Much has been made in Moscow and the West in recent months about falling fertility rates—the number of children per woman over a lifetime—among the Muslim nationalities of the North Caucasus, with some Russian and Western experts suggesting that the Russian Federation no longer faces... MORE

The Russian invasion of Crimea and the tensions with the West that followed it have created a new public climate in Russia with regard to the North Caucasus. “Today, when Russia has found itself practically on the verge of war with its closest neighbor, all... MORE

Statements and declarations about Georgia made by Western countries and especially the United States carry big weight in Tbilisi. Every one of them is read, re-read, analyzed, and scrutinized by Georgian politicians, experts and ordinary citizens alike. US President Barack Obama’s March 26 statement in... MORE

Russia’s Anschluss of Crimea last month was carried out according to all the standard procedures of the Third Reich. Like Nazi Germany and the Sudetenland in 1938, Moscow captured Crimea and presented the move as a triumph of historical justice (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4octWQkIxg).There are also some important... MORE

Following the news of Doku Umarov’s death and the elevation of a new leader of the North Caucasian armed underground, experts have started to debate whether this will bring changes in the tactics of the insurgents.The replacement of Umarov, whose death was announced only in... MORE

On April 3, Kabardino-Balkaria’s parliament voted to reject direct elections for the republic in favor of appointment by the Russian president. Adalbi Shkhagoshev, a member of the republican parliament from United Russia, the country’s ruling party, told the newspaper Kommersant that the decision was taken... MORE

On April 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Moscow with Tatarstani President Rustam Minnikhanov, who informed Putin about his three recent visits to Crimea. Apparently acting as liaison between the Kremlin and the Crimean Tatars, Tatarstan’s president told Putin that the Crimean Tatar leaders... MORE

The actions of Chechens in Syria—repeatedly examined in this publication over the past two years—is a complex issue, which involves, in particular, the symbiosis of North Caucasian perseverance and Middle Eastern Islamic radicalism. This emerging phenomenon is more dangerous to Russia than the current problems... MORE

Russia’s seizure of Crimea from Ukraine, and Western hand-wringing in response, demonstrate the depth of the security vacuum in Europe’s East. Comprising Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, this area forms the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) and the European Union’s direct eastern neighborhood.... MORE

In an attempt to change the statistics related to the armed underground movement in the North Caucasus, which damage the image of its republics, the authorities are turning a blind eye to human rights violations in the region.Fifteen years after the start of the Chechen... MORE