Several statements and interviews from Russia’s military top brass, especially marking the fifth anniversary of the appointment of Sergei Shoigu as minister of defense in November 2012, note the effort to reintroduce a number of divisions to the order of battle (OOB). These structural-level changes... MORE

When Khaltmaa Battulga assumed the presidency of Mongolia in July 2017, most foreign and domestic observers believed he would pursue a much more pro-Russian policy than his globalist-minded predecessor, Tsakhia Elbegdorj. Battulga’s anti-Chinese rhetoric buttressed this prediction during the political campaign, followed by his first... MORE

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson happened to be in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the same day last week as Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, but opted not to have a meeting with his Russian counterpart as Moscow had suggested rather persistently. Tillerson’s brief probably was... MORE

Conflict in the North Caucasus has slowed significantly since 2014, and violence there has made few headlines, despite occasional significant events. Nevertheless, insurgent attacks and counterterrorist operations have continued, including in some areas that have been peaceful for years. Total casualties resulting from violent conflict... MORE

Russian telecommunication experts paid close attention to the February 22 announcement of the launch into orbit of two experimental micro-satellites by the private space exploration company SpaceX (Vedomosti, February 22). The main goal of the launch of SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket was advertised as the deployment... MORE

Russia has little hope of boosting its population through increasing the number of births—the size of the child-bearing cohort is rapidly declining, and preferences for smaller families are growing. In light of this, Vladimir Putin has begun to claim remarkable progress in reducing death rates... MORE

During his annual address to the parliament, on March 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled an array of nuclear superweapons, claiming Russia has secretly overcome the mighty United States and assumed a dominant military position. Putin demanded the West now “negotiate,” which sounded more like... MORE

On February 19, after a decade of investigations, Spanish prosecutors finally launched a major trial against notable members of the Russian mafia operating in the Iberian country. All in all, sufficient evidence was collected against 18 persons (cases, however, were opened against 27 alleged members... MORE

The ataman (head) of the Kuban Cossack voisko (army), Nikolay Doluda, reported that a National Guard platoon made up entirely of Cossacks is being created in Krasnodar Krai. This Cossack National Guard platoon will eventually be scaled up to a company, a battalion or even... MORE

Russia’s Armed Forces are reportedly rehearsing innovative approaches to combat tactics in their military exercises. This “new” approach to the combined use of tanks, artillery, Ground Forces personnel and reconnaissance assets is characterized as “shock-fire” (udarno-ognevoy), with only limited details emerging on its precise contours.... MORE