Latest Articles about Middle East
MOSCOW APPEARS TO WAVER OVER PACIFIC PIPELINE ROUTE
Although the Russian government has announced what was seen as a final decision for a Japan-bound Pacific oil pipeline route, some recent statements by the country's top officials suggest otherwise. According to Kremlin chief of staff Dmitry Medvedev, Pacific oil pipeline plans are to be... MORE
PUTIN SEEKS TO ASSERT CONTROL WITHOUT LEADERSHIP
Aides and speechwriters for Russian President Vladimir Putin are now putting the final touches on his annual address to the Federal Assembly due to be delivered by the end of this month. In the leak-proof Kremlin, the speech's content is guarded more vigilantly than were... MORE
“CALL ME JAVIER”?
For the second time in the space of one week, the Kremlin has embarrassed an unsuspecting European Union by holding parallel meetings on the settlement of frozen conflicts. While EU leaders came through the front door, Russian-installed secessionist leaders entered through the back door. The... MORE
MEDVEDEV INTERVIEW CONTINUES TO MAKE WAVES
The interview with Kremlin administration chief Dmitry Medvedev published in the magazine Ekspert on April 4 has drawn wide commentary from Russia's media and political elite (see EDM, April 7). While the interview was wide-ranging and touched on a number of issues, Medvedev's warning about... MORE
OPPOSITION IN BASHKORTOSTAN AND INGUSHETIA VOW TO NOT RETREAT
At 1:21 pm local time (3:21 am in Washington DC), a charter plane loaded with citizens opposed to the rule of Bashkortostan President Murtaza Rakhimov left Ufa airport for Moscow. Two days ago (April 5), Bashkir opposition leaders announced that 150 of its members were... MORE
ARE MOSCOW AND TOKYO DOUBTING WISDOM OF NAKHODKA PROJECT?
Dmitry Medvedev's recent interview in the Russian journal Ekspert (April 4) raised eyebrows for a variety of reasons. The fact that he even consented to give an interview is news in itself. The Kremlin Chief of Staff has been largely invisible to the public eye... MORE
RUSSIAN ARMY REMAINS IN DECLINE
Russia's military manning system continues to struggle with unwilling conscripts forced to serve in deplorable conditions and with inadequate training. Health problems among young conscripts arriving in the barracks are compounded by the widespread persistence of draft dodging and the rising numbers of men seeking... MORE
SECESSIONIST LEADERS HOLD “MINISTERIAL” TALKS, PREPARE “SUMMIT”
The self-styled "ministers of foreign affairs" of Transnistria and Abkhazia, Valery Litskay and Sergei Shamba, along with South Ossetia's "permanent representative" to Russia, Dmitry Medoev, held a tripartite meeting and talks with Russian officials on April 3-4 in Moscow. On March 30, Transnistria's "president" Igor... MORE
RUSSIA’S POLITICAL CLASS IS SPLIT OVER HOW TO PROCEED WITH INTEGRATION OF POST-SOVIET SPACE
Contradictory Kremlin statements on the possible fate of the Commonwealth of Independent States (see EDM, March 31) reflect the strategic confusion among Russian policymakers and pundits about the country's policy toward its neighbors in the post-Soviet lands. As the waves of "colored revolutions" sweep across... MORE
MOSCOW EYES ENERGY DELIVERIES TO NORTH KOREA BY RAIL
Moscow has revealed possible plans to supply crude oil to Pyongyang, although expanded cooperation and trade ties between Russia and North Korea remain a distant vision. In March, Gennady Fadeyev, head of the state-run Russian Railways company (RZD) mentioned that Russia is considering oil deliveries... MORE