In late June and early July, German Chancellor Angela Merkel as well as Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia, Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine and Francois Hollande of France held a series of telephone conferences in variable formats to negotiate control arrangements for the Russia–Ukraine border. Russia... MORE

The pro-Russia separatist rebellion in the Donbas seems to be teetering on the brink of a humiliating and bloody collapse. Last Saturday, July 5, the rebels led by Igor Girkin (also known as Strelkov) fled the city of Slavyansk north of Donetsk—the scene of constant... MORE

On July 3, Russian President Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting of the presidential council for interethnic relations, which he began by stating that the focus of the meeting would be improving his government’s interethnic policies. “It is important for youth to understand the significance of... MORE

Russian military theorists, experts, commentators and officials have long shown interest in moving the country’s military toward information or network-centric approaches to warfare. Following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in February–March 2014, which was executed by harnessing a mixture of hard and soft power in what... MORE

Last week, Yevgeny Vitishko marked his 40th birthday in a Russian prison where he is serving a three-year sentence, because he exposed the environmental damage Vladimir Putin and his entourage inflicted on the North Caucasus in the run-up to the Sochi Olympics. He has always... MORE

Apart from closer economic and trade ties, the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), which its three founding members—Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus—expect to launch as early as next January, also foresees increased cooperation in the scientific field, with an emphasis on innovations. While Russia and Kazakhstan have... MORE

As the crisis in Russian-Ukrainian relations deepens, Ukrainian refugees are turning up in unlikely locations, such as the North Caucasus. An estimated 200 refugees from eastern Ukraine, who went to North Ossetia, have been put up in local resorts and more are expected to arrive... MORE

The most dramatic turn in the protracted Ukrainian calamity last week was the decision of President Petro Poroshenko to end the ceasefire and resume the offensive against separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Poroshenko had every reason to conclude that the cessation of combat... MORE

From the start of the second Russian-Chechen war in 1999, everybody has been trying to find connections between the Chechens and al-Qaeda (rg.ru, May 24, 2000). That effort suited Moscow, since the Russian authorities wanted to prove to the world that they were fighting not... MORE

This week in Moscow President Vladimir Putin made a major foreign policy statement, while speaking to a worldwide gathering of Russian ambassadors and permanent diplomatic representatives. According to Putin, the West did not give Moscow a choice, but to move to annex Crimea last March... MORE