Russian officials pledged to assist neighboring Japan, hit by an unprecedented series of disasters, but in recent months, Moscow has struggled to forge stronger economic ties with Japan. On March 14, President Dmitry Medvedev held telephone talks with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and offered... MORE

Moscow has been hoping that the earthquake and tsunami disaster that hit Japan on March 11, may help overcome the acute crisis in its relations with Tokyo over the South Kurile Islands. President Dmitry Medvedev promptly telephoned Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan to express his... MORE

On March 13, Dagestan and Adygea elected their respective regional parliaments. There were reports of serious violations of electoral rules from both republics. At the same time, sources reported an extremely low turnout of the voters, which may indicate a growing political crisis. There are... MORE

In recent weeks there has been a great deal written about the Russian decision to reinforce the Kurile Islands. There is no doubt that this step, announced in early February, is connected with the public polemics and diplomatic fireworks over the islands and Russia’s relationship... MORE

The Russian State Defense Order (Gosudarstvennyi Oboronnyi Zakaz –GOZ) for 2011, in areas related to research and development (R&D), was formulated under the control of the defense ministry’s Scientific-Technical Council (Nauchno-Tekhnicheskiy Sovet –NTS). The NTS is a new body which ensures collective discussions at the... MORE

On March 11, two explosions took place in northern Moscow about 5-10 minutes apart. The bombs reportedly contained 0.3-0.4 kg of TNT along with fragments of nails to cause injuries. No one was hurt since the bombs detonated early in the evening, when there were... MORE

The visit of US Vice-President, Joseph Biden, to Moscow last week created a resonance quite out of proportion to its agenda. The hard-won ratification of the START III treaty by the US Senate and the “symmetric” process in the Russian Federal Assembly marked a remarkable... MORE

Over the past month or so, the Russian media have been very actively reporting on the creation of an anti-Wahhabi paramilitary unit operating on the territory of Kabardino-Balkaria in response to the actions of insurgents against members of law enforcement agencies. It has been also... MORE

Statistics on insurgency-related violence in the North Caucasus in February show that most of the violence was concentrated in the republics of Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria. Kavkazsky Uzel reported this week that 59 people were killed as a result of insurgency-related violence in the North Caucasus... MORE

On March 9, the Russian government’s official websites published a transcript of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s and Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko’s “working meeting,” held that day in Putin’s office. Putin suggests to an approving Shmatko that the South Stream gas pipeline project in the Black... MORE