On October 18, an explosion shook the village of Dugulubgei in the Baksan district of Kabardino-Balkaria. An improvised explosive device (IED) with an estimated force of 10 kilograms of TNT exploded at a local cemetery located next to a mosque. The remains of two people... MORE

The CASA-1000 project is confidently moving forward (see EDM, October 7) and the construction work, although a little delayed, reportedly will start in 2014 (https://www.regnum.ru/news/fd-abroad/polit/1708783.html). CASA-1000 is a large-scale proposed series of hydroelectric dams and power generation sites in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan that would be... MORE

Dagestani leader Ramazan Abdulatipov last week (October 14) directed the district and city anti-terrorist commissions in his North Caucasus republic to launch a campaign to recall all Dagestani young people now studying abroad, especially in “crisis countries” where “various kinds of “terrorist actions, revolutions and... MORE

Moscow has long promoted its conventional defense modernization to 2020 as a means to strengthen the state’s claims to great power status. However, the Russian political and security elite continue to place considerably more emphasis upon the modernization of the nuclear deterrent; and in turn... MORE

On October 17, Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili declared that the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) coalition’s presidential candidate, Giorgi Margvelashvili, would be well advised not to participate in a second round of the upcoming presidential election should he fail to garner over 50 percent of... MORE

On October 13, massive riots started in the Moscow district of Biryulyovo, which is located in the southern part of the city (see EDM, October 17). Many observers dubbed the events a traditional Russian pogrom against ethnic non-Russians. The participants of the riots stormed a... MORE

The dramatic resolution of the fiscal-political crisis in the United States was barely noticed in Moscow last week (October 16–17) as two dissimilar events of a local character but heavy resonance focused public attention. The first one was a mass riot in the Moscow suburb... MORE

On October 15, the trial of the former military emir of the Caucasus Emirate and emir of the Ingush jamaat, Magas (a.k.a. Ali Taziev, Magomed Yevloev) concluded. Magas was the emir of Ingushetia from 2001 to 2010 and the military emir of the entire North... MORE

On October 11, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka gave his 11th press conference to Russian journalists. It lasted 5.5 hours. The audience consisted of about 90 people, mostly representing Russian provincial media. During three days preceding the press conference, the members of the audience were given... MORE

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara has visited Kazakhstan and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov went to Belarus earlier this month to assure Russia’s Customs Union partners that Ukraine’s plans to sign an association and free trade agreement with the European Union in November will do them... MORE