The latest meeting of the Kazakhstani-US Energy Partnership Commission took place in Washington on October 15–16, 2012. The two delegation heads, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Oil and Gas Sauat Mynbayev and the US Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman, signed a Joint Action Plan for 2012–2013... MORE

Plans by the Dagestani opposition to hold a conference in Moscow in late October 2012 was known to the republican authorities in Makhachkala well in advance of the event. The Dagestani authorities tried to dissuade the opposition from holding the conference in Moscow, knowing full... MORE

The Kremlin has created a new “agitation and propaganda” (agitprop) administration, which will focus on the elderly, whom the regime hopes to influence or at least keep in its corner now, and the young whom it can only hope to affect over the long term.... MORE

On the night of October 28, another special operation aimed at detecting potential militants was conducted in the mountainous Avar village of Gimry in Dagestan’s Untsukul district. Gimry is known as the birthplace of two famous Dagestani imams of the 19th century, Gazi-Magomed and Shamil.... MORE

In early October, Russia’s state-run TV channel NTV (its current owner is Gazprom Media) broadcast a sequel of its investigation into the Russian opposition. The film known as “The Anatomy of Protest 2.0” contained a recorded conversation between one of Putin’s main critics, Sergei Udaltsov,... MORE

Last week, the public standing of one of President Vladimir Putin’s most powerful cohorts—Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov—was seriously undermined when Russia’s Investigation Committee (Slyedstvenny Kommitet Rossye—SKR) publicly accused the defense ministry–controlled holding company “Oboronservis” of corruption and of defrauding the federal budget of “over three... MORE

Russia is moving rapidly to start building the South Stream natural gas pipeline before the end of the year. On October 29, Serbia became the first Gazprom partner to announce its final investment decision on the construction of South Stream. Bulgaria will follow suit on... MORE

On October 24, the Memorial human rights center published a report on the situation in the North Caucasus during this past summer. The report documents the latest trends in the region that are often overlooked in the daily news. For example, Memorial determined that the... MORE

Earlier in October, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin traveled to India to complete discussions ahead of President Vladimir Putin’s planned trip there and to negotiate nuclear and arms deals. Perhaps not surprisingly, given Rogozin’s charm as a diplomat, Putin’s trip was postponed and overt... MORE

No two countries in the world today are as close as Russia and Belarus. This closeness has multiple aspects, one of which is structural affinity between the Russian and Belarusian societies. Both are afflicted with an internal schism, and the two resulting segments of each... MORE