Since the start of the year, military exercises have taken place in both Chechnya and Dagestan. News reports emphasize that the exercises have been taking place in the mountains. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, motorized infantry snipers of the Southern Military District who are... MORE

The Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Energy of Georgia, Kakha Kaladze, and a top official at the Russian energy giant Gazprom, Yelena Burmistrova, failed to reach an agreement during the latest round of talks in Vienna (Rustavi2, January 21). The Georgian Ministry of Energy... MORE

On January 19, President Vladimir Putin met with the governor of Karachaevo-Cherkessia, Rashid Temrezov, in Moscow. Temrezov reported that the republic reduced its dependence on the Russian federal budget in 2015, and that tax collection rates and the republican economy overall were better last year... MORE

With Russia’s financial situation becoming more precarious, the country’s regions are likely to gain more power, according to the Russian economist Denis Sokolov. “If the year 2015 was the year of the zachistka (mop-up operation) against the regional elites, the year 2016 will become the... MORE

Azerbaijan, the third largest oil producer in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) after Russia and Kazakhstan, shifted to a floating exchange rate regime on December 21, 2015, triggered by a rapid fall in oil prices. For the long term Azerbaijan had almost a constant... MORE

A strange armed clash that took place in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, in mid-January had unexpected results for government forces. The authorities introduced a counterterrorist operation regime in the city, after which security forces sealed off a house in which, they claimed, three suspected... MORE

Since the conquest of the North Caucasus in the 19th century, Russian politicians have generally failed to understand the essence of Islam and repeatedly tried to create a pro-Russian Muslim clergy that would represent the Russian authorities among the country’s Muslim population instead of reflecting... MORE

Tbilisi and Moscow’s negotiations over the expansion of Russian Gazprom’s share of the Georgian energy market heightened the political fever in the country over the last several weeks. The negotiations that started largely in secrecy in September 2015 (see EDM, October 21, 2015), have continued... MORE

On January 12, the government of Abkhazia published a statement that paves the way for the breakaway Georgian region to join Russian sanctions against Turkey. The move further reduces Abkhazia’s political autonomy and pushes it into Moscow’s arms. Bilateral trade between Abkhazia and Turkey in... MORE

The deterioration of Turkey-Russia ties on the one hand and Iran–Saudi Arabia relations on the other have been a major source of worry for the Azerbaijani authorities over the past year. The leadership officially acknowledged this concern last week (January 10) (APA, January 10). However,... MORE