Kyiv’s hopes for cheaper Russian gas from January 1, have failed to materialize. However, gas talks are continuing and there are signs that Moscow will agree to cut the price of gas in exchange for a share in a consortium to be set up to... MORE

The Dagestani government’s commission for adapting rebels to civilian life had mixed results in 2011. The commission was set up in November 2010 to help the government dispel the rising wave of militancy in the largest republic of the North Caucasus. The Dagestani government’s press... MORE

President Bashar al-Assad is increasingly losing the support of the Circassian community many of whose members serve in his army and police. Such is the case of Yaser Ali Abaza, a Syrian Circassian lieutenant who, in a video posted to the Internet on December 29,... MORE

Russian Defense Minister, Anatoliy Serdyukov has announced the creation of a new structure in the Russian Armed Forces: Military Police. The long mooted initiative marks the first appearance of this structure tasked with improving life in the barracks and tackling “hooliganism.” Yet, in all the... MORE

Moscow has confirmed that Turkey will allow Gazprom’s South Stream pipeline to be built through Turkey’s Black Sea exclusive economic zone, en route to central Europe (“Turkey Gains Little, Ukraine Has Much to Lose in Turkish OK to Russian South Stream,” EDM, January 9). Beyond... MORE

On December 30, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller announced that Turkey has authorized the construction of Gazprom’s South Stream pipeline through Turkey’s Black Sea exclusive economic zone, bypassing Ukraine en route to central Europe (Russian TV, Interfax, December 30; Russian... MORE

In the course of 2011, the North Caucasus remained Russia’s most unsettled region but what is likely to prove more significant, it became a problem not only for Moscow, which clearly lacks any effective strategy for pacifying it, but also in Moscow, where an increasing... MORE

In the holiday pause, it has become even more apparent that the revitalized Russian politics has acquired a new and rather untraditional character. Nobody is remotely interested in where President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin are skiing or attending church services, and their... MORE

Probably the most cited example of China’s desire to expand its naval power beyond Chinese coastal waters is Beijing’s pursuit of aircraft carriers capable of operating conventional fixed-wing fighter aircraft. Chinese interest in acquiring aircraft carriers spans decades but financial, technological, political and strategic constraints... MORE

The end of 2011 saw another visit by Vladimir Putin to Chechnya. Putin’s first visit to Chechnya took place on December 31, 1999, while he was still serving as prime minister under President Boris Yeltsin. (Putin visited neighboring Dagestan several months earlier -- in August... MORE