On July 23, government forces declared a counterterrorist operation regime and launched a special operation in the center of Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria. According to the Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAK), the authorities learned about the presence of six suspected members of a terrorist group in a... MORE

Russia’s latest incursions from the breakaway Georgian territory of South Ossetia into adjacent territory heretofore controlled by Georgia have given rise to renewed security concerns for Georgia’s strategic East-West Highway as well as the Western Route Export Pipeline (WREP)—more commonly known as the Baku-Supsa oil... MORE

The international context of negotiations to implement the Minsk armistice is changing in Russia’s favor. As the leading Western power, the Barack Obama administration effectively pressures Ukraine to legitimize the Donetsk-Luhansk authorities in the constitution and through elections. This would satisfy Russia’s main demands at... MORE

Chechnya, formally a Russian province, has found a place for itself in relations between Moscow and Riyadh. Indeed, in general, subnational units of the Russian Federation, in particular the Muslim regions, have become much more active in the Middle East. Chechnya’s governor, Ramzan Kadyrov, has... MORE

Sometimes a story appears that seemingly makes no sense and cries out for an explanation. The following story is one of those cases: On July 15, RIA Novosti reported that Russia will trade $160 million worth of military hardware for Thai rubber, fruit and vegetables.... MORE

Urged by US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland in Kyiv last week, Ukraine took a first step toward legalizing the secessionist authorities in the country’s constitution (see EDM, July 20). Concurrently, US Vice President Joseph Biden asked Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to accept local... MORE

Three people were killed and at least 13 wounded in the western Ukrainian town of Mukacheve (Mukachevo), on July 11, as members of the nationalist paramilitary group Right Sector (RS) attacked local police near a local sports club with machine guns and grenades. RS claimed... MORE

Russian news agencies reported that both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chechnya’s governor, Ramzan Kadyrov, expressed their condolences to the leadership of Iraq for the terrorist attack in Khan Bani Saad, Diyala Governorate. Terrorists detonated a car laden with explosives in the city, killing more... MORE

As Russo-Western relations go from bad to worse, the Kremlin has been developing strategic ties with Asia. In a recent three-part policy manifesto, President Vladimir Putin’s adviser Sergei Glazyev declared that the United States is determined to destroy Russia and provoke a large-scale war in... MORE

Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov paid his first official visit to Georgia on July 2–3. The most important topics of the meeting between Berdimuhamedov and his Georgian counterpart, Giorgi Margvelashvili, included cooperation in the energy and transportation spheres. During the visit, President Berdimuhamedov reaffirmed that Turkmenistan... MORE