The Russian-occupied separatist Georgian region of Abkhazia held a referendum on July 11 to decide whether the population supported holding early presidential elections. The referendum, which the opposition had demanded, ended up being declared invalid by the Abkhazian Central Election Commission (CEC) because barely 1... MORE

Ingushetia’s governor, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, recently declared: “There are no Wahhabis [Salafists] or Wahhabi mosques in Ingushetia; it is time for everyone to realize that! Those differences that we have today, we are gradually overcoming.” Even though Ingushetia is Russia’s smallest republic, it is far from... MORE

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will make his first foreign trip after the unsuccessful military coup to St. Petersburg to meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on August 9. In the aftermath of the July 15 coup attempt, thousands of Turkish soldiers, police officers, judges,... MORE

Migration from the North Caucasus, specifically from Chechnya, to Europe has increased this year. In the first six months of 2016, the number of migrants from Russia to Germany rose two-fold compared to the same period in 2015, and over 80 percent of those migrants... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. It was a summit of modest expectations and modest results for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Warsaw on July 8–9. These results are of an interim nature: building-blocks for further decisions at upcoming ministerial meetings, not... MORE

It was a summit of modest expectations and modest results for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Warsaw on July 8–9. These results are of an interim nature: building-blocks for further decisions at upcoming ministerial meetings, not waiting until next summit. The Warsaw results... MORE

Considering the profound militarization of Russia over the past few years, one might expect the country’s Armed Forces to play an increasingly significant political role domestically, to have their own agenda and to try to achieve its implementation. However, at first glance, nothing like this... MORE

On the eve of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, for the 11th Annual Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit (July 15–16), an article appeared in the Russian media entitled, “ ‘An Old Friend is Worth Two New’: It’s time for Russia to turn... MORE

The ethnic-Ukrainian share of Ukraine’s population is now greater than the ethnic-Russian share of the Russian Federation’s population—and significantly larger if one does not include Russian-occupied Crimea and Donbas in the Ukrainian estimation. Despite that, Moscow continues to try to play the ethnic card in... MORE

The operation in Syria is Russia’s first experience of expeditionary warfare—beyond what Moscow calls its “near abroad”—since Soviet forces left Afghanistan in 1989. The ongoing campaign in Syria, along with Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, have highlighted Russian military capabilities that were absent during the... MORE