Latest Articles about Russia
Shanghai Cooperation Organization Considers Expansion
The heads of government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) have reiterated earlier promises to enlarge the grouping. Thus, the organization (currently including Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) has insisted on its global ambitions. SCO expansion would serve to strengthen its international status,... MORE
Lavrov Squashes Hope for Constructive Restart of Transnistria Negotiations
International negotiations on the Transnistria conflict are scheduled to re-start on November 30-December 1, for the first time in almost six years. The OSCE’s Lithuanian chairmanship helped facilitate the re-start and will host the event in Vilnius in the 5+2 format (Russia, Ukraine, OSCE, United... MORE
Has the Arab Spring Arrived In Dagestan?
On November 25, Dagestan’s capital, Makhachkala, saw its largest protest in recent times. An estimated 2,500-3,000 people took to the streets to object to growing police abuse. Dagestani First Deputy Prime Minister Rizvan Kurbanov tried to reassure the protesters that the authorities were vigilantly protecting... MORE
Russia Faces Elections That Will Decide Nothing
In the last week before the State Duma elections, the only real question is how low the support for the dominant United Russia party has actually fallen. Opinion polls four years ago showed that it would gather 68 percent to 66 percent of the vote,... MORE
Insurgency-Related Violence Reported In Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria and Ingushetia
Dagestani Interior Ministry personnel on November 17 discovered an F-1 hand grenade, a stick of dynamite and 100 rounds of 5.45 mm ammunition in a house in the capital Makhachkala. The ministry said the 32-year-old owner of the house had previously been involved in an... MORE
Russia Punishes Tajikistan By Asymmetric Means
In a matter of only days Tajikistan has managed to aggravate its relationship with Russia to the lowest point to date. Last week, a Tajik court sentenced a Russian citizen, Vladimir Sadovnichy, to serve eight years and six months in prison for smuggling and illegally... MORE
Closure of Dagestani Military Base Reflects Moscow’s Growing Weakness In the North Caucasus
After four years of operation, Russia has been forced to move their military base from Botlikh, Dagestan to Maikop, Adygea. The 33rd mountain infantry brigade will now permanently be stationed in the western part of the North Caucasus (www.yuga.ru/news/243183/). The brigade was located in the... MORE
Voters Will Pay For a Military Buildup After Electing Putin
Defense and security spending is skyrocketing in Russia. Paychecks for defense and interior ministry personnel will increase 2.5 to 3 times from January 2012, while Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Federal Protective Service (FSO) staff will receive a similar pay boost in January 2013.... MORE
Kremlin Proves Unable to Stabilize Security Situation in Kabardino-Balkaria
On November 14, the Federal Security Service (FSB) introduced a counterterrorism operation regime in the forested mountainous parts of Kabardino-Balkaria’s Chegem and Baksan districts and in parts of the town of Baksan. However, the following events cast doubt on the regime’s usefulness. The regime was... MORE
A New Rapprochement Between Moscow and Tehran
The US reset policy has already become an object of political contention between Democrats and Republicans. The Obama Administration never ceases to point to it as a success, not least because of the progress that has occurred with Russia in regard to restraining Iranian proliferation,... MORE