Belgium has in recent years produced some of the largest numbers of foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, both in absolute and relative terms of any European country. This article aims to take a critical look at the numbers of Belgian fighters active with the... MORE

One of the most “fashionable” Islamic preachers in the North Caucasus, Nadir Medetov, has unexpectedly surfaced in the ranks of the Islamic State (IS) in the Middle East after being put under house arrest by the Russian security services for the past 6–7 months. How... MORE

This week (May 26), Russia’s Ministry of Justice added the private charitable foundation Dynasty, which specializes in distributing grants and stipends to Russian scientists, to the register of organizations that the government classifies as “foreign agents.” Another non-governmental organization (NGO), the “Liberal Mission” foundation, headed... MORE

On May 19, President Vladimir Putin addressed a joint meeting of the Council for Interethnic Relations and the Council for Russian Language. “The preservation and development of the Russian language and all the languages of the peoples of the country are essential for the harmonization... MORE

It is still difficult to figure out what sorts of conclusions President Vladimir Putin drew from the long meeting he held with US Secretary of State John Kerry two weeks ago (May 12), in Sochi (see EDM, May 19). But the recent behavior of top... MORE

Executive Summary On March 25, Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners launched air strikes and implemented a naval blockade against Yemen to weaken Yemen’s Zaydi Shi’a Houthis and to reinstall the exiled government of Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansur al-Hadi. Operation Decisive Storm has now... MORE

Vladimir Putin’s use of ethnicity to justify his actions in Ukraine has been widely accepted in the West but not commonly understood. That is to say, his claims that he can intervene on behalf of ethnic Russians or others that he feels are close to... MORE

The annual Circassian Day of Remembrance and Mourning was marked, on May 21, by Circassians across the North Caucasus and outside Russia. A large procession took place in Maikop, the capital of Adygea (Natpressru.info, May 22). An official rally also took place in Karachaevo-Cherkessia (Riakchr.ru,... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. The armistice signed in Minsk on February 12, 2015, (Minsk Two agreement) opens the way for staging local elections in the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” (“DPR, LPR”) and the possible validation of those elections’ outcome by the... MORE

Since the Russian military became a policy tool in the Kremlin’s conflict in Ukraine, Defense Minister Army-General Sergei Shoigu received surprisingly little attention from observers of Russia’s defense policies. Shoigu offered broad support for the operation to “restore” Crimea to Russia, while emphatically denying the... MORE