On September 16 in Sochi, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin presided over the signing of a shareholders’ agreement to build the offshore section of the South Stream gas pipeline (Interfax, September 16, 17).The agreement pertains to the pipeline’s section on the seabed of the Black... MORE

Russia and Mongolia staged the Selenga 2011 antiterrorist exercise during the first week in September, which if placed in a wider context of Russian defense cooperation and shifts occurring in scenario planning for its military exercises may reveal adjustments in Moscow’s security thinking. Selenga 2011... MORE

On September 14 in Moscow, rights activists held a press conference on the theme “The North Caucasus: Journalists and Human Rights Activists under Threat.” The head of European Division of the international organization Reporters Without Borders, Johann Beer, stated that freedom of press in the... MORE

The gathering of the marginal but officially registered Pravoe Delo (Right Cause) political party last week resulted in a massive scandal that has effectively destroyed it and resonated strongly in the liberal and business circles that normally disdain politics. This explosive effect was created not... MORE

In Dagestan, the imam of the village of Kadar in the republic’s Buinaksk district was shot to death yesterday (September 15). The attack on Zainudin Daiziev took place around 10:20 p.m., local time, when two unidentified attackers shot him in his home of in the... MORE

The latest summit meeting of the major post-Soviet grouping pledged to intensify efforts to counter security challenges. However, this and other top-level gatherings of former Soviet states highlight increasing disagreements between member states on a variety of issues. The Kremlin has repeatedly prioritized a conflict-settlement... MORE

Emboldened by international tolerance of its seizure of Moldovan territory in 1992 (see Part One in  EDM, September 15), but still unable to muster support on the state level within the CIS, Russia experimented with “collective” peacekeeping at the sub-state level against Georgia in South... MORE

Militants in Ingushetia have not been very active over the past year that is until quite recently. The break in insurgent activity was associated with the arrest of one of the most well-known field commanders of the North Caucasian underground movement-Emir Magas (aka Akhmed Yevloev-Taziev).... MORE

This week Army-General Nikolai Makarov, the Chief of the Russian General Staff told journalists in Moscow that the beginning of the Tsentr 2011 military exercises with Russian and Central Asian allies Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will be a test of the ability of the Collective... MORE

Russia’s presidential think-tank, INSOR, has drafted a blueprint for using the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) as a multinational cover on Russia-led stability operations. Moscow envisions such contingencies in the CSTO’s claimed “area of responsibility” (Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan) and potentially beyond (see... MORE