Analysts have believed that the Islamic State (IS) organization would dispatch people to the North Caucasus and include the region in its sphere of influence. The reality appears to be much simpler: the IS came to the North Caucasus through members of the Caucasus Emirate... MORE

Russian experts say that the Cossack organizations in the North Caucasus are increasingly split and mired in conflicts with each other. The reasons usually given for the internal conflicts among the Cossacks is the government’s inability to organize them, or their own inability to organize... MORE

On December 16, Circassian activists issued a special statement in support of their colleagues persecuted by the Russian authorities in the North Caucasus. The appeal, signed by 65 politicians, writers, civil activists, businessmen and academicians from Turkey, Germany, the United States and several other countries,... MORE

Armenia’s strong economic dependence on the Russian Federation is dramatically being highlighted at the moment by the devaluation of the Russian ruble and the general economic decline in Russia. The structure of Armenia’s economy and the character of its relationship with Russia suggest that Armenian... MORE

Last week (December 11), Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan paid an official two-day visit to Georgia (Newsday.ge, December 11). The head of the Armenian government held intensive talks with his Georgian counterpart, Irakli Garibashvili, on the entire spectrum of the bilateral agenda. This agenda, however,... MORE

As 2014 draws to a close, energy developments in the Eurasian region have been gaining new prominence. Notably, on December 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin paid a state visit to Turkey to attend the fifth meeting of the Turkish-Russian High-Level Cooperation Council (CNN Turk, December... MORE

The insurgency in Dagestan was plagued by a series of failures last week. On December 9, the Russian security services killed the leader of the rebels’ Makhachkala sector, 25-year-old Emir Usman (Ruslan Darsamov). The incident took place when law enforcement agents stopped a car for... MORE

On December 10, a delegation from the Serbian National Assembly, led by parliamentary speaker Maja Gojkovic, visited the Azerbaijani capital of Baku (Azernews.az, December 10). During their two-day visit, the members of the Serbian delegation met with several high-ranking Azerbaijani officials, including President Ilham Aliyev.... MORE

The plans to build a road connecting Dagestan to Georgia have caused concern among experts outside Russia (see EDM, October 2). Following its moves in eastern Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea, its war with Georgia in 2008 and other aggressive acts, every move by Russia... MORE

The Chechen militant assault on Grozny on December 4 (TASS, December 5) is bound to have an impact on the neighboring republics. What the impact will be and how the other republics will try to prevent similar attacks by the Caucasus Emirate is an important... MORE