The Kremlin is moving from confusion to controversy in international affairs, a policy area which used to boost Russia’s “great power” status and bring joy to its leaders. Moscow cannot formulate a coherent position on the eruption of violence in the Gaza “black hole,” and... MORE

Ankara wants to create a transportation corridor across Georgia to North Ossetia in order to establish links with regions of the Russian Federation and the states of Central Asia, Bulent Ecevit Ugur, an official of the Turkish Economics Ministry, told a meeting of the Russian-Turkish... MORE

It will soon be a year since frictions emerged between the leaders of the neighboring and kindred republics, Chechnya and Ingushetia. Although the capitals of the two republics, Grozny and Magas, are no more than 100 kilometers apart, the two republican heads communicate through statements... MORE

On November 15, Bulgaria signed the final investment decision on the South Stream natural gas project, becoming the last country among Gazprom partners to give the project a green light. Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia have already approved their final investment agreements with Gazprom. On November... MORE

Adding to a recent series of worrying Russian actions that have exposed serious faults in the Transnistrian conflict resolution process (see EDM, October 25), Moscow has now declared its intention to build a “Eurasian economic region” in Transnistria (Ng.ru, November 2). This project is meant... MORE

At the beginning of November, Chechen authorities made several statements that were underreported by the media but which illuminated important aspects of Moscow’s policies in the North Caucasus. Moreover, those statements allow an assessment of how much autonomy Moscow is willing to grant to Chechnya... MORE

A month ago, during a state visit to Moscow by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the Russian government officially announced that an “arms trade package” worth $4.2 billion was agreed. The “package deal” reportedly included the purchase of 30 Mi-28N attack helicopters and 42 Pantsir-S1... MORE

According to the newspaper Kommersant, Russia agreed to provide military and technical support to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in the form of direct assistance. Russia is prepared to spend $1.1 billion to upgrade Kyrgyzstan’s army and another $200 million for the needs of the armed forces... MORE

On November 8, the International Crisis Group presented two reports—titled “The North Caucasus: The Challenges of Integration (I), Ethnicity and Conflict,” and “The North Caucasus: The Challenges of Integration (II), Islam, the Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency”—at the Sakharov Center in Moscow. Apart from the conflict in... MORE

It has become clear that China intends to wage a prolonged war of psychological attrition against Japan with regard to the disputed Senkaku Islands, a crisis with profound international repercussions. Russia’s position in this struggle, therefore, provides a revealing picture of its foreign policy goals... MORE