The Norwegian Nobel committee’s decision, announced last Friday (October 8), to award the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize to Novaya Gazeta Editor-in-Chief Dmitry Muratov as well as Philippine journalist Maria Ressa evoked astonishment, anger and elation across Russia. Muratov himself was astounded (he rejected the first... MORE

The Kremlin is skillfully exploiting a European energy crisis caused in part by flawed European policies. On October 6, at the TTF Hub in the Netherlands, the price of natural gas rose to an all-time European record of $1,936 per 1,000 cubic meters. Due to... MORE

On September 28, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB—one of the main successor organizations of the Soviet KGB) published an official order, Number 376, that lists some 60 ambiguous reference points covering all possible information about the state of battle readiness, location, structure and operations... MORE

Islamic State’s Canadian ‘Voice’ Facing Terrorism Charges in the U.S.    During Islamic State (IS)’s heyday, before the collapse of its ‘territorial caliphate’ in Iraq and Syria in 2019, a Saudi-born Canadian IS member, Mohamed Khalifa, became the main voice of IS by narrating numerous... MORE

One of the sensations of the September 17–19 elections in Russia—on the whole absolutely predictable—was the entry of the New People party into the State Duma (lower chamber of parliament). The faction received 5.32 percent of the vote and, accordingly, 13 deputy mandates. This is... MORE

In the last decade, Russia has increasingly sought to show off its muscles to the rest of the world. Extensive Russian propaganda has focused on purported successes in the country’s rearmament and military modernization programs, going some way toward convincing the West of the worsening... MORE

The range of issues on which Moscow and the Circassian nation are in conflict is expanding, and the Russian government, along with its agents in the Circassian republics and regions of the North Caucasus, have stepped up their efforts to block Circassian demands. In response,... MORE

On September 22, someone fired shots at the car of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s first aide, Serhiy Shefir. The attack unfolded near the village of Lisnyky, outside Kyiv. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, more than ten bullets hit Shefir’s vehicle, wounding the driver,... MORE

In late September, while President Joseph Biden struggled with a multitude of domestic issues and President Vladimir Putin sought opportunities to score points on the international arena, the United States and Russia accomplished a series of potentially consequential diplomatic exchanges and probes at the medium–high... MORE

On September 13, more than 300 individuals gathered for a “people’s meeting,” or skhod, outside a dormitory for migrant workers in the Moscow Oblast town of Buzhaninovo, near Sergiev Posad. The rally participants called on the local police to investigate the foreign migrants in the... MORE