Latest Articles about Russia
Dagestan Rebel Movement Undergoes Leadership Changes as Radicalization Deepens
The death of yet another Dagestani rebel leader this month passed unnoticed against the backdrop of bloody fighting in the border area between Chechnya and Dagestan last week. Like the killings of previous Dagestani insurgent leaders, the latest killing will have little impact on the... MORE
Massive Repression of the Prodemocracy Opposition May Begin Next Week
In the last days before his seemingly inevitable reelection for a third 6-year term as president on March 4, Vladimir Putin aggressively attacked internal and external enemies. In the last of a series of seven lengthy articles Putin described his future presidential foreign policy agenda... MORE
Russian Security Services Allege Chechen Rebels Plotted Assassination of Vladimir Putin
On February 27, Russian state television’s Channel One announced that the Russian and Ukrainian security services had thwarted a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The attack allegedly was supposed to take place soon after the March 4 Russian presidential election. Members of the... MORE
Possible Sub-Texts to the Sino-Russian Veto of the Security Council Resolution on Syria (Part One)
A Sino-Russian Alliance to What End?The emergence of a close alliance between the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China would mean a fundamental shift in the strategic balance of power, not seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union or the American opening... MORE
Putin’s Presidential Re-Election and Future Warfare Capabilities
Presidential candidate and Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, elaborated a detailed agenda for Russia’s defense and security priorities for his widely anticipated next term in office. The lengthy article on February 20 in Rossiyskiya Gazeta covered important aspects of defense, including the modernization of the nuclear... MORE
Balkars in Kabardino-Balkaria Believe Government Is Deliberately Undermining Their Economic Well-Being
On February 20, the Memorial Human Rights Center published its October 2011 report on the situation in the mountainous region of Kabardino-Balkaria. The report details the adverse effects of the counter-terrorist regime on the economic situation in this remote and vulnerable republic. A counter-terrorism operation... MORE
Putin Leads a War-Like Campaign Toward a Crushing but Hollow Victory
The last two weeks before the Russian presidential elections on March 4 saw a pronounced turn toward more aggressive and populist-patriotic campaigning by Vladimir Putin, who appears to be on track to a decisive victory. His team of seasoned courtiers was shocked by the explosion... MORE
Dagestani Man Abducted by Security Forces Freed After Mass Protest by Fellow Villagers
Tensions between Dagestan’s law enforcement bodies and residents of the village of Gimry in the republic’s Untsulkysky district flared up on February 21. A large group of Gimry residents blocked the Makhachkala-Botlikh highway to protest the kidnapping of a 40-year-old fellow villager, Magomed Gamzatov. The... MORE
Russia Completing Baltic Pipeline System Construction, Reducing Druzhba Pipeline Flow
Russia is set to start crude oil exports through the Baltic Pipeline System’s second trunkline, BPS-2, with its Ust-Luga maritime terminal at the Russian end of the Baltic Sea. The BPS-1 trunkline is already operating since 2009 with its Primorsk maritime terminal. The oil is... MORE
Fighting Along Chechen-Dagestani Administrative Border Heaviest in Recent Years
The start of the large-scale special operation by the police, military and Federal Security Service (FSB) forces launched in Chechnya’s Nozhai-Yurt district on February 13 sent the Russian news agencies into disarray. They reported there were three groups of militants headed by 26-year-old Arslan Mamedov... MORE