In connection with the tragic events in Boston, some Western journalists have started pursuing sensational angles to the story concerning the purported ties between the alleged elder Boston Marathon bomber, Tamerlan Tsnarnaev, and a Dagestani militant who went by the name of Mahmud Mansur Nidal... MORE

Why did Tamerlan Tsarnaev—one of the alleged April 15 Boston Marathon bombers who died in a shoot-out with police on April 18—not demand an end to the bloodshed in Dagestan, but was instead interested in what happened in Afghanistan and Iraq? The casualties in Dagestan... MORE

Speaking to reporters after last week’s (April 25) lengthy, televised, national question-and-answer (Q & A) session, President Vladimir Putin declared he “was optimistic this tragedy [the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing] will facilitate greater security cooperation, benefiting both America and Russia” (Interfax, April 25). This... MORE

On April 23, following his trip to Minsk, Russia’s Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu revealed that Russia plans to create its own military airbase on Belarusian soil near the city of Baranovichi, with the first set of Russian fighter jets due to arrive there later... MORE

Emil Pain, the well-known Russian expert on ethnic conflict and former Russian government official, has warned that the conflict in the North Caucasus is escalating. According to the Kavkazsky Uzel (Caucasian Knot) website, the number of casualties in the North Caucasus dropped to 199 in... MORE

On April 26, 2013, Prime Minister of Georgia Bidzina Ivanishvili admitted that the previous government perhaps had links with North Caucasian militants and terrorists, and Georgian territory was probably used not only for their transit but also for training purposes. It is difficult to underestimate... MORE

Despite the contraction of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)—marked by the collective agreement at its summit in Moscow in December 2012 to interpret Tashkent’s membership “suspension” as a withdrawal—the Kremlin is intensifying its efforts to transform the body ahead of the North Atlantic Treaty... MORE

Poland’s Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, has announced some strong measures in response to the April 5 memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between EuroPolGaz and Russian Gazprom, negotiated behind the Polish government’s back. The MOU envisages joint EuroPolGaz-Gazprom construction of a redundant transit pipeline in Poland that... MORE

On April 27, the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta published an article on the dead Boston bomber suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, based on information it received from the Russian security services. It cited officers of the Dagestani Center for Combating Extremism who said they became aware of... MORE

Adolf Hitler’s birthday, traditionally a concern for authorities determined to prevent racist violence in Russia (see Part One of this two-part article in EDM, April 15), appears to have passed without much disruption in 2013. At the time of writing, there were relatively few reports... MORE