In two battlegrounds 1,500 kilometers apart, veteran Chechen freelance fighters are being rebuked by those with whom they aligned against a common foe. In June, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the main rebel group in the Idlib Governorate of Syria, issued a demand that the hundreds... MORE

In the run-up to September’s legislative elections to the State Duma (lower chamber of the Russian parliament), the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) has been notably active. Traditionally, the communists are seen by Russians as a “surrogate” opposition—that is, one completely loyal to... MORE

The remarks by United States President Joseph Biden at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence last week (July 27) made a strong but ambivalent impression in Moscow. His warning regarding Russian misinformation and interference in the 2022 mid-term elections in the US was... MORE

Turkmenistan’s longstanding neutrality has kept it out of Russian regional security arrangements like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which has constrained the level of influence Moscow could have in this notoriously insular Central Asian republic. But now, China... MORE

On July 25, Russia celebrated Navy Day (see EDM, July 26). With plenty of pomp and circumstance, naval parades were held at various Russian Military-Maritime Fleet (Voyenno-Morskoy Flot—VMF) bases, from Petropavlovsk (Kamchatka) and Vladivostok (the main bases of the Pacific Fleet, in the east), to... MORE

On July 19, Russia’s Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin stated that the deputy ministers in his cabinet will each oversee one of the country’s eight Federal Districts. These subnational macro units are comprised, on average, of a dozen neighboring federal subjects (republics, oblasts, krais, etc.) in... MORE

A close examination of the Russian government’s public positions on the impending Taliban takeover of Afghanistan provides a revealing picture of Moscow’s approach to conflicts abroad and of its posture in Central Asia more specifically. While reveling in Washington’s failure in Afghanistan (TASS, July 16,... MORE

On July 19, Russia’s Northern Fleet conducted another successful test of the 3M22 Tsirkon hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile. The test launch occurred in the White Sea, striking a stationary ground target at a range of 350 kilometers. Its success marks an additional step toward the... MORE

On July 20, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan paid a working visit to Moscow, upon the invitation of his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin (President.az, July 20). This was the second working visit of the Azerbaijani head of state to Russia this year, following his earlier... MORE

On July 20, Belarus’s President Alyaksandr Lukashenka conducted a foreign policy revision meeting. That same day, the Roundtable of Democratic Forces, a group headed by Yury Voskresensky, published a draft for a new constitution; and Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, widely seen in the West as the leader... MORE