
Latest Articles about Russia

Rift Between Supporters of Caucasus Emirate and IS Deepens in North Caucasus
The most talked about subject in Kabardino-Balkaria so far in 2015 is the prison sentences passed handed down to the militants who participated in the insurrection in the republican capital in 2005. On October 13 of that year, groups of militants under the command of... MORE

Armed Formations in the Secessionist ‘Luhansk Republic’ (Part Four)
*To read Part One, please click here. *To read Part Two, please click here. *To read Part Three, please click here. Local ataman (historically, a Cossack leader) rule proliferates in the power vacuum of the “Luhansk People’s republic” (LPR). Russian forces seized this area from... MORE

Armed Formations in the Secessionist ‘Luhansk Republic’ (Part Three)
*To read Part One, please click here. *To read Part Two, please click here. Outside Luhansk City and its environs, the “Luhansk People’s Republic’s” (LPR) territory is splintered into de facto fiefdoms and portions of no man’s land. Each fiefdom has its own ataman (leader)... MORE

Murder of Armenian Family by Russian Soldier Severely Strains Moscow-Yerevan Relations
The situation in Armenia has suddenly became extremely tense after six members of the Avetisyan family, including two children, were murdered on January 12 in Gyumri, Armenia’s second largest city, on January 12; meanwhile, the family’s six-month old baby, also wounded in the attack, is... MORE

Armed Formations in the Secessionist ‘Luhansk Republic’ (Part Two)
*To read Part One, please click here. Russia is building secessionist proto-states on parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk provinces (collectively known as the Donbas region). This effort is advancing with relative ease in the “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DPR) but is faltering in the “Luhansk... MORE

Will the Islamic State Overplay Its Hand in the North Caucasus?
It was an uneasy start to 2015 in the North Caucasus. On the very first day of the year, government forces clashed with militants in Mekkensky village, located in the lowlands of northern Chechnya’s Naur district. Two militants were killed in the battle. According to... MORE

With Talks Fruitless, Fighting in Ukraine Intensifies
The falling ruble, two-digit inflation and obvious signs of a pending financial and economic meltdown apparently have not influenced Russia’s assertive foreign and defense policies. A proposed summit in Astana between the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France in the so-called “Normandy format,” initially... MORE

Nursultan Nazarbayev’s Ukraine Diplomacy
On January 9, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Walter Steinmeier in Berlin in order to discuss the crisis in Ukraine and to propose hosting a heads of state meeting in Astana between the leaders of Ukraine, Russia,... MORE

Redeployment of Russian Forces to Ukraine Leads to Drop in Violence in North Caucasus
Despite a noticeable decline in the intensity of violence in the North Caucasus, Russian experts on the region are convinced the situation is set to become worse rather than improve. The Kavkazsky Uzel website estimated that 290 people died and 144 people were injured in... MORE

City on Russian-Azerbaijani Border Ready to Explode
Relations between ethnic Azerbaijanis and the Dagestani peoples in the North Caucasus republic’s southern city of Derbent have reached a boiling point. Two new acts of vandalism—one against a grave of a Muslim leader venerated by Azerbaijanis and a second against a monument to Nizami,... MORE