In mid-October 2009, Nikolai Patrushev, the Secretary of the Security Council, used an interview to discuss Russia’s draft military doctrine and highlighted one aspect: the first-use of nuclear weapons in a “preventive nuclear strike against the aggressor” (Izvestiya, October 14). This was not the first... MORE

Municipal elections in Tbilisi and other Georgian cities in the spring will undoubtedly see another round of opposition demonstrations, with Russia ready for some overt involvement for the first time. Moscow is openly advertising its support for former Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli, leader of the... MORE

Reversing Carl Von Clausewitz’s dictum, Russia’s emergent policy toward Georgia is essentially a continuation of war by political means. Russia’s 2008 war and three-year economic blockade sought to change Georgia’s Western orientation through regime change in Tbilisi. By the end of 2009, however, Moscow evidently... MORE

Europe is experiencing an exceptionally cold and snowy winter, but at least Russian gas is flowing at full volume through Ukraine and Belarus with no interruptions. Several times in the last few months Moscow has sent warnings on probable complications to European customers, but each... MORE

A massive flurry of official statements was released to the Russian mass media by politicians, analysts, and experts on Russia summing up the year 2009 in the North Caucasus. After an assessment of these statements, it is increasingly obvious that the situation in the region... MORE

Russia’s threat to abolish its oil subsidies to Belarus aim not only to punish Minsk for its recent rapprochement with the European Union, but also to put the oil processing and oil transit in Belarus under the control of Russian companies (EDM, January 5).The role... MORE

The People's Republic of China (PRC) 60th National Day, which took place on October 1, 2009, was lauded by the Chinese-media for its display of the military's ‘precision striking capabilities.’ According to Yu Jixun, deputy commander of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Second Artillery Corps—China's... MORE

Russia’s military modernization ambitions include a shift from fully self-sufficient arms procurement to selective purchase of advanced military technologies from abroad. As Ruslan Pukhov, presidium member of the Russian Defense Ministry’s Public Advisory Council, observes, the acquisition of Mistral-class warships from France would constitute a... MORE

Moscow and Washington have failed to complete a strategic nuclear arms control agreement before the end of 2009. This failure may cast a long shadow on other more urgent issues, such as cooperation on Afghanistan and the Iranian nuclear issue. The failure underlines the gap... MORE

On January 1 Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev said that the country will advance security as the chair of the OSCE in the “area from Vancouver to Vladivostok.” Kazakhstan’s government has suggested holding an informal OSCE meeting of foreign ministers in Astana in mid 2010,... MORE