The agreement to de-escalate the Ukraine crisis, signed at a meeting last week in Geneva by top foreign policy executives of Russia, the United States, the European Union and Ukraine, failed to decrease tensions and prevent further escalation (see EDM, April 17). The armed pro-Russian... MORE

The last stop of US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on his ten-day trip to Hawaii and Asia was to landlocked Mongolia. His short visit on April 10 featured charming photo-ops of his unique gift from the Mongolian government—a buff-colored horse that he named “Shamrock.”... MORE

On March 31, a Russian Joint Staff official, Lieutenant General Vasiliy Tonkoshkurov, made a surprise statement about the country’s conscription campaign at a press conference on the spring 2014 military draft campaign in Russia. During the event Tonkoshkurov announced that residents of the North Caucasus... MORE

Denials by Russia’s political-military leadership concerning alleged military involvement in eastern Ukraine are unsurprising and bear a resemblance to the official line on Crimea, until President Vladimir Putin recently confirmed their use. However, certain aspects of these official denials may shed some light on Moscow’s... MORE

The chief of the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, stated at an April 9 meeting of the Russian security services and law enforcement agencies that the FSB thwarted a terrorist attack during the Winter Olympics in Sochi. “The prevention of the attack... MORE

The Russian authorities have admitted that the situation involving the insurgency in the North Caucasus has no clear positive outlook for the government. The Main Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Interior in the North Caucasus Federal District confirmed this assessment in a report on... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to visit China for a summit in May. In advance of that meeting, Russian sources are again claiming that an agreement on a gas pipeline will be reached between Gazprom and its Chinese partners. Allegedly, both sides have agreed... MORE

The Ukrainian crisis and Russia’s annexation of Crimea have focused the attention of all the post-Soviet states. But especially concerned have been all the countries in the region that have their own internal unresolved conflicts as well as those neighboring states that maintain relations with... MORE

Tensions have recently spiked not in the Republic of Ingushetia itself, but in the border area of neighboring North Ossetia, which is populated by ethnic Ingush. Residents of the village of Maiskoe rose up in protest after the law enforcement agencies of North Ossetia–Alania arrested... MORE

The Ukrainian crisis and the “reunification” of Crimea with the rest of Russia dominated President Vladimir Putin’s almost four-hour-long televised national phone-in—an annual PR performance that had been previously dominated by discussion of pensions, utility payments, inflation, wages and other internal “bread and butter” issues.... MORE