Russian, Ukrainian and Western media, commentators and officials offer conflicting interpretations of Russia’s military “buildup” along Ukraine’s eastern border. The reality of the size and composition of those forces is fiercely disputed. A near war of words has erupted between Moscow and the North Atlantic... MORE

The Ukrainian government has apparently understated its possible economic losses caused by Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula. According to a recent valuation by the Ukrainian Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Russia seized an estimated 127 billion hryvna ($10 billion) of assets in Crimea,... MORE

The Russian invasion of Crimea and the tensions with the West that followed it have created a new public climate in Russia with regard to the North Caucasus. “Today, when Russia has found itself practically on the verge of war with its closest neighbor, all... MORE

Inevitably, Russia is trying to regain the initiative in the Ukrainian crisis by applying the most powerful instrument of its foreign policy—the export of natural gas to Europe. Last Thursday (April, 10), President Vladimir Putin sent a letter to the leaders of the 18 European... MORE

The government of Turkmenistan has begun mobilizing the country’s army reservists and has sent them to the border with Afghanistan. At least a few dozen reservists were deployed to the town of Serhetabad, (formerly known as Kushka) on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan border. The border situation worsened... MORE

Statements and declarations about Georgia made by Western countries and especially the United States carry big weight in Tbilisi. Every one of them is read, re-read, analyzed, and scrutinized by Georgian politicians, experts and ordinary citizens alike. US President Barack Obama’s March 26 statement in... MORE

Russia’s Anschluss of Crimea last month was carried out according to all the standard procedures of the Third Reich. Like Nazi Germany and the Sudetenland in 1938, Moscow captured Crimea and presented the move as a triumph of historical justice (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4octWQkIxg).There are also some important... MORE

Following the news of Doku Umarov’s death and the elevation of a new leader of the North Caucasian armed underground, experts have started to debate whether this will bring changes in the tactics of the insurgents.The replacement of Umarov, whose death was announced only in... MORE

The Ukrainian authorities’ initial response to the unrest in the country’s southeastern regions was a mixed one: Pro-Russian protesters were able to seize the regional administration buildings in Donetsk and Kharkiv as well as the Security Service (SBU) offices in Donetsk and Luhansk on April... MORE

Moscow seems to be preparing the atmosphere for a possible military intervention in Ukraine’s eastern regions. Russia could, if it deemed expedient, intervene there with troops in some form or other, as it has just done in Crimea. But, more likely, Moscow would leverage the... MORE