Latest Articles about Domestic/Social

Circassians’ Growing Awareness of Their Tragic Past Raises Concerns in Moscow
In an open letter on June 1, Circassian activists condemned derogatory and scandalous remarks about them made by Russian State Duma deputy Sergei Markov. The First Caucasian Information channel, a Tbilisi based Russian-language TV channel, asked several Russian public figures, including Markov, about Georgia’s recognition... MORE

Manezkha Redeux? Budanov Murder May Spark Nationalist Backlash
*Visit the Jamestown blog on Russia and Eurasia (https://www.jamestown.org/blog) On June 10, former Colonel Yuri Budanov was gunned down in Moscow. His murder is expected to galvanize Russian nationalists. Already flowers were reportedly taken to the scene of the murder, and nationalist activists are reportedly... MORE

Kyrgyzstan: One Year Passes After The Osh Violence
One year after the four-day ethnic violence in Osh, the situation on the ground remains stable, but tense. There is no clear explanation yet as to why the conflict had spread and whether it was a predominantly top-down or bottom-up mobilization of violence. Although President... MORE

The Future Of The Turkmen Opposition In Exile
At a time when protesters are taking down the governments of long-serving authoritarian rulers in Middle Eastern and North African countries, opposition movements in the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia are also taking their struggle to the streets in their respective countries to... MORE

Accused Russian War Criminal Killed in Moscow as Violence Continues in North Caucasus
Former Russian army colonel Yury Budanov, who was convicted in 2003 of strangling to death an 18-year-old Chechen girl, Elza Kungaeva, while serving as a tank commander in Chechnya in 2000, was murdered today (June 10) in Moscow. Investigators said the car used by the... MORE

Yemen Without President Ali Abdullah Saleh
Following the bombing of a mosque located within the walls of the Presidential Palace on June 3, Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, along with five other ranking government officials who were also injured, was flown to the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh for surgery. [1]... MORE

Ukraine Risks Losing IMF Support
Ukrainian Prime Minister, Mykola Azarov, looks set to sacrifice the economy for electoral considerations. Azarov is reluctant to meet the key conditions set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to qualify for the continuation of its $15 billion assistance program: domestic gas price hikes and... MORE

Despite Risks – Moscow Turns to Ski Resorts as Regional Panacea for the North Caucasus
Moscow no longer expects that the situation in the North Caucasus region will improve any time soon. Even the Russian presidential envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District, Aleksandr Khloponin, has been forced to admit on several occasions that one should not expect any positive... MORE

Belarus Devalues Currency amid Growing Isolation
Belarusian President, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, is a man under pressure. Assailed by Western powers for his harsh treatment of former presidential candidates and protestors, he also faces mounting economic problems that have led to the devaluation of the national currency. At the same time, high rates... MORE

Security Services React to the Perceived Threat of Radical Islam in North Ossetia
On June 4, two masked men from North Ossetia calling themselves “members of the anti-Wahhabi resistance” were shown on the Russian NTV channel. In the interview, which was cited by Regnum news agency but not available on the TV channel’s website, the masked men said... MORE