Latest Articles about Russia
Flash Skirmishes in Nagorno-Karabakh: Triggers and Prospects
Between July 30 and August 4, flash skirmishes erupted along the Armenia-Azerbaijan contact line. While small-scale ceasefire violations have been relatively common, the recent events caused the highest casualty rates this frozen conflict has seen since 2008. According to official sources, 13 Azerbaijani soldiers were... MORE
In Escalating Standoff With West, Russia Imposes Food Ban
In reply to Western sanctions over the Ukrainian crisis, the Russian government has announced a sweeping ban on the import of meat and meat products, fish and sea food, cheese, milk and milk products, as well as fruit and vegetables from the United States, the... MORE
Is Russia Resuming a Trade War Against Georgia?
The Russian government has announced the imminent suspension of the Free Trade Regime between the Russian Federation and Georgia, which had been in place since 1994, following Georgia’s accession to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) (Civil Georgia, July 31). Moscow established the same regime... MORE
Russian Official Proposes Cutting Financial Aid to the North Caucasus
On July 10, Tatyana Golikova, chairperson of the Audit Chamber, Russia’s independent state budgetary watchdog agency, spoke about the country’s highly subsidized regions at a government meeting in Moscow. The Audit Chamber reviewed budget execution in seven highly subsidized regions to determine how well such... MORE
What Effect Will Asian Sanctions Have Upon Russia?
In the wake of the newest sanctions on Russia by the European Union and the United States, Washington is seeking to persuade its Asian allies, Japan and South Korea, to follow suit (Yonhap July 31; Korea Times Online, July 29). While South Korea has hesitated... MORE
Russia’s Elite Airborne Forces Celebrate VDV Day
The annual celebration of Russia’s elite Airborne Forces (Vozdushno Desantnye Voyska—VDV) on August 2, 2014, combined shows of strength with loutish behavior. Traditional displays of strength range from breaking bricks on VDV personnel, hand-to-hand combat and other macho shows. Celebration is less restrictive, especially among... MORE
Putin Re-Interprets Russia’s Participation in the First World War
On August 1, at Moscow’s Poklonnaya Hill military memorial, President Vladimir Putin inaugurated a monument to Russian soldiers who fought in the First World War. On the hundredth anniversary of that war’s outbreak, the Kremlin has decided retroactively to honor those soldiers as heroes, and... MORE
Russian Economist Denounces Yevkurov’s Record in Ingushetia
Nikolai Petrov, the well-known economist from Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, has scathingly criticized the glowing reports made by Ingushetia’s Governor Yunus-Bek Yevkurov. In an article, published by the Vzglyad website on July 28, Petrov pointed out that Ingushetia’s economy showed some positive dynamics, but... MORE
West Pushes and Eases Putin Toward a ‘Diplomatic Solution’ in Ukraine
Bad news hit the Kremlin thick and fast last week, but on Friday evening (August 1), President Vladimir Putin answered a phone call from US President Barack Obama, who again stressed that the Kremlin’s mounting problems can be resolved diplomatically (whitehouse.gov, August 1). Putin’s personal... MORE
Is Moscow Rethinking Its Policy of Withholding the Bodies of Slain North Caucasus Militants?
The body of Anzor Astemirov, one of the best known leaders of the Kabardino-Balkarian armed resistance, who was killed in 2010, was handed over to his relatives for burial recently, more than four years after his death. Astemirov was one of the founders of the... MORE