More than 20,000 servicemen marched on Red Square in Moscow on May 9, to commemorate victory in the Great Patriot War—9,000 more than on the same day in 2010. The amount of military hardware that rolled by the stands was smaller, however (106 pieces instead... MORE

The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, stated on April 28 that the renowned human rights activist Natalya Estemirova had not helped to protect people. “I defend human rights here in the republic,” he said, adding “She did not help us.” Kadyrov spoke via a TV... MORE

Much of the western attention to the Franco-Russian political agreement on the procurement of the helicopter landing dock Mistral for the Russian Navy emphasizes its potential “power projection” capability. NATO members, including the Baltic States, have misinterpreted remarks by the naval top brass and laid... MORE

On May 4, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin presided over a government meeting on the socio-economic development of the North Caucasus. Putin announced the decision to allocate nearly $2 billion for an investment protection fund for this risk-prone territory. In addition the government corporation for... MORE

These are trying times for Russian arms sellers. UN resolutions have closed much of the Iranian markets. Revolutionary violence in Syria and Libya has stopped billions of dollars in sales to those countries. Chinese competition is now putting Russian producers under considerable pressure in the... MORE

The Caspian nations have reiterated pledges to solve their differences later this year ahead of the Caspian summit in Moscow, but they apparently continued to disagree on a number of key issues. During a meeting in Baku on April 26 – 27, representatives of the... MORE

On May 6 in Moscow, President Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov each received Lavrov’s Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi. According to Lavrov at the concluding news conference, Russia and China would “coordinate their actions” in the UN Security Council and beyond to support... MORE

April was an extremely successful month for the Russian security forces in the North Caucasus, following the liquidation of Israpil Validzhanov, the leader of the Dagestani jamaat on April 18, and of Emir Mukhannad, a well-known Arab volunteer in the ranks of the Chechen armed... MORE

Russian officials reacted favorably to the killing of the al-Qaeda terrorist network leader Osama bin Laden by SEAL commandos during a raid of a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The Kremlin congratulated the United States with a “serious success in the fight against international terrorism” and... MORE

Ukraine has launched talks to revise the January 2009 gas contract with Russia according to which the base price was hiked from $179 to $450 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas. Kyiv hopes the contract will be revised by the end of the summer. Ukraine’s... MORE