By the end of October, the authorities in Sukhumi must respond to Moscow’s proposal to sign a new agreement “On Alliance and Integration” between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Abkhazia (abkhaziya.org, October 14). The fact that the draft document was leaked to the... MORE

The suicide bombing in the capital of Chechnya (RIA Novosti, October 5) carried out by 19-year-old Apti Mudarov (vesti.ru, October 5) during Grozny’s City Day celebrations on October 5 (Kommersant, October 6), which was also Ramzan Kadyrov’s birthday (riafan.ru, October 5), would not be worth... MORE

Christophe de Margerie, 63, the CEO of French oil major Total, was killed as his executive jet crashed during takeoff on the runway of Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, at about midnight, on October 20. The jet hit an airport snowplow vehicle, flipped over and burst into... MORE

On October 9, the well-known Russian-Abkhaz journalist Anton Krivenyuk published an article stating the Russian government may be interested in building a highway connecting Abkhazia to the North Caucasus. Krivenyuk hailed the idea, saying it would potentially help Abkhazia overcome its isolation and integrate itself... MORE

As October 26, the date of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Ukraine, approaches ever closer, many current legislators are finding themselves in increasingly dire straits. In addition to the tense political campaign, an increasing number of Ukrainian parliamentary candidates and top officials have been falling... MORE

With several days remaining until the polls open in Ukraine on October 26, it is clear that President Petro Poroshenko’s party will win the early parliamentary election hands down. Opinion polls show that the Bloc of Poroshenko (BoP) is heading for a victory no less... MORE

Religious-driven conflicts in the North Caucasus are caused by the government’s interference in religious matters, according to Enver Kisriev, a Moscow-based expert of Dagestani origin. “I do not understand, why the political leadership of Russia thinks that it will be able to establish some sort... MORE

In the world of labor union–business relations, it is commonly understood that, oftentimes, the threat of a strike, as long as it is credible, can achieve more than an actual strike itself. On the one hand, the business against which a strike may be launched... MORE

The most recent Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit attracted a sizeable crowd of world leaders to Milan last week (October 16–17), but the formal agenda was overtaken by the efforts to manage the violent conflict between Russia and Ukraine and facilitate dialogue between presidents Vladimir Putin... MORE

Western powers lost control and, to some extent, lost comprehension of the situation in Ukraine during the Euromaidan mass protest movement and its aftermath. They then trailed behind the events throughout Russia’s war against Ukraine to date. The European Commission’s lame-duck status during most of... MORE