Last week (October 7), the Russian Duma unanimously ratified an agreement signed in August 2015 with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to indefinitely lease for free the Khmeimim airbase, near the port city Latakia, on the Syrian Mediterranean coast. Russian jets have been... MORE

Three times in the course of the last century, the Russian military has formed ethnically-based units. During World War I, the tsars created the famed “savage” division, which consisted of regiments made up of people from the Caucasus. In the Russian Civil War, such groups... MORE

Over the past several months, Russian has been ramping up military activities on its northwestern flank (see EDM, July 11). This was most recently underscored by the intensification of Moscow’s “Iskander diplomacy” and attempts to project the image of improving efficiency in the western-facing Armed... MORE

At a recent conference of the International Circassian Association (ICA), the governor of Kabardino-Balkaria, Yuri Kokov, proposed to create a unified writing script for all Circassians. Although the idea is not new, this marked the first time that the political leadership of one of the... MORE

Last Friday (October 7) marked ten years since the murder of Novaya Gazeta journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya. And while her killer and several accomplices were convicted, the mastermind of this crime is still at large (Novaya Gazeta, October 7). Two days prior... MORE

US Secretary of State John Kerry’s attempts to hammer out a Syrian ceasefire agreement with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, have collapsed, leaving relations between Washington and Moscow in tatters. The Russian-led coalition, which includes military forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government as... MORE

On September 30, trading on the Moscow Exchange pushed up the Russian ruble to 62.81 per US dollar, its highest recorded value for the current year (RT, October 3), marking a 31 percent appreciation versus the greenback since end of January 2016. The move reflected,... MORE

The ruler of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has finally reacted to the ongoing scandal related to Chechen refugees stuck in Belarus since the summer (see EDM, September 29). Using his favorite means of public communication, Instagram, Kadyrov dismissed claims that residents of Chechnya have to leave... MORE

Russia’s highly ambitious military modernization agenda to 2020 has garnered unprecedented government spending to redress the long hiatus in replacing dated weapons equipment. Yet, it faces potentially crippling obstacles to a fuller implementation of such goals. The original plan, to achieve 70 percent new or... MORE

October 2016 marks the centennial of the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railroad (Trans-Sib), Russia and the world’s longest railroad line. Yet, no special celebrations are planned—in part due to Russia’s current economic difficulties, but also because that fabled railroad may be reaching the end of... MORE