During a regular ministerial conference call, on May 4, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu clarified previously declared plans to counter the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). He noted, “The defense ministry is taking a number of measures to counteract the buildup of NATO forces in... MORE

Russia’s announced partial military drawdown of its force deployment in Syria has effectively given way to conceding that its military footprint in the country will endure for some time. With the withdrawal of some Aerospace Forces (Vozdushno Kosmicheskikh Sil—VKS) assets and insertion of limited replacements,... MORE

The recent decision of the Dagestani Spiritual Board of Muslims to participate in the parliamentary elections in the republic has reverberated across the region. The board plans to use the political party Narod Protiv Corruptsii (People Against Corruption) as their electoral vehicle. The first deputy... MORE

The ceremony of opening the United States’ missile defense base in Deveselu, Romania, last week (Thursday, May 12), was greeted by a barrage of condemnation and criticism from Russian officials (see EDM, May 12). The next day, President Vladimir Putin turned these denouncements into state... MORE

In late April, Federation Council Chairperson Valentina Matviyenko proposed uniting a number of Russian regions into fewer, larger ones (TASS, April 24). This proposal should be understood against the background of a series of recent domestic security–related initiatives by the Russian authorities—namely, the creation of... MORE

Over the past several years, there have not been many reports from Chechnya regarding insurgent activities in the republic. But while the Chechen government claims the republic has overcome the Islamist armed underground, insurgency-related incidents still sometimes occur, which means that militants still exist in... MORE

Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov visited Moscow for talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on April 25–26, 2016. The visit was widely hailed as the opening of a new chapter in bilateral ties (Uza.uz, April 27). President Putin called Uzbekistan “a strategic partner and a... MORE

The Dagestani authorities’ reassurances that the intensity of rebel violence in the republic is declining are partly true, but there is also another trend in how the government is presenting the situation. The authorities are trying to ignore the activities of rebels and portraying their... MORE

The United States missile defense (MD) base near the Romanian town of Deveselu, west of Bucharest, became operational this week, armed with 24 SM-3 Block IB interceptors, guided by a land-based version of the naval Aegis integrated combat system, using the SPY-1 radar. The US... MORE

Reports on May 3 revealed that the Spanish National High Court’s Central Investigative Court Number Five issued a series of international arrest warrants against 12 Russian citizens, including some figures considered close to President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, among them Nikolay Aulov, the deputy chief... MORE