When the world was asking just over a decade ago “Who is Mr. Putin?” Mintimir Shaimiev, Tatarstan’s president at that time, said that “[Vladimir] Putin wants to do things in Russia just as they are done in Tatarstan” (Zvezda Povolszhya, March 2). By this he... MORE

Russia and Ukraine are close to reaching an agreement on the clearance of Black Sea Fleet (BSF) vessel movements outside their bases, the Ukrainian website zn.ua reported on March 2, citing sources familiar with the talks. The sources said that Russia no longer objects to... MORE

Moscow’s plans to reform and modernize its conventional Armed Forces have become encased in experiment, indecision, bureaucracy and secrecy. Since Army-General Sergei Shoigu was appointed as the defense minister in November 2012, the “reform” has officially stayed “on course,” while numerous instances of revision or... MORE

According to Maria Kravchenko, a member of the Russian human rights center “Sova,” Russian authorities continue to persecute the followers of Said Nursi, a Turkish theologian who died in 1960. Kravchenko notes that Nursi’s followers are often sentenced to 1.5 years in prison (Kavkaz-uzel.ru, November... MORE

Russian media have reported that Moscow’s envoy to the North Caucasus, Alexander Khloponin, is expected to become head of the board of directors of the Northern Caucasus Resorts Company by the end of May. Khloponin, thereby, will have the combined power of a deputy prime... MORE

Entering the second year of his third presidency, President Vladimir Putin has shown uncharacteristically scant interest to foreign policy matters perhaps suspecting that Western “partners” are sponsoring Russia’s opposition movement and that neighboring post-Soviet leaders and even Chinese “friends” are losing confidence in his leadership.... MORE

On March 2, Federal Security Service (FSB) personnel in St. Petersburg arrested members of the Nurjular organization, which in 2008 was designated as an extremist group by the Russian Supreme Court and outlawed (https://ru.apa.az/news/242585). Five citizens of Russia, four citizens of Azerbaijan and one citizen... MORE

The massive relocation of North Caucasians to Europe is still under way, producing concerns among both the regional authorities in the North Caucasus and Western European countries. While in 2000, at the beginning of the second Chechen war, only ethnic Chechens were found among the... MORE

Last week (February 27), speaking at a gathering of Russia’s top civilian and military officials led by President Vladimir Putin (the so-called defense ministry “extended collegium”), Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu officially confirmed plans to create a permanent “naval operational division” in the Mediterranean Sea to... MORE

On February 27, the speaker of Ingushetia’s parliament, Mukharbek Didigov, stated that the moves by the Chechen authorities to take control over a disputed border area will force Ingushetia’s government to adopt “response measures to defend their land and their sovereignty.” On February 9, a... MORE