On March 9, four people were killed in three different parts of Dagestan. One incident took place in Khasavyurt district, which is predominantly populated by Chechens, Avars and Kumyks. Another incident happened in the town of Izberbash south of Makhachkala, which is mostly populated by... MORE

Sergei Shoigu, a former long-time emergency situations minister (MChS) and a former Moscow region governor is a well-known and popular figure in Russia—according to recent independent Leveda-Tsentr polls, he is at present more popular than Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Last November, President Vladimir Putin sacked... MORE

On March 4, renowned Georgian folk dance and music ensemble Erisioni departed to Russia for a tour, culminating in a series of grandiose concerts at the Kremlin on March 9–10 (Imedi TV, March 4). Two other Georgian folk ensembles, Rustavi and National Ballet Sukhishvilebi, as... MORE

At the end of February 2013, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili paid an official visit to Baku. During the visit, Saakashvili met with his Azerbaijani counterpart, President Ilham Aliyev, and discussed several issues of mutual interests. As analysts suggested, the visit was supposed to calm down... MORE

The most influential Russian opposition figure and crusader against government corruption, Alexei Navalny, has turned his attention to the North Caucasus once again. On March 1, Navalny revealed a document that implicates Ingushetia’s government in planning to spend nearly $90,000 to enable a fashion designer... MORE

In advance of new Chinese President Xi Jinping’s forthcoming visit to Moscow, a major “deliverable” has finally emerged. On February 27, Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) announced their agreement to conclude negotiations on the long-stalled Russo-Chinese natural gas deal by year’s end.... MORE

When the world was asking just over a decade ago “Who is Mr. Putin?” Mintimir Shaimiev, Tatarstan’s president at that time, said that “[Vladimir] Putin wants to do things in Russia just as they are done in Tatarstan” (Zvezda Povolszhya, March 2). By this he... MORE

Russia and Ukraine are close to reaching an agreement on the clearance of Black Sea Fleet (BSF) vessel movements outside their bases, the Ukrainian website zn.ua reported on March 2, citing sources familiar with the talks. The sources said that Russia no longer objects to... MORE

Moscow’s plans to reform and modernize its conventional Armed Forces have become encased in experiment, indecision, bureaucracy and secrecy. Since Army-General Sergei Shoigu was appointed as the defense minister in November 2012, the “reform” has officially stayed “on course,” while numerous instances of revision or... MORE

According to Maria Kravchenko, a member of the Russian human rights center “Sova,” Russian authorities continue to persecute the followers of Said Nursi, a Turkish theologian who died in 1960. Kravchenko notes that Nursi’s followers are often sentenced to 1.5 years in prison (Kavkaz-uzel.ru, November... MORE