Since Vladimir Putin was elected to the Russian presidency in May 2012, he has promised to place “smart defense” at the heart of Russia’s security strategy (https://www.rg.ru/2012/02/20/putin-armiya.html). Testing new concepts and approaches to the use of the Armed Forces featured in the operational-strategic exercise Zapad... MORE

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says that the West is opposing Moscow in Ukraine because Russia is returning to Orthodoxy. Whereas other Russian commentators suggest that Moscow must fight in Ukraine not just to oppose Kyiv’s shift toward Europe but also to block the eastward... MORE

The Ukrainian crisis has apparently claimed another victim, namely Russo-Japanese rapprochement. This rapprochement, which began after Shinzo Abe’s rise to power in Tokyo, offered clear signs of a new attempt to overcome the long-standing dispute over the Kuril Islands (known in Japan as the Northern... MORE

On June 5, Ingushetia’s governor, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, estimated the number of ethnic Ingush who have fought on the side of pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine to be between 20 to 25 persons. According to Yevkurov, four of the Ingush volunteers were killed in hostilities in... MORE

Bulgarian Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski has suspended all activities related to the disputed South Stream natural gas pipeline project until his government reaches an agreement with Brussels that would be compliant with European Union laws. The Russian-led pipeline project is designed to bypass Ukraine as... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin had more meetings than could have been expected with his European peers and even with US President Barack Obama during the ceremonies in Normandy last Friday (June 6), which marked the 70th anniversary of the Allied D-Day invasion. This exemption to... MORE

On May 26, the Adygean branch of the Russian Ministry of Interior’s department for fighting extremism summoned Circassian activists who signed a petition asking Ukraine to recognize the Circassian “genocide.” Prosecutors and police officers questioned activists Aslan Shazzo, Adnan Khuade, Evgeny Tashu and Ilyas Soobtsokov... MORE

The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) hosted its third annual International Security Conference in Moscow on May 23–24. This year’s agenda was more diverse than the previous two conferences, which focused on ballistic missile defense in Europe and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) enlargement... MORE

The ceremony in Astana last Thursday (May 29) on signing the Eurasian Economic Union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan was a surprisingly business-like affair. The lack of fanfare reflected the mood of Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbaev, who was not altogether pleased with how his old... MORE

After having abstained from the March 27 United Nations General Assembly resolution vote condemning Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Mongolia has continued its public silence regarding Russian actions in Ukraine. This is despite the fact that Mongolia has been a close partner of the North Atlantic... MORE