Russia is facing a new problem and this concerns the new front that the Chechens have launched outside the North Caucasus. As a result of the brutal suppression of the Chechen armed resistance, only three small groups are left in the republic: the group led... MORE

The Trilateral Contact Group is the latest of several international forums that have emerged in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine (see accompanying article). Established in June, the Contact Group brings together representatives of Ukraine, Russia, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),... MORE

Yesterday’s terrorist attack that downed the Malaysian Airlines plane, killing approximately 300 passengers, occurred in an area held by pro-Russia fighters on the Ukrainian side of the Russia-Ukraine border. This act illustrates the magnitude of risks ensuing from Russia’s deliberate destruction of border controls in... MORE

In Chechnya, yet another problem has been added to the set of existing ones. The Memorial human rights center has designated Ruslan Kutaev as a political prisoner on April 19 (memo.ru, April 19), and earlier this month (July 2014), Amnesty International (amnesty.org) and Human Rights... MORE

Fresh sanctions against Russia imposed by the Barack Obama administration on July 16 will likely hamper Gazprom’s ability to finance the South Stream natural gas pipeline. Among the sanctioned entities are two energy companies, Rosneft and Novatek, and two financial institutions—Russia’s third-largest lender, Gazprombank, and... MORE

On July 17, the United States imposed additional sanction to punish Russia for continuing to support the separatist rebellion in the far eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. Russia’s biggest oil company, Rosneft; major natural gas producer Novotek; two major banks, Gazprombank and VEB; eight major... MORE

A Tbilisi city court has refused to release Gigi Ugulava, the former mayor of the Georgian capital, out on bail, instead sentencing him to two months in pre-trial detention. Ugulava is fighting a series of charges brought against him by the Prosecution and the investigative... MORE

As thousands of refugees from Ukraine’s far-eastern Donbas region continue to pour into Russia’s Rostov Oblast (see EDM, June 30), the need for humanitarian aid is intense. One social group in the Russian Federation, the Cossacks, has become particularly active in delivering aid to the... MORE

The continuing tensions in Ukraine have resulted in over 21,000 refugees from eastern Ukraine receiving temporary shelter in Russia, according to Russia’s Ministry for Emergency Situations. The Central, Southern and North Caucasian federal districts received the majority of the refugees from Ukraine (gazeta.ru, July 12).... MORE

In the aul (village) of Afipsip in Adygea, Circassians are preparing to erect a statue of Kizbechu Sheretluko, a Circassian who fought the Russian advance into the North Caucasus in the 1830s. But they plan to place the statue next to a memorial to Soviet... MORE