On January 24, an explosive device detonated in the arrivals area of Moscow’s Domodedovo international airport. A suicide bomber with an explosive device equivalent to 5-7 kilograms of TNT allegedly caused the blast. At least 35 people died in the attack and over 100 persons... MORE

Predictably, the Russian top brass declared the fall 2010 draft as a “success,” despite clear signs that it failed to meet its target. On January 20, Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov, the Deputy Chief of the General Staff and Chief of the Main Organizational and Mobilization Directorate... MORE

Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, and Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, received the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, on January 21-23 for an official visit. It was the first Russian-Afghan presidential-level meeting since a freshly installed Karzai had met the then President Putin in 2002. Russia is now... MORE

On January 21, the first meeting of the Russian governmental commission on socio-economic development of the North Caucasus took place in Moscow. The chair of the commission, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin stated that the government and major Russian companies would invest significant resources into the... MORE

The privilege of addressing the opening session of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos is valued highly by the Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, who interprets this as international recognition of the business correctness of his “modernization” course. Following today’s bombing of Domodedovo airport in... MORE

Insurgency-related violence continued in the North Caucasus this past week, particularly in Dagestan. A homemade bomb went off near a department store in the city of Khasavyurt around one in the morning. No one was injured but the store was significantly damaged. That same day... MORE

Summing up the situation unfolding in Chechnya over the past year, it is worth noting that diametrically opposite processes took place in that part of the North Caucasus. Anyone who had a chance to visit Chechnya in the last year seems to be excited about... MORE

The Russian Navy plans to increase its presence on Ukrainian territory by adding urban infrastructure and civilian manpower to its naval assets in Sevastopol. The command of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet intends to build a housing estate (“mikrorayon”) for 20,000 personnel of the fleet, their... MORE

Russian military reform, initiated in the fall of 2008 after the short war with Georgia in August of the same year, has reached a critical junction: the old military machine has been dismantled, while a new one is struggling to emerge. Today, Russia is in... MORE

In 2010, Circassian activists managed for the first time to stage public protests in multiple countries against what they referred to as Russian “imperialism” in the North Caucasus. The Circassians protested against the 2014 Winter Olympics that are scheduled to be held in the surroundings... MORE