On October 16 in Moscow, Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, and his Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez, witnessed the signing of an agreement whereby Russia’s Rosneft takes over Petroleos de Venezuela’s (PDVSA) massive refining capacities in Germany. With this, Rosneft is acquiring 10 percent of the total... MORE

On October 13, the Chechen rebel website Daymohk.org posted an item following up on the video posted by the site on October 7, in which three top rebel field commanders –Khusein Gakaev, Aslambek Vadalov and Tarkhan Gaziev– said they had renounced their oath of allegiance... MORE

On October 13 in Bucharest, Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller held talks with Prime Minister Emil Boc, Economics Minister Ion Ariton, and other officials, on Romania’s possible participation in Gazprom projects. Adriean Videanu, economics minister until six weeks ago and (unusually in Romania) an active proponent... MORE

The Chairman of the Duma Defense Committee, Viktor Zavarzin, disclosed last week some details of previously secret future defense budget procurement plans. Procurement expenditure on new weapons will grow dramatically from 380 billion rubles ($12.7 billion) in 2010 to 980 billion rubles ($32.7 billion) in... MORE

Russia has sought to expand its trade with China in an apparent bid to prop up what was officially denoted as the strategic partnership between the two nations. Meanwhile, as bilateral trade recovered, China has regained a surplus in its trade with Russia. The official... MORE

If August and September were months the Russian navy would like to forget, October 2010 began with very good news for the navy, its high command, and the defense ministry. On October 7, the re-configured Delta-class SSBN, Dmitri Donskoi, conducted a successful launch in the... MORE

Municipal elections in Dagestan on October 10 were marred by violence and fraud. In the republic’s Levashi district, the head of the village of Khadzhalmakhi, Abdulmuslim Nurmagomedov, died during a massive fight in which several other people were injured and taken to the hospital. The... MORE

The dismissal of Moscow Mayor, Yuri Luzkov, by President, Dmitry Medvedev, fits neatly in a traditional framework of the center–provinces relations in Russia (EDM, September 28). The rebellious ex-mayor believes the real reason for his dismissal was the presidential administration’s intention to have “their own... MORE

The appointment of a new mayor of Moscow after the abrupt dismissal of Yuri Luzhkov who had dared to challenge President Dmitry Medvedev’s suggestion that he resign quietly, remained the main political intrigue in Russia. This scandal persists as Luzhkov disparaged Medvedev’s pretences for leadership... MORE

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) engages in a variety of military exchanges and activities with the other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The most recent major exercise, "Peace Mission 2010," was held from September 9-25 in southern Kazakhstan. All the member states... MORE