Latest Articles about Russia
Medvedev Calls for an Intellectual Breakthrough as Russian Education Declines
In his highly publicized article “Forward Russia!” published by Gazeta.ru on September 10, the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called for a sweeping modernization of the Russian economy, politics, social realm, etc. In fact, he called for the total overhaul and upgrade of his ailing country.... MORE
Putin and Gazprom Target Croatia
With Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s direct backing, Gazprom and other Russian energy companies have embarked upon an effort to co-opt Croatia into their projects, including a fanciful South Stream gas transport project. Putin has personally offered a package of energy projects to Croatia’s Prime Minister... MORE
Negotiations on the Transnistria Conflict in a Deep Freeze
Authorities in Tiraspol are watching the political deadlock in Chisinau with barely concealed satisfaction. Moldova’s political and constitutional crisis since April has further deepened the freeze on both tracks of negotiations on the Transnistria conflict: the international 5+2 format and the bilateral right bank –... MORE
An Azeri Jamaat or a Jamaat in Azerbaijan?
One of the trends surfacing in news reports about the North Caucasus insurgency this year is the presence of Azeri fighters within the rebel ranks. Chechnya’s president Ramzan Kadyrov also pointed a finger at Azerbaijan in a recent interview, claiming: “Most of the ammunition warehouses... MORE
Violent incidents reported in Ingushetia, Dagestan and Chechnya
Shootouts between insurgents and police and other violent incidents have been reported across the North Caucasus this week, a week which also marked the second anniversary of the proclamation of the Caucasus Emirate, the notional Islamic state declared by the radical Islamist wing of the... MORE
Russian Energy Strategy – the Domestic Political Factor
In 2003 a team of Russian foreign policy and energy experts wrote a 70 page memo about the role of Gazprom, the state-owned gas monopoly, in Russia’s domestic politics and the country’s foreign policy strategy. The document was distributed to a limited number of consumers... MORE
Moscow Rejects Accusations of Assisting Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Program
The Russian press has picked up a story first report in the Sunday Times from October 4, quoting Russian and Israeli sources, that the Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had secretly visited Moscow last month to present President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin... MORE
Moldova’s Post-Communist Government Adopts Previous Policy on Transnistria
Moldova's new government of the Alliance for European Integration (AEI) has inherited a deeply frozen negotiation process on the Transnistria conflict. Russia, a direct participant in the conflict, with troops in place, continues successfully to evade responsibility by portraying it as an internal Moldovan conflict... MORE
Moscow Examines an Alternative Vision of Military Professionalism
Last week the official Russian defense ministry publication Krasnaya Zvezda carried a three-part article devoted to the American officer corps and its professional experience. The article placed the American officer corps within a civil society, addressed the unique professional isolation of the officer corps, but... MORE
Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama Meets President Medvedev in New York
Japan’s Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, fresh from the resounding victory of his party in the Japanese Diet elections, traveled to New York in late September and met (among others) with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. At their meeting... MORE