence spurred on by rivalries within the three-party Alliance, leading to the collapse of the government. The ruling Alliance for European Integration fell on Tuesday after receiving a vote of no confidence, jeopardizing hopes of integration into the European Union as the country seemed to move closer towards... 

The last head of state of the former Soviet Union, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev The last head of state of the former Soviet Union, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, has warned the US of an imminent Soviet-like collapse if Washington persists with its hegemonic policies. Speaking at a Thursday conference on the future of the Middle East and the Black Sea region in the Turkish city of Istanbul, Gorbachev... 

Moscow plans to halt its participation in the Nunn-Lugar Program, in which the US funds Russia’s dismantling of its arsenal of nuclear weapons, a Russian media outlet reported. Russia no longer requires US aid and can continue with the program unassisted, Kommersant daily newspaper reported. In addition, Moscow explained the decision by the necessity to prevent secret data leak. The Nunn-Lugar Cooperative... 

The US has long held in its possession verified documentation proving the 1940 Katyn forest massacre of several thousand Polish POWs was committed by the Soviet Union. Why did Washington conceal it: to cover-up for its wartime ally Josef Stalin. ­The Associated Press has seen newly declassified documents illuminating the Katyn Massacre, which are being released and put online by the US National Archives... 

Russia and Cuba are strengthening ties again, after a break which followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union supplied Cuba with oil – up to 13 mn tons each year – and quantities of arms. In return, it received Cuban tobacco, coffee, fruit and sugar and enjoyed the right to build and operate military facilities on Cuban territory. After the Soviet collapse, however, these exchanges... 

The collapse of the Soviet Union and its daunting military machine spelled the beginning of a process of decay for Russia’s armed forces. Now, major reforms are underway to put the military back on track. ­Russia has revealed details of ambitious plans to spend over US $600 billion on upgrading its army over the next 10 years. And there’s a new man in charge as well – Russia’s... 

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (R) listens to former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev. Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who resigned as president 20 years ago, has urged Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to listen to the protesters’ demands and step down. “I would advise Vladimir Putin to step down now,” Gorbachev said on Saturday. “It has been enough. Three... 

Stalin's only daughter Lana Peters The only daughter of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin has died in the US at the age of 85. Svetlana Alliluyeva, also known as Lana Peters, died of colon cancer at a care home in the state of Wisconsin last Tuesday, officials say. Her defection from the Soviet Union in 1967 was a propaganda coup for the US. She wrote four books, including two best-selling memoirs. But... 

(L-R) Nursultan Nazarbayev, Dmitry Medvedev and Aleksandr Lukashenko Three former Soviet republics have launched a new regional integration project, with at least two others on track to join in. Critics accuse Moscow of rebuilding the USSR, but architects of project say the aim is to become a better version of the EU. The idea of the Eurasian Union – initially between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan... 

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says he supports calls for Russia to merge with its western neighbor Belarus. Belarus has been an independent state since the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991. Speaking at a Kremlin youth camp, Putin said Monday the return to Soviet-style unity is “possible, desirable and wholly dependent on the will of the Belarusian people.” Russia and Belarus already have... 

A major diplomatic scandal broke out between Russia and Romania. The reason for the scandal is the statements of Romanian President Traian Basescu, who virtually justified his country’s participation in the war against the Soviet Union on the side of Hitler. Basescu voiced the scandalous statements back on June 22. They were dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic... 

For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: America is becoming the Soviet Union! Is he right?  Read More »