With the approach of parliamentary elections in Georgia on October 1, the intensity of political struggle in the country is increasing. The Georgian elections are a historical opportunity for the country to make a political transition via democratic elections. Until now, leaders have come to... MORE

This week it was officially disclosed in Moscow and Washington that during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vladivostok earlier this month Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his United States counterpart, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, that the foreign aid agency USAID must curtail... MORE

On September 11, Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s Deputy Minister of Defense, visited Dushanbe to take part in bilateral talks concerning the extension of Russia’s basing rights for their 201st motorized rifle division (BBC Tajiki, September 13). He met with Tajikistan’s commission headed by Minister of Justice... MORE

On September 14, in Cherkessk, Circassian youth activists from Karachaevo-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Adygea and the Stavropol region adopted an appeal to President Vladimir Putin concerning the situation in Karachaevo-Cherkessia. The activists protested repeated attempts by the Karachaevo-Cherkessian police to seize Circassian flags from them during public... MORE

A row between Bulgaria and Russia over compensation for the scrapped Belene nuclear power plant (NPP) project threatens to delay the start of the South Stream gas pipeline, the Kremlin’s strategic energy corridor intended to bypass Ukraine in supplying Russian gas to Europe. On the... MORE

Russia is staging a number of military exercises in September and October as part of the training year for its Armed Forces, designed to road test elements of its ongoing conventional forces reform, promote defense cooperation and strengthen the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Although... MORE

On September 6, the Russian president’s plenipotentiary representative in the North Caucasus, Alexander Khloponin, intervened in a protracted conflict between the Dagestani and Stavropol authorities. The Stavropol region’s eastern districts have been increasingly populated as a result of inward migration from the neighboring republic of... MORE

On August 20–23, Finland’s foreign policy establishment convened in Helsinki for the Annual Meeting of Heads of Mission. In addition to speeches by President Sauli Niinisto and Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was given the opportunity to give a short... MORE

On August 28, Dagestan’s President Magomedsalam Magomedov presided over an extraordinary joint meeting of the Security Council of Dagestan and the Coordination Council for Law Enforcement in Dagestan. The leader of the republic unexpectedly proposed the idea of establishing self-defense units in the republic (https://05.mvd.ru/news/302958/).... MORE

Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat’s September 10–12 back-to-back visits with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (see accompanying article) amount to a reset of bilateral relations initiated by Filat. This marks the first time since 2003 (Kozak Memorandum’s collapse) that Putin deigns... MORE