The post–New Year holidays in Russia have brought less joy or happy expectations than usual to the country’s elites, the urban middle classes and even to Russia’s millions of labor migrants. Over the past 15 years, all these groups shared in the country’s prosperity, which... MORE

Last week (December 11), Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan paid an official two-day visit to Georgia (Newsday.ge, December 11). The head of the Armenian government held intensive talks with his Georgian counterpart, Irakli Garibashvili, on the entire spectrum of the bilateral agenda. This agenda, however,... MORE

In light of Russia’s recent political and military advances into Ukraine, Georgia’s Abkhazia, Moldova, as well as fears of further provocations in the Baltic States, attention has focused recently on Russia’s influence over the Western Balkans (Albania and the countries of former Yugoslavia). Marred by... MORE

As 2014 draws to a close, energy developments in the Eurasian region have been gaining new prominence. Notably, on December 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin paid a state visit to Turkey to attend the fifth meeting of the Turkish-Russian High-Level Cooperation Council (CNN Turk, December... MORE

The insurgency in Dagestan was plagued by a series of failures last week. On December 9, the Russian security services killed the leader of the rebels’ Makhachkala sector, 25-year-old Emir Usman (Ruslan Darsamov). The incident took place when law enforcement agents stopped a car for... MORE

On November 22, the Islamic State organization (formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria—ISIS) released the fifth edition of its online magazine, Dabiq 5, which on the back cover featured a full-page photo of a boy in military fatigues (RIA Novosti, worldanalysis.net,... MORE

Astana’s language and nationality policies have put Kazakhstan at risk of becoming a second Ukraine in 2015, according to Ilya Namovir, a Russian linguist who edits the “Russians in Kazakhstan” portal. The next twelve months are likely to be critical because, as a result of... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. *To read Part Two, please click here. In order to stimulate centrifugal processes in Ukraine, the Kremlin needs the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” to remain within Ukraine’s political system pro forma, albeit outside Kyiv’s control de facto.... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. Moscow proposes to resolve the conflict in Donbas (eastern Ukrainian region encompassing the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces) by turning the Russian-controlled Donetsk and Luhansk territories into proto-states, to be linked with the rest of Ukraine in a quasi-confederal... MORE

On December 4, Major-General Oleksandr Rozmazninov, of Ukraine’s General Staff, reported a Russian deployment of the Iskander-M tactical missile system to Crimea. (Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, December 4). This and other Russian military deployments to the annexed peninsula have prompted debates on the shift in the military... MORE