In a clear break with its former pattern in producing praporshchiki (sergeants) for the army, the Russian defense ministry has begun forming a professional non-commissioned officer (NCO) corps, which will consist of specialists with almost three years of training at a new facility. Controversially, these... MORE

According to independent sources, several additional Russian army units are headed to the special-operations zone where the insurgency in Ingushetia has mounted relentless strikes (www.ingushetia.ru, August 14). As these troops arrive in the area with five Grad missile launchers and several armored personnel carriers, it... MORE

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's August 6 visit to Ankara for talks with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan secured some twenty agreements covering energy, trade and other fields. Consequently, Ankara has made its most immediate priority to lift the regulation requiring the full inspection... MORE

To mark the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact by Russia (USSR) and Nazi Germany on August 23, 1939, the Foreign Intelligence Service (Sluzba Vneshnei Rzvedki or SVR) published a book of declassified intelligence reports and documents to prove that "the Molotov-Ribbentrop... MORE

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's August 14 meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Sochi illustrated how this business-centered "strategic partnership" can distort or weaken German foreign policy. In that meeting the Chancellor failed to mention (or perhaps to deem worth mentioning) three major Russian actions... MORE

In a series of interviews this month, the Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the Russian Air Force (VVS) Colonel-General Aleksandr Zelin outlined reform plans to enhance air power. Throughout his public statements, Zelin linked the main driving force to reform and modernize the VVS, including developing a... MORE

On August 17 unknown assailants drove a minivan loaded with explosives into the courtyard of the district police headquarters in Nazran, the principal city in Ingushetia, where it was detonated. Twenty-one policemen died in the attack and over one hundred people were wounded (ITAR-TASS, August... MORE

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev received German Chancellor Angela Merkel on August 14 at his Sochi residence. This meeting accelerated the implementation of qualitatively new economic projects in key industrial sectors, agreed barely one month earlier in Munich by the two leaders in the framework of... MORE

In Sochi, Merkel reaffirmed with greater emphasis the German government's decision to hand over the Opel plants to a Russian-dominated consortium, despite an alternative U.S.-backed offer. The government in Berlin had taken a preliminary decision in Russia's favor in late May, although the U.S. government... MORE

German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Sochi on August 14 -their third bilateral meeting thus far this year- in an atmosphere of conviviality staged primarily for German television channels. The German electoral campaign and three major enterprise bankruptcies spurred Merkel's decision... MORE