For several months after Uzbekistan’s de facto exit from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) (see EDM, July 18, 2012)—formalized during the organization’s December 2012 summit in Moscow—Western analysts have speculated about the future shape of Tashkent’s military and security ties. But now, Uzbekistan has... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Gazprom are announcing colossal plans to expand the capacities of existing gas export pipelines and build new ones, all in Europe beyond Russia’s territory (see EDM, April 5, 19).Gazprom already co-owns and controls export pipeline capacities amounting to some 110... MORE

The news that the Boston terrorists are ethnic Chechens who have lived in the United States for many years may be shocking for many Americans, but in Russia it does not seem that surprising. How Tamerlan Tsarnaev had become so alienated from the country that... MORE

The focus of the media on the suspected Boston bombers, the Tsarnaev brothers is fully justified, but understanding the wider context of the crime may be just as helpful (https://www.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/223152/). Whatever the brothers’ personal experience was, if it is confirmed in the end that they... MORE

Surprising news emerged from Moscow this week that Ruslan Aushev plans to challenge the current head of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, and run for the position of republican head. Aushev made his unexpected announcement on the Dozhd TV channel on the evening of April 16, 2013.... MORE

Gazprom’s chief spokesman, Sergei Kupryanov, has announced plans to vastly increase Russia’s pipeline capacities for gas export to Europe, far above Gazprom’s existing supply commitments or possibilities. Along with this, the spokesman informed the well-respected East European Gas Analysis consultancy based in the United States... MORE

Lenin’s classic declaration on the 1917 revolution—“Comrades! The socialist revolution that the Bolsheviks were talking about for so long has come true!”—can be used to describe the Magnitsky Act. Yet, the much talked-about act did not turn out to be as comprehensive as expected.The Magnitsky... MORE

Last week (April 12), the United States government published, in accordance with the US Magnitsky Act adopted last December, a list of 18 Russians accused of involvement in the death in custody of anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and other alleged rights abuses (https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20130412.aspx). The blacklisted... MORE

A surprising series of counter-terrorist operations in North Ossetia were launched in the spring of 2013. On March 4, a counter-terrorism operation regime was introduced in three villages—Tarskoe, Verkhny Komgaron and Nizhny Komgaron. All three are located in the southeastern part of the republic, bordering... MORE

For more than two decades, Moscow has exploited the tensions between Transnistria and Chisinau to try to bring Moldova to heel. More recently, it has sought to use Moldova’s Gagauz minority to do the same thing. And over the past ten days, it appears to... MORE