Vladimir Putin’s creation of a national guard is an effort by the Kremlin leader to create a force totally loyal to himself and to escape the influence of the FSB.
Moscow Struggling to Coordinate Counter-Terrorist Effort in North Caucasus 2016-01-02 21:09:16 Staunton, VA, January 2, 2016 — Moscow is finding it increasingly difficult to coordinate the various agencies involved in its counter-terrorist effort in the North Caucasus, and its shortcomings in that regard are “being paid for by the blood” of local residents, according to Rasul […]
Staunton, December 25 — Vladimir Putin rose to power with a promise to suppress Chechnya’s drive for independence, but his actions in recent years, including his new decision to hand over to Grozny the oil refinery there have put that North Caucasus republic on “the final stage” toward the establishment of an independent country, according […]
Staunton, November 5 – Only if he is facing the complete collapse of his regime, Garri Kasparov says, will Putin consider invading the Baltic countries because NATO has made it clear that it will defend them and Moscow is unprepared to go to war with the West. Instead, the Kremlin leader is more likely to […]
Staunton, October 14 – Ten years ago, a clash between radicals and the authorities in Nalchik claimed 141 lives, but massive repression has not solved the problems that gave rise to terrorism but rather led to “a significant outflow of potential and real militants to the Middle East” from which they may return, according to […]
Staunton, April 30 – – Both Vladimir Putin and Ramzan Kadyrov have a deep interest in avoiding a complete break, the former because a new Chechen war would be “a moral catastrophe” that would undermine his myth and the latter because he would not survive without the enormous sums of money Moscow currently sends him, […]
Staunton, April 28 – The Victory Day amnesty Vladimir Putin has promised “repeats all the mistakes of an analogous measure of 15 years ago, when the godfathers of organized crime along with repeat rapists and murders were released from prison” on an unsuspecting population, according to Versia journalist Ruslan Gorevoy and the experts he spoke […]
Welcome to our column, Russia Update, where we will be closely following day-to-day developments in Russia, including the Russian government’s foreign and domestic policies. The previous issue is here. The Russian Interior Ministry has denounced the order of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov to shoot on unauthorized police from outside his republic, but Kadyrov has denied […]
Staunton, December 15 – Ramzan Kadyrov’s ouster as head of Chechnya has been rumored so often that it has become something “expected” by some, but if he goes, that is likely to entail “unpredictable consequences” for Chechnya, the North Caucasus and Moscow, according to Temur Kozayev. Many had expected Kadyrov to be ousted last spring, […]
Staunton, November 22 – Under the impact of Moscow media, Russians have become accustomed to thinking that anti-Russian militants in the North Caucasus are bearded men who fight in the forests. But recent events in Dagestan suggest, Vladislav Maltsev says, that in that republic, they are now an urban street movement capable of fighting local […]
