Latvia’s recent parliamentary elections, and the complicated process of forming a coalition government, sparked the most intensive debate yet on “ethnic voting” in Latvia. In many ways the country is bi-communal de facto, owing to Soviet-era immigration from Russia and Russification of non-Russian groups in... MORE

On October 25 Latvia’s government approved the country’s new government, a three-party center-right coalition that does not include the leftist Russian party Harmony Center (BNS, LETA, October 25). This outcome was in doubt until almost the last moment. Western-oriented Latvia came close to being governed... MORE

On October 18, the Russian public chamber held a special hearing on the exodus of ethnic Russians from the North Caucasus. Poor economic conditions, personal insecurity and the regional political climate were cited most often as the main factors driving ethnic Russians out of the... MORE

On October 18, the Supreme Court of Karachaevo-Cherkessia concluded a trial of a group of 29 suspected militants. The process became the most massive case of imprisonment of alleged North Caucasus rebels in recent times, but it received surprisingly little coverage in the Russian press.... MORE

The poignant comment by John McCain that dictators all over the world “may be a little bit more nervous” after the death of Muammar Gaddafi has generated sharp resonance in Russia because the outspoken US Senator named Vladimir Putin among the dictators in question (Moskovsky... MORE

On October 6, the regional court of Aktobe in western Kazakhstan announced verdicts on four members of a terrorist gang. The men were accused of killing two policemen and a special task force officer during shootouts between a group of armed local residents and the... MORE

In Dagestan, a local resident was abducted yesterday (October 20) in the city of Dagstanskiye Ogni by a group of men wearing camouflage uniforms and masks. The incident happened around 12:30 p.m., local time, near the headquarters of the city tax inspectorate, when a vehicle... MORE

Two weeks before the presidential elections in Kyrgyzstan the question many in the country ask is whether there will be a second round of voting. The frontrunner, Prime Minister Almazabek Atambayev, certainly hopes to secure victory during the first round on October 30.Although Kyrgyzstan has... MORE

Last May, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced the formation of an All-Russia People’s Front (Obzherossiysky Narodni Front – ONF) – an amalgamation of masses of different regional and national public organizations around the ruling United Russia party (URP). It was announced the ONF will be... MORE

On October 17, details emerged of a controversial operation by the Russian security services in a remote Dagestani village of Khutrakh. Rights activists who clandestinely traveled to the sealed off area condemned the police operation as a manifestly punitive action. “[I]n Khutrakh we saw frightened,... MORE