Relations between Russian authorities and the country’s Muslim subjects have been a sensitive issue since Islam appeared within the limits of the Russian Empire. Islam today remains one of the most problematic issues in Russian politics and is the main destabilizing force that could trigger... MORE

June 5, 2012 will likely go down in history as the turning point in the development of Russian parliamentarism. Under Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian State Duma (lower chamber of Parliament) has been a rubber-stamp body in which the United Russia Party and... MORE

Russia’s rulers seem confused on how to stop the continued public anti-Vladimir Putin protests in Moscow, shifting from aggressive intimidation and use of force to attempts to disorient and pacify the opposition by co-opting some of its ideas and leaders into the official fold. The... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Belarus and the nature of the Belarus-Russia relationship continue to be debated. It can certainly be argued that “the Belarusian president is merely forestalling the inevitable, which is deeper integration on terms determined by Russia” (see EDM 31 May).... MORE

The Azerbaijani-Turkish Trans-Anatolia gas pipeline project (TANAP) has become the basic component of the EU-backed Southern Corridor for Caspian gas to Europe. Shortly after the signing of the Azerbaijan-Turkey memorandum of understanding (MOU on December 26, 2011), the European Commission incorporated TANAP into the planning... MORE

Kabardino-Balkaria is likely to face the worst case scenario in the security sphere this summer and fall. The republic’s jamaat seems to have finished regrouping, having recovered following its deep crisis of 2011, when it lost practically all of its top and middle-ranking leadership. After... MORE

The courts in Mangistau region of Kazakhstan concluded the trials of 56 people held accountable for the violent events in Zhanaozen and Shetpe on December 16-17, 2011. These rulings sent a strong message that all sides that contributed to the escalation of the oil workers’... MORE

On June 4, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev affirmed the new makeup of the government commission for the socio-economic development of the North Caucasus. The commission is comprised of 26 top officials and headed by Medvedev himself. Moscow’s envoy to the North Caucasus, Aleksandr Khloponin, and... MORE

Quietly and unobtrusively, a Russo-Pakistani rapprochement has been developing behind the scenes of world politics for the last two years. On Pakistan’s side, the almost spectacular deterioration of relations with the United States and NATO has led it to seek new friends, especially as the... MORE

US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron have endorsed the Azerbaijani-Turkish project, Trans-Anatolia gas pipeline (TANAP), in their June 5 messages to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The two messages were read out at the opening of the Caspian Oil and Gas conference... MORE