With most of the military forces of the United States and the North Atlantic Organization (NATO) having departed Afghanistan, Russia has grown increasingly anxious about a possible deterioration of the regional security situation. As 2014 ended, Moscow flatly called NATO’s Afghanistan policy a failure (Pajhwok... MORE

The death of one of the most famous Ichkerian generals from the two wars in Chechnya, Isa Munaev on February 1, again drew public attention to the involvement of Chechens in the conflict in eastern Ukraine (Echo.msk.ru, February 2). Munaev arrived in Ukraine and led... MORE

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande conferred during the night of February 5–6 with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv. The three leaders and their advisory teams discussed a proposal from Russian President Vladimir Putin for an armistice in Ukraine, and a... MORE

According to experts, for a long time only two or three regional politicians in Russia could play an important role at the federal level—two of them being the mayor of Moscow and the president of Tatarstan (Carnegie.ru, January 22). Leaders of the North Caucasus republics... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. The breakdown of the Minsk negotiations process (see Part One in EDM, February 4) had become obvious even before its final collapse on January 31. Moscow, along with the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” (“DPR” and “LPR,” respectively)... MORE

The continuing bloody fighting in eastern Ukraine and the deepening crisis in relations with the West has prompted the Russian military to alter its defense development plans. A financial and economic crisis, caused by a steep fall in oil prices and Western punitive sanctions, is... MORE

Ethnic Russians are leaving the North Caucasus, and the prospects for restoring ethnic-Russian communities in the republics are dim despite the authorities’ efforts. Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Russians fled Chechnya following years of war and instability. Economic and political upheavals forced most ethnic Russians... MORE

Russia’s and its proxies’ military advantage (see EDM, January 22, February 3) is increasingly shaping the Minsk process of negotiations to Ukraine’s detriment. That process maintains the fiction that Russia is not a party to the conflict in Ukraine. Ukraine’s official position in Kyiv and... MORE

More than in most parts of the world, the former Soviet space is a place where battles about the present and the future are waged over the past. Most famously, Russians and Ukrainians disagree profoundly whether Kievan Rus marked the beginning of Russian statehood, as... MORE

Russian and proxy forces are attacking Ukrainian positions at multiple points along the frontline since mid-January 2015, bringing to bear superior armored forces, unmatched heavy firepower and electronic warfare support. These offensive operations are mostly positional and attritional for the time being, with a distinct... MORE