After seven months without any communication from the Caucasus Emirate’s emir, Doku Umarov, the leadership of the North Caucasian rebels’ velayats on March 18 officially admitted the death of their leader (https://kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2014/03/18/103603.shtml).The North Caucasian jihadists also announced their new leader—Abu Muhammad, who was the Caucasus... MORE

Russia’s seizure of Crimea from Ukraine, officially effective from March 18 (see EDM, March 19), brings two distinct territorial units into the Russian Federation, namely: the Crimean republic and the Sevastopol municipality, henceforth subordinated directly to Russia’s central government.Sevastopol’s special status derives from Russia’s Black... MORE

Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine is now an accomplished goal in its own right. But it is also an intermediate goal, part of a broader agenda to threaten Ukraine with fragmentation or decomposition, unless Ukraine reorients toward Russia. In turn, Ukraine’s reorientation or its... MORE

On March 4, Premier Li Keqiang delivered the annual Report on the Work of the Government to the National People’s Congress (NPC). In the small section on national defense, Premier Li stated: “We made solid progress in strengthening national defense and the armed forces, and... MORE

The formation of a new committee for military reform at the top echelons of China’s Communist Party suggests that the Chinese leadership is beginning a concerted push to restructure the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The creation of the new Small Leading Group for Deepening Reform... MORE

Rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine have spilled into cyberspace, although it remains unclear whether government entities or lone wolf patriotic hackers are responsible. In a highly embarrassing incident, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s webpage was knocked offline, even as a Kremlin source said it was... MORE

On the night of March 11, police officer Batyr Belkharoev was shot while he was driving his car near the village of Sagopshi in Ingushetia’s Malgobek district (https://lifenews.ru/news/128832). He died on the spot, while a relative traveling with him, Magomed Belkharoev, was wounded and taken... MORE

Nobody should think that Moscow’s aggressive campaign to restore its former status as a global great power or its fundamentally anti-American policy is currently confined to Ukraine. Indeed, while the invasion, occupation and annexation of Crimea—not to mention the threats to eastern Ukraine—continue, Moscow is... MORE

Fresh from a victory over the rebel troops of the Mouvement du 23 Mars (M23) in the unsettled but resource-rich Nord-Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Congolese army has launched an offensive against the self-described “Islamists” of the Allied Democratic... MORE

The hottest issues for Belarus these days are prospects for further economic growth under new conditions—in part informed by Russia’s annexation of Crimea and Belarus’s official position with regard to this groundbreaking event. Even before the crisis in Ukraine, Belarus faced dwindling economic growth, an... MORE