Russian economic and political penetration in parts of former Yugoslavia proceeds apace in the wake of President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to Belgrade. Serbia risks turning into an Armenia of the Balkans by accepting Russian economic tutelage (EDM, October 27, 28). On November 6 the government... MORE

On October 28, two authoritative Moscow-based business dailies Vedomosti and Kommersant quoted sources as saying that the arrest warrant for Mikhail Gutseriyev, a top Russian banker and oil tycoon of Ingush origins, had been cancelled and replaced with “the promise not leave” (much as this... MORE

President Dmitry Medvedev is today paying a very special visit to Germany in order to participate in celebrations that have more significance for contemporary Russia than he dares to admit. Twenty years ago he was a fresh graduate of the Leningrad University with some democratic... MORE

November 3 marked the 200th day since the Russian government formally ended the “counter-terrorist” operation it launched in Chechnya in September 1999, and statistics collected by the Kavkazsky Uzel (Caucasian Knot) website show that more blood has been spilled since the April 16 announcement of... MORE

Violence has continued in the North Caucasus this week, with police, military personnel, suspected militants and civilians reportedly killed and wounded in attacks in Ingushetia, North Ossetia, Dagestan and Chechnya. Alexei Samborsky, an employee of Ingushneftegazprom, an oil and gas company in Ingushetia, was shot... MORE

General Motors had given its consent to the Opel sale with considerable reluctance, which could only grow in the face of demands for technology transfers to Russia as part of the sale. These and other differences did not allow the transaction to be finalized. Meanwhile,... MORE

Late on November 3 (November 4 in Europe) the General Motors (GM) corporation decided to retain ownership of its heavily indebted German subsidiary Opel. The decision reverses GM’s September 10 tentative consent to sell a majority stake in Opel to a Kremlin-dominated consortium.GM’s reversal became... MORE

Local government elections held on October 11 in 75 regions of Russia were massively rigged by the authorities in favor of the ruling United Russia party. There is, of course, nothing particularly new about election fraud in Russia –the nation is not a democracy and... MORE

From October 30 to November 1 the Moldovan parliamentary majority’s candidate for head of state, Western-oriented Marian Lupu, as well as the communist opposition leader, and former head of state (2001-2009) Vladimir Voronin, undertook parallel visits to Moscow upon invitations there. Such a turn of... MORE

On October 30, Russia’s Permanent Representative to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, gave an interview to Ekho Moskvy Radio, in which he severely criticized America’s Georgia policy. Quoted by most of Russia’s news agencies, Rogozin said: “No one has abandoned the idea to use Georgia as a... MORE