Latest Articles about Russia
Russian Security Services Erase Role of Magas in 2004 Beslan Attack
On February 8, the newspaper Kommersant shed light on the current situation of the prominent Ingush militant leader Emir Magas (aka Ali Taziev, Ahmed Yevloev) – the only high-profile militant leader captured by the Russian security services alive in the past few years. In June... MORE
Topographic Software and Russia’s Network-Centric Military Ambitions
Despite the scale of the challenges facing Russia’s adoption of network-centric approaches to warfare, senior officials consistently emphasize sixth-generation capabilities as the fundamental driver in defense modernization plans. On February 10, Vadim Malyukov, the Head of the Main Communications Directorate of the Armed Forces and... MORE
Moscow’s Policy in South Ossetia Adds Insult to the Ossetians’ Injury
On February 9, masked South Ossetian police stormed the headquarters of local opposition politician Alla Jioeva in Tskhinvali. Shortly after the raiding police ravaged the building, one of Jioeva’s supporters was arrested, and Jioeva herself was taken to a local hospital with a stroke. The... MORE
Putin is Firmly Set to Win Ugly
There has been a perceptible change of mood in the development of the political crisis in Russia in the week that has passed since the mass rallies in Moscow – with just three weeks remaining until the presidential elections. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has gained... MORE
Anti-Corruption Blogger Navalny Takes On Chechnya’s Kadyrov
Aleksei Navalny, the anti-corruption blogger and rising star of the movement in opposition to Vladimir Putin, yesterday (February 9) accused the Chechen Interior Ministry of embezzling federal funds. Navalny wrote in his blog that he conducted his own investigation of purchases by the Chechen Interior... MORE
Frozen Conflicts Seen as Russia’s Door into “Euro-Atlantic Security Community” (Part Two)
No authority in NATO has endorsed or in any way encouraged the Euro-Atlantic Security Initiative’s (EASI) proposals to introduce Russia into a redefined “Euro-Atlantic security community,” implying decision-making powers for Russia alongside the United States and European Union (see EDM, February 9). EASI is a... MORE
North Caucasus Rebel Leader Tries to Capitalize on Russian Anti-Kremlin Protests
The leadership of the North Caucasian militants is attempting to capitalize on the rising tensions in Russian society. As popular protests against the return of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to the Russian presidency spread, the leader of the North Caucasian armed resistance, Doku Umarov, tried... MORE
Frozen Conflicts Seen as Russia’s Door into “Euro-Atlantic Security Community”
The Euro-Atlantic Security Initiative (EASI), a high-profile group of Western and Russian authors, proposes Western accommodation with the existing situation in the four post-Soviet conflicts (Transnistria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Karabakh). EASI has presented a study with policy recommendations, “Historical Reconciliation and Protracted Conflicts,” to NATO... MORE
Russia Reacts to the Korean Succession
As Russia is a member of the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program and a neighbor of North Korea, it naturally was concerned by the announcement of Kim Jong-Il’s sudden but not altogether unexpected death on December 17, 2011. Moscow quickly sent official condolences... MORE
Russian Military Intelligence: Shaken but Not Stirred
On January 26, the Russian Defense Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov announced an apparently routine measure to strengthen the Southern Military District by stationing additional Special Forces elements in Stavropol and Kislovodsk. GRU Spetsnaz (Glavnoye Razvedyvatel’noye Upravleniye – GRU, Voyska spetsialnogo naznacheniya – Spetsnaz), the prestigious Special... MORE