At a recent conference in Pyatigorsk, experts on the North Caucasus extensively compared and contrasted Moscow’s policies in this volatile Russian region and its involvement in Ukrainian affairs. Chechen expert Musa Basnukaev stated that many people in Chechnya ask the question why Russia went to... MORE

Russia’s “hybrid warfare” concept embraces economic warfare as one of its key elements. Yet, less attention has been paid to the details of the economic war between Russia and Ukraine in the conflict over Crimea and parts of Donbas (eastern Ukrainian region encompassing Luhansk and... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin exuded confidence about his Ukraine policy during the Valdai Club discussion in Sochi on October 24. Conceding that Ukraine is a European country, Putin repeated his line that “Ukraine was pieced together as a state, and it is a composite state,... MORE

The recent meeting between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Paris, on October 15, concluded on a positive note, according to the participants themselves. Secretary Kerry announced that Russia and the United States had agreed to an exchange... MORE

In its latest display of mission readiness (in mid-October 2014), the special forces brigade “Fulger” (Thunderbolt) of the Moldovan Ministry of Interior provided a massive show of force by conducting a field exercise involving 350 of its 500-strong force (publika.md, October 22). The exercise featured... MORE

Nine years since the militants of Shamil Basaev and Anzor Astemirov ransacked Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria (RIA Novosti, September 7, 2013), on October 13, 2005, this republic remains a territory in a precarious security situation (newsru.com, accessed October 30). The ongoing trial of 57... MORE

The first of the two French-made helicopter-carrying Mistral-class assault ships, which Russia ordered in 2011, is reportedly ready for delivery. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin announced that a Russian official delegation has been invited to arrive on November 14, at the Saint-Nazaire shipyard for a... MORE

On October 13, the Kremlin unveiled the so called “Agreement on Alliance and Integration” between Russia and breakaway Abkhazia (see EDM, October 23). To summarize this long and verbose text, the new treaty envisages a gradual but ultimately complete merger of the separatist region’s defense,... MORE

President Vladimir’s Putin’s decision, on September 2, to order adjustments to Russia’s 2010 Military Doctrine by the end of the year raised questions concerning the timing and its underlying intention (see EDM, September 9). Recent analysis in the Russian military press and statements by the... MORE

On October 21, the authorities in Dagestan announced that the head of the Dagestani branch of the Russian Federal Service for State Registration, Cadaster and Cartography, Adam Amirilaev, had stepped down from his position and was replaced by his deputy, Rizvan Bulatov (to05.rosreestr.ru, October 21).... MORE