In early November, journalists and analysts convened in Tallinn, Estonia, for the fifth annual meeting of the “Rubicon” conference fully devoted to issues pertaining to Belarus. This year, the major topic was “Belarus as a factor of regional security and stability.” The participants were unable... MORE

In an interview with the website Kavkazskaya Politika, Kabardino-Balkaria’s Deputy Interior Minister Kazbek Tatuev described the republic’s ongoing security dilemmas. According to the official, the underground movement in the republic is structured according to administrative divisions featuring an amir and his deputies (naibs) in each... MORE

The three small Muslim communities in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have had good relations both with the rest of the populations and the governments of these three Baltic countries. But the influx of refugees from Syria and the wider Middle East to Europe is now... MORE

Russian experts have reacted to the recent establishment of a group in the Ukrainian parliament called “For the Free Caucasus.” One of them, Vladislav Gulevich, has predicted that the Ukrainian political forces that want to detach the North Caucasus from Russia will fail because Ukraine... MORE

The now-annual extreme-nationalist “Russian March” in Lublino (a working-class district in Moscow, populated mostly by ethnic Slavs), on November 4—National Unity Day—saw a sharply reduced number of marchers this year. Last Wednesday’s march in the Russian capital had only about 700 participants, whereas previous years’... MORE

The West’s major centers of power—the European Union and the United States—have recently announced significant adjustments to their Belarus policies; and the underpinnings and implications of those changes are now being hotly debated by the Belarusian opposition and anti-regime analysts and commentators. In particular, the... MORE

Another name has been added to the list of Chechens killed outside Russia: Abdulvakhid Edilgeriev was shot dead last month in Istanbul’s Kayasehir district, which many Chechens have made their home. The murder took place in broad daylight—at about 1:30 p.m., on October 1. The... MORE

The ongoing political and legal stand-off between the Georgian government and the opposition over the ownership of the Rustavi 2 TV channel (Rustavi 2, Media.ge, October 2; see EDM, October 26) has become even more tense as new wiretapped recordings surfaced on October 29. The... MORE

Chechen authorities claim that a group of 20 young Chechens and Ingush studying in Moscow tried to leave Russia for Syria and were stopped at the last moment. According to Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov, Western security services are constantly seeking to undermine Russia’s prestige (Instagram.com,... MORE

On October 31, a Russian charter passenger jet, Airbus A321 Metrojet Flight 9268, disintegrated in midair some 23 minutes after takeoff from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, Russia, killing all 224 people on board, mostly Russian tourists. Metrojet Flight 9268 crashed... MORE