During the crisis of defense reform associated with Anatoly Serdyukov’s (Russian minister of defense in 2007–2012) so-called “New Look” approach, there appeared a defense expert armed with mighty tools to unmask corruption and incompetence within the defense ministry and to lead Russian defense industries back... MORE

Turkey has been negotiating with a Chinese firm, the China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corporation (CPMIEC), to co-produce a $3.44 billion long-range air and anti-missile defense system. This has not only strained Ankara’s relations with Washington, but also raised the question of whether the deal indicates... MORE

Suicide bomber attacks in the North Caucasus rarely make headlines in the rest of the Russian Federation. Yet, any violent attack in Russia outside the North Caucasus, in ethnic Russian regions, is alarming to Russians, since they realize it could have affected them personally.The latest... MORE

It appears that Moscow views appointing people in the regions who constantly declare loyalty to the Kremlin the best strategy to combat extremism, separatism and terrorism. At the same time, the region’s problems are regarded as a matter of secondary importance compared to the declarations... MORE

In addition to the ten themes of Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s October 11 press conference for Russian journalists identified earlier (see EDM, October 18), one more topic deserves to be reflected upon. Lukashenka was unusually harsh on Lithuania. When asked whether he believes that Russia’s... MORE

This week, officials of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) were anticipating Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s first appearance at a NATO-Russia Council (NRC) defense ministerial. The NRC had not met at this level in almost two years, as relations between Russia and the Alliance... MORE

Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan suffered from serious bilateral tensions in the first decade after both Central Asian republics had gained their independence. But following the election of Turkmenistan’s new president, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, personal relations between the two countries’ heads of state visibly improved. A complex series... MORE

On the eve of the major Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice), two mosques were set on fire in different areas of Ukraine’s autonomous region of Crimea. On October 13, the central Crimean Tatar mosque in the town of Saki was burned down... MORE

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