With it appearing increasingly unlikely that NATO and Russia will come to an agreement on a joint European missile defense system, it seems certain that the US-Russian reset may be in serious trouble. The successful negotiations that led to START III and the reduction of... MORE

The Soviet art of socialist realism used to be defined as “socialist in substance, national in form.” Threats to prevent the construction of a trans-Caspian gas pipeline by military force are also a form of Kremlin art: bluff in their substance, even if brutal in... MORE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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