The Russian government continues to optimize its security forces in the run-up to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. At the beginning of March, Lieutenant-General Yevgeny Fuzhenko announced reforms of the troops under the command of the Russian Ministry of the Interior (Ministerstvo Vnutrennikh Del—MVD).... MORE

The Barack Obama administration declared victory for the “democratic process” in Georgia immediately after that country’s October 1, 2012, parliamentary elections. It defined that victory narrowly as an “orderly transfer of power” from the incumbent government to the election-winning opposition. This would in turn guarantee... MORE

The Barack Obama administration publicly called for an “orderly transfer of power” during Georgia’s electoral campaign. President Obama first gave this message, publicly and (still more explicitly) privately, to the visiting Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili as early as January 2012 in Washington. “Orderly transfer of... MORE

On March 12, the head of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, entered into an unusually heated and public debate with Chechen officials on territorial issues. In a televised address, Yevkurov stated that the disputed Sunzha district in the area of the administrative border between Ingushetia and Chechnya... MORE

Uncharacteristically, the Chechen government announced the launch of a series of special operations on March 12, when a counter-terrorism operation regime was introduced in Chechnya’s Shali district. The announcement specified that the search for the militants would be carried out in areas outside of the... MORE

The United States had strongly influenced Georgia’s politics during Mikheil Saakashvili’s presidency. This influence is waning since the regime change that has empowered Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili. The October 2012 parliamentary elections have effected this still-incomplete regime change, pending a constitutional transition period until the... MORE

Georgia’s October 2012 parliamentary elections amounted to a plebiscite on the policies of Mikheil Saakashvili’s government. Voters responded by giving his rival Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream 85 parliamentary seats, against Saakashvili’s United National Movement (UNM), which gained 65 seats in the 150-seat chamber. The votes... MORE

In October 2012, Georgia held the freest parliamentary elections in the country’s two decades of experience with competitive multi-party politics. Also for the first time, the opposition defeated the government, in a contest on a “level playing field.” This, however, was not simply a competition... MORE

On March 9, four people were killed in three different parts of Dagestan. One incident took place in Khasavyurt district, which is predominantly populated by Chechens, Avars and Kumyks. Another incident happened in the town of Izberbash south of Makhachkala, which is mostly populated by... MORE

On March 4, renowned Georgian folk dance and music ensemble Erisioni departed to Russia for a tour, culminating in a series of grandiose concerts at the Kremlin on March 9–10 (Imedi TV, March 4). Two other Georgian folk ensembles, Rustavi and National Ballet Sukhishvilebi, as... MORE