In mid-June, the European Union pledged to provide one million euros ($1.13 million) to finance a preliminary study on the feasibility of constructing a railway tunnel between Tallinn and Helsinki, under the Gulf of Finland (ERR, June 15). The decision has attracted widespread attention to... MORE

President Vladimir Putin ordered, on June 14, another of the traditional “snap inspection exercises,” which have become a hallmark of the approach to testing combat readiness in the hands of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. The latest snap inspection exercise, running from June 14 to 22,... MORE

On June 3, the Armenian National Assembly’s (parliament) Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs approved the draft agreement with Russia on establishing a joint regional air defense system (see EDM, November 18, 2015). The National Assembly was expected to vote on the agreement before breaking for... MORE

An epic struggle between two Russian billionaires of Dagestani origin is unfolding in Dagestan. Suleiman Kerimov and Ziyavudin Magomedov are sparring over control of Makhachkala’s commercial seaport on the Caspian Sea. On May 27, the Russian government agency for sea and river transportation appointed a... MORE

Moscow’s intervention in Syria’s civil war has propelled Russia into the center of Middle Eastern politics and substantially enhanced its ties with virtually every Middle Eastern state. Israel is no exception. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently concluded his fourth visit to Moscow in a... MORE

The Memorial human rights center has monitored the situation in the North Caucasus since the start of the first Russian-Chechen War, in 1994. Memorial’s latest report, which covers the past two and a half years in the North Caucasus, concludes that the government is pursuing... MORE

The Tbilisi Court of Appeals upheld, on June 10, the earlier decision of the city court mandating changing the ownership of the prominent Georgian opposition TV channel, Rustavi 2. The media outlet, which is closely connected to the formerly ruling United National Movement (UNM), belongs... MORE

Work on the Southern Gas Corridor’s (SGC) implementation intensified to an unprecedented degree in recent months. On March 17 and May 17, the ground breaking ceremonies of two key constituent parts of the Southern Corridor—the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP)—were held, respectively,... MORE

The end of May–beginning of June turned out to be quite a tense period in Ingushetia, with the armed Islamist opposition suddenly becoming more active than in previous years. The authorities announced the elimination of suspected militants, although it is hard to verify whether the... MORE

While continuing to exchange barbs, the West and Russia are building a more institutionalized pattern of standoff in Europe that involves increasingly predictable tit-for-tat mirrored actions. Both sides profess their actions to be purely defensive, but these are increasingly robust defenses. The North Atlantic Treaty... MORE