Four years after Germans and Russians signed the founding agreement (October 2005), the Nord Stream pipeline project has received the Scandinavian countries’ approval for construction on the Baltic seabed, from Russia to Germany. The Gazprom-led project, however, has not yet lined up the gas and... MORE

This week the Moscow daily Gazeta published extracts of a leaked defense ministry document describing the results of military training this year –providing a rare opportunity to know firsthand the actual battle readiness of the entire Russian armed forces. According to Russian military tradition, the... MORE

A flu epidemic which recently erupted in Ukraine may derail the presidential election campaign. As the major parties try to use the epidemic to their advantage, the situation threatens to spiral out of control because the media hype is causing panic to spread faster than... MORE

Russia’s relatively low domestic gas prices have been seen as encouraging high consumption rates and hindering investments in gas production. The country’s gas monopoly Gazprom has long complained about unprofitable sales and pressed the government to hike regulated domestic prices. Gazprom has insisted that its... MORE

“The Wind is coming from the west up the Gulf of Finland.” Those who have read Alexander Pushkin's Mednyi Sadnik (The Bronze Horseman) know that such winds bring with them long waves into the Gulf of Finland and powerful storms that flood St. Petersburg. In... MORE

The Minsk Forum has become a regular feature of the late fall in the Belarusian capital. Each November, an increasingly large gathering –including diplomats, politicians, academics, and business people from more than 20 countries this year– assembles to discuss a variety of issues, with its... MORE

Chechen officials claim to have killed and captured a large number of rebels in the republic in recent weeks. However, human rights groups have cast doubts on the claims, saying that some of those identified as rebels were in fact civilian non-combatants.The Kavkazsky Uzel (Caucasian... MORE

Moscow plans to sell helicopters on a commercial basis to NATO in support of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) operations in Afghanistan. Sources within the Russian aviation industry indicated that the Alliance is interested in procuring civil transport helicopters to enhance prompt and safe troop... MORE

On November 5 the Finnish and Swedish governments gave Nord Stream, the Gazprom-led consortium, permission to lay the pipeline through their respective economic zones on the Baltic seabed, on an approved route from Russia to Germany. The Danish government had given its permission in late... MORE

Today, all Russia’s actions in the south are dictated by the increasingly active armed underground in the North Caucasus and Russia’s desire to oppose its growing influence on the region’s indigenous population. In the summer of 2009 alone 462 acts of violence were reported, while... MORE