Signs are multiplying that Moscow has launched a new initiative toward Tokyo to improve Russo-Japanese relations. In addition, this initiative is part of Moscow’s never-ending quest to be considered a major Asian player. The evidence of these twin initiatives became visible on Foreign Minister Sergei... MORE

On the final stretch of the presidential campaign, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rushes from one region to another demonstrating attention to local needs and asserting his readiness to lead the country for six more years. Governors are competing in staging support rallies and the official... MORE

On February 11, over 1,000 Circassian activists gathered in Maikop, Adygea, to discuss the issue of repatriating Circassians from war-torn Syria. In a special declaration passed at the conference, the participants called on the Russian government “to take the Circassians-compatriots living in Syria under its... MORE

Interfax reported today (February 17) that five policemen were killed and six wounded yesterday during two shootouts with militants in Dagestan’s Kazbekovsky district along the republic’s administrative border with Chechnya. A law-enforcement source told the news agency that the Russian special operation in the area... MORE

Russian nationalists have been one of the main groups participating in the protests against the fraudulent elections of December 4, 2011. Among their number are more extreme nationalists or neo-Nazis and the two groups have a number of common aims. Indeed, one of the leaders... MORE

There was no sign anything sensational was in the offing during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit to the forum of peoples of southern Russia held in Kislovodsk on January 23. In essence, it was yet another gathering of leaders of the southern part of... MORE

The First Deputy Defense Minister and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Army-General Nikolai Makarov, during a press conference this week lambasted the Russian defense industry, which is producing expensive, but low quality armament inferior to Western products. Makarov declared the Russian... MORE

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

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

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