Latest Articles about Russia
Russian-Ukrainian Gas Crisis Fuelled by National Identity
Western media coverage of the latest Ukrainian-Russian gas crisis has largely ignored the national identity component of the conflict, and yet this is the main factor fuelling poor relations between Ukraine and Russia. Inter-elite corruption in the energy sector comes second to national identity issues.... MORE
Chechen Who Accused Kadyrov of Torture Murdered in Vienna
A 27-year-old Chechen was shot to death in Vienna, Austria on January 13. The victim was identified as Umar Israilov, and Agence France-Presse on January 14 quoted the Austrian newspaper Kurier as reporting that he was shot to death by two gunmen. AFP reported that... MORE
Russia Seeks Control of Ukraine’s Gas Transit System Through a Consortium
Russia and some circles in Germany are reactivating the idea of a consortium to control Ukraine’s gas transit system. Moscow hopes to profit from the crisis atmosphere it has itself created since January 1 by stopping gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine. Blaming Ukraine in... MORE
A Restart of U.S.-Russian Relations
During a confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, President-elect Barack Obama's choice for secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, criticized the outgoing Bush administration for having downgraded the role of arms control and announced the new administration’s intention to engage Russia in more... MORE
Guest Commentary: Russian “Security Net” Must Not Be Abandoned
In December 2008, when these lines were written, it was difficult to understand the prospects of the world and domestic financial-economic crisis. For Russia, however, the current turbulence may be useful, because it offers a good pretext for changing many elements of social policy to... MORE
Russia Suspected of Trying to Take over Ukraine’s Gas Transit Network
Russia was supposed to resume pumping gas to the EU through Ukraine on January 13 following trilateral Moscow-Kyiv-Brussels talks, but the Russia-Ukraine gas row is far from over. Neither the issue of Kyiv’s debts, the very existence of which Ukraine denies, nor the conditions of... MORE
Russia’s Gas Disinformation Game
Disinformation operations, as every former KGB operative knows, can be an invaluable tool in winning a war. “Deza,” as it is called by the old boys who once worked on Dzerzhinsky Square in Moscow, is an art meant to be used carefully by professionals; otherwise... MORE
Russia Hiding Gas Shortfall by Touting Multiple Export Routes
Russia is using the gas supply crisis, which it has itself triggered, to induce a contest among consumer countries over imports of Russian natural gas. Russian-produced gas has become a commodity in short supply when measured against Russia’s internal requirements and its existing export commitments.... MORE
A War Like No Other: Putin Mishandles Another Gas Conflict
Two weeks after the traditional turn of the valve in the first minute of the new year, the disagreement between Russia and Ukraine over the trade and transit of natural gas is still not resolved, and it is not only the duration that makes this... MORE
Spain Extradites Chechen Terror Suspect
On New Year’s Eve, Spain extradited to Russia a Chechen accused of involvement in the June 2004 rebel attacks on the Ingush Interior Ministry building and other installations in Nazran. The BBC quoted the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office as saying that Murat Gasaev had been... MORE