Dagestan, the most ethnically complex republic in the North Caucasus, faces an ever greater risk that it will disintegrate as Yugoslavia did. This growing danger exists both because of the changing demographics and power relationships within this Russian federal-level entity and due to the growing... MORE

An estimated 32,000 people turned out for an “anti-Maidan” rally in Moscow on Saturday, February 21. The Russian march, condemning the Ukrainian government and its war in the country’s east, began on Moscow’s central Petrovka Street and ended at Revolution Square. The demonstration, which had... MORE

In the aftermath of concluding the Minsk Two agreements earlier this month, the strategically important Debaltseve soon fell to the Russia-backed Ukrainian separatists—amidst clear disagreement over whether or not the latest ceasefire applied to the town. During the sixteen-hour talks in Minsk, on February 12,... MORE

On February 2, Tajikistan’s government approved an “anti-crisis program” designed to stimulate economic growth by creating 200,000 new jobs (Ozodi, February 2). While the details of the stimulus plan are uncertain, the causes of Tajikistan’s current economic woes are clear. In particular, the Russian economic... MORE

On February 18–19, Ukraine decided to request the United Nations Security Council to authorize a peacekeeping contingent or police mission that would discourage further advances of Russian and proxy forces in Ukraine’s east (Ukrinform, February 18, 19). Debaltseve fell to Russian and proxy forces on... MORE

The new Prime Minister of Mongolia, Chimediin Saikhanbileg, whose ‘Reconciliation Government’ has been in power less than three months, visited Japan on February 9–11 to sign a Mongolian-Japanese Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe. This economic partnership agreement, effective immediately, was... MORE

During his visit to Ankara in December 2014, Vladimir Putin announced that South Stream—a large pipeline that would have carried Europe-bound Russian gas under the Black Sea and across Southeastern Europe—had been terminated. A major reason for South Stream’s cancellation was attributed to the exit... MORE

*To read Part One please click here *To read Part Two please click here  Unlike the Minsk One ceasefire agreements of September 2014, the Minsk Two agreement of February 12, 2015, goes far beyond a military armistice. It is overloaded with political provisions which, if implemented,... MORE

Since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis, China has been remarkably forthright in its consistent opposition to the imposition of sanctions against Russia following the country’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and support for separatist movements in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. The capture of Debaltseve in Ukraine on Wednesday (Interfax, February 18) by Russian and proxy troops, following prolonged bombardment by their heavy missile systems, is not simply a prima facie breach of the February 12, 2015, “Minsk Two”... MORE