According to the Committee of Inquiry of Kabardino-Balkaria, on November 21, three gunmen were killed during a special operation in Nalchik (the capital of the republic). A source within the security ministries of Nalchik reported that a battle with gunmen occurred on a street of... MORE

On October 18, the US arms control expert, Steven Pifer offered an optimistic view on NATO-Russia relations and missile defense, while Russia’s Ambassador to the Alliance Dmitry Rogozin, outlined his own solution to the impasse over NATO’s refusal to legally guarantee that the phased adaptive... MORE

Following the second phase of auditing Turkmen gas reserves, the British consultancy company Gaffney Cline & Associates (GCA, one of the world leaders in the profession) estimates the reserves in eastern Turkmenistan at just under 20 trillion cubic meters (the figure deemed most likely, within... MORE

On November 27, one week before the parliamentary Duma elections in Russia, a congress of the ruling United Russia party unanimously endorsed Prime Minister and former President Vladimir Putin, as its official candidate in the upcoming presidential elections, scheduled for March 4, 2012. In his... MORE

As the EU-Ukraine summit scheduled for December 19 approaches, the chances for concluding an association agreement decrease. Although the two sides have completed their association and free trade talks (see EDM, November 2), Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s determination to keep in prison his bitter rival,... MORE

The Russian and Circassian narratives on Circassian history continue to clash. On November 16, one of the three major Russian TV channels, NTV, broadcast a report about Russia providing humanitarian assistance to Circassians. “In 1998, prior to the NATO bombardment, Russia evacuated 42 Circassian families... MORE

With it appearing increasingly unlikely that NATO and Russia will come to an agreement on a joint European missile defense system, it seems certain that the US-Russian reset may be in serious trouble. The successful negotiations that led to START III and the reduction of... MORE

The Soviet art of socialist realism used to be defined as “socialist in substance, national in form.” Threats to prevent the construction of a trans-Caspian gas pipeline by military force are also a form of Kremlin art: bluff in their substance, even if brutal in... MORE

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan took a groundbreaking step, by issuing a state apology for the killings committed by the state security forces in the historical Dersim – today’s Tunceli – region, predominantly populated by Alevis. The 1937 massacres were long considered a dark... MORE

Parliamentary elections slated for May 2012 are becoming the focal point of political life in Armenia, with the main political forces already positioning themselves for the contest seen as a dress rehearsal for a presidential ballot due in 2013. President Serzh Sargsyan is expected to... MORE