Latest Articles about Middle East
ARE MOSCOW AND TOKYO DOUBTING WISDOM OF NAKHODKA PROJECT?
Dmitry Medvedev's recent interview in the Russian journal Ekspert (April 4) raised eyebrows for a variety of reasons. The fact that he even consented to give an interview is news in itself. The Kremlin Chief of Staff has been largely invisible to the public eye... MORE
RUSSIAN ARMY REMAINS IN DECLINE
Russia's military manning system continues to struggle with unwilling conscripts forced to serve in deplorable conditions and with inadequate training. Health problems among young conscripts arriving in the barracks are compounded by the widespread persistence of draft dodging and the rising numbers of men seeking... MORE
SECESSIONIST LEADERS HOLD “MINISTERIAL” TALKS, PREPARE “SUMMIT”
The self-styled "ministers of foreign affairs" of Transnistria and Abkhazia, Valery Litskay and Sergei Shamba, along with South Ossetia's "permanent representative" to Russia, Dmitry Medoev, held a tripartite meeting and talks with Russian officials on April 3-4 in Moscow. On March 30, Transnistria's "president" Igor... MORE
RUSSIA’S POLITICAL CLASS IS SPLIT OVER HOW TO PROCEED WITH INTEGRATION OF POST-SOVIET SPACE
Contradictory Kremlin statements on the possible fate of the Commonwealth of Independent States (see EDM, March 31) reflect the strategic confusion among Russian policymakers and pundits about the country's policy toward its neighbors in the post-Soviet lands. As the waves of "colored revolutions" sweep across... MORE
MOSCOW EYES ENERGY DELIVERIES TO NORTH KOREA BY RAIL
Moscow has revealed possible plans to supply crude oil to Pyongyang, although expanded cooperation and trade ties between Russia and North Korea remain a distant vision. In March, Gennady Fadeyev, head of the state-run Russian Railways company (RZD) mentioned that Russia is considering oil deliveries... MORE
PUTIN OBITUARY FOR CIS
Russian officials are performing some dialectical acrobatics in reinterpreting President Vladimir Putin's recent remarks in Yerevan, where Putin in essence pronounced the Commonwealth of Independent States to be defunct as a mechanism for integration (Kremlin.ru, March 25). Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov wasted... MORE
Putin Obituary for CIS
Russian officials are performing some dialectical acrobatics in reinterpreting President Vladimir Putin's recent remarks in Yerevan, where Putin in essence pronounced the Commonwealth of Independent States to be defunct as a mechanism for integration (Kremlin.ru, March 25). Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov wasted... MORE
RUSSIA SEEKS CLOSER TIES WITH POST-REVOLUTIONARY KYRGYZSTAN
In the aftermath of the revolution that has swept the Kyrgyz leadership from power and ushered in another democratic revolution in the former Soviet Union, Russia has sought to re-affirm its close ties with Kyrgyzstan. Indeed the Kremlin's handling of the crisis reveals that Russian... MORE
MOSCOW CRACKS DOWN ON INDEPENDENT MUSLIM ORGANIZATIONS
Muslims in Russia's Middle Volga region have taken to the streets to protest what they say is a rising tide of xenophobia and official brutality directed against them. On March 13, there were demonstrations in Kazan and Ufa, the capitals of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, respectively,... MORE
RUSSIAN OFFICIALS AND SOME POLITICOS URGE NON-INTERFERENCE IN BISHKEK
President Vladimir Putin made his first comments on the events in Kyrgyzstan from Yerevan today (March 25). The events in Kyrgystan were not unexpected and were the result of both the Kyrgyz authorities' weakness and "social and economic problems that have accumulated," Putin said. He... MORE