As the Syrian conflict enters its fourth year, more media attention has recently been devoted to the growing number of Azerbaijanis fighting in the war. Increased appearances by Azerbaijanis in various videos, online discussions and news releases have attracted wider attention from journalists to find... MORE

Since Russia’s “annexation” of Crimea and the start of the Russia-backed “rebellion” in Donbas (eastern Ukrainian region encompassing Donetsk and Luhansk provinces), Central Asian countries have become concerned about their citizens joining the pro-Russia forces in Ukraine as “mercenaries.” Prior to the Ukraine crisis, the... MORE

The Federal Security Service (FSB) this week described the latest killing of a person from Dagestan in its usual manner. According to an official report, a man fired two shots and threw a grenade at the police in the vicinity of the village of Padinskoe... MORE

Ukraine is asking Western governments and international organizations to designate the Moscow-backed Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” (“DPR” and “LPR,” in Ukraine’s east) as terrorist organizations. Their political leaderships and their military units would be liable for designation as terrorist. President Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian... MORE

According to most public analysis, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), or its latest iteration as the Islamic State (IS), is a serious regional threat but not yet a direct threat to the United States on the order of 9/11. [1] Reforms instituted... MORE

Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov posted a photograph of the dead leader of the North Caucasus insurgency, Doku Umarov, on his personal Instagram page, while the militants provided their official version of the death of Umarov, who headed the insurgency from 2006 to 2013. Kadyrov deleted... MORE

In the aftermath of the Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 tragedy, the Russian proxy war against Ukraine may evolve in one of three ways. It could become even more irregular, leading to protracted fighting and, eventually, even a frozen conflict. Second, a “surprise” rapid escalation of... MORE

The Malaysian passenger jet Flight MH17, which crashed on July 17, killing 298 people, was apparently shot down over the territory of the Ukrainian region of Donbas, controlled by pro-Russia and Moscow-backed separatists. Russian authorities have gone into their traditional mode of rejecting any possible... MORE

Russia’s growing international isolation over its policy toward Ukraine and reaction to the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 may prove to be an unexpected test for the highly ambitious plan to rearm the Russian military to 70 percent new or modern equipment by 2020.... MORE

The “commander-in-chief” of the “Novorossiya” defense forces (the Russia-supported separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine), Igor Girkin (a.k.a. Strelkov), told journalists recently that prior to March 31, 2013, he had been a colonel in the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). By his admission, he had participated... MORE