While on a visit to Chechnya on October 15, Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev held a meeting with the Russian Interior Ministry police chiefs of the North Caucasus Federal District and the joint command of the Interior Ministry’s troops (www.kommersant.ru/doc/2045606/print). Kolokoltsev was preparing to deliver... MORE

Chechens suddenly learned from the Russian media that the authorities in Moscow were preparing to axe the federal program on socio-economic development of the Chechen Republic in 2008–2012. Chechnya was destined to receive about $3 billion through this program (https://regions.ru/news/2429193/). However, Moscow has proposed replacing... MORE

Russia’s Investigation Committee (Slyedstvenny Kommitet Rossye—SKR) spokesman Vladimir Markin stunned Moscow on October 25 by publicly accusing the defense ministry–controlled holding company “Oboronservis” of corruption and of defrauding the federal budget of “over three billion rubles” ($100 million). According to Markin, the offices of “Oboronservis”... MORE

On October 19, a court in Nazran, Ingushetia, sentenced the republic’s leading opposition figure, Magomed Khazbiev, to 15 days arrest. Khazbiev, who was accused of obstructing police officers while they were on duty, was arrested immediately upon his arrival from Moscow, where he had organized... MORE

Ukraine’s two most popular opposition forces, Punch (UDAR) and Fatherland, have had a serious quarrel ahead of the October 28 parliamentary election. First, the two parties failed to agree which of their candidates were supposed to bow out of the races in single-seat constituencies so... MORE

On October 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with the country’s top government officials on fighting terrorism in Russia. The list of participants at the government’s council on countering terrorist activities unmistakably pointed to the North Caucasus as Moscow’s primary concern. The heads... MORE

Russia’s departure from quasi-democracy is beyond doubt, but it drifts rather than marches toward a debilitated and corrupt authoritarianism as Vladimir Putin’s third presidency settles into a tedious pattern. The discourse of “modernization” has been discarded and most of Dmitry Medvedev’s “innovations” have been cancelled,... MORE

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visited Dagestan on October 2 (www.ria.ru/economy/20121002/764528570.html). While there, Medvedev stated that Moscow was prepared to inject additional cash into the North Caucasus in order to improve the socio-economic situation in the region. The prime minister’s choice of which North Caucasian... MORE

As Beijing’s reach continues to expand, Chinese analysts are increasingly troubled by the country’s weak ability to influence how international issues, especially the rise of China, are framed and evaluated—called the “right to speak” or “discourse power” (huayuquan). The Western concern about Chinese doping at... MORE

To Belarus, Russia is not just the “meaningful other.” It provides an existential lifeline to Belarus as a de facto custodian of Belarus’s socio-economic model and a cultural magnet of sorts. It was only after Russia dropped the price of natural gas sold to Belarus... MORE