Sino-Russian joint naval maneuvers are not a new phenomenon; they have occurred at least twice in the Far East. But the most recent maneuvers that took place in the Mediterranean, and concluded on May 21, represent some new aspects of the Russo-Chinese relationship and both... MORE

It is still difficult to figure out what sorts of conclusions President Vladimir Putin drew from the long meeting he held with US Secretary of State John Kerry two weeks ago (May 12), in Sochi (see EDM, May 19). But the recent behavior of top... MORE

Vladimir Putin’s use of ethnicity to justify his actions in Ukraine has been widely accepted in the West but not commonly understood. That is to say, his claims that he can intervene on behalf of ethnic Russians or others that he feels are close to... MORE

The annual Circassian Day of Remembrance and Mourning was marked, on May 21, by Circassians across the North Caucasus and outside Russia. A large procession took place in Maikop, the capital of Adygea (Natpressru.info, May 22). An official rally also took place in Karachaevo-Cherkessia (Riakchr.ru,... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. The armistice signed in Minsk on February 12, 2015, (Minsk Two agreement) opens the way for staging local elections in the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” (“DPR, LPR”) and the possible validation of those elections’ outcome by the... MORE

Since the Russian military became a policy tool in the Kremlin’s conflict in Ukraine, Defense Minister Army-General Sergei Shoigu received surprisingly little attention from observers of Russia’s defense policies. Shoigu offered broad support for the operation to “restore” Crimea to Russia, while emphatically denying the... MORE

The leadership of institutions can often reveal a great deal about these organizations’ changing place in the state and society. The General Staff has traditionally been the brains of the military and Russia’s “unblinking eye” on the future of war. Graduates of the Military Academy... MORE

Immediately after Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was arrested for carrying out the deadly bombing of the 2013 Boston Marathon, multiple support groups mushroomed online, particularly on Russian social media. In the two years since Tsarnaev’s arrest, the number of groups has decreased somewhat and some of them... MORE

The possible international recognition of “elections” staged in the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” (“DPR, LPR”) is one of the major innovations of the Minsk Two armistice agreement on Ukraine. It is Moscow’s innovation, with Germany and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe... MORE

After the demise of the Soviet state with its atheist policies, a massive process of rebuilding old and building new mosques started across the North Caucasus. Today, Chechnya has nearly 1,000 mosques and Dagestan has two or three times that number (Kavpolit.com, February 15, 2014).... MORE