Polish, Georgian Presidents’ Motorcade Shot at from South Ossetia

At dusk on November 23, machine-gun fire from the direction of a Russian checkpoint forced Presidents Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia and Lech Kaczynski of Poland to cut short a visit with Georgian refugees from South Ossetia....

Russia Insists Ambitious Plans for Developing Far East Are Immune to Crisis

Russia's top officials insisted that the country's plans to develop the Far Eastern regions remained unaffected by the global economic downturn. The crisis will not force Russia to abandon its strategic development plans,...

Brazilian and Russian Military Cooperation Deepens

According to Russia's Economic Development Ministry, Russia is negotiating to supply helicopters to the Forca Aerea Brasileira (Brazilian Air Force, or FAB). The Ministry noted in a statement, "In order to promote Russian ...

Russia Says It May Abandon Nord Stream Pipeline - Part II

The Kremlin has warned that it might abandon the Nord Stream gas pipeline project on the Baltic seabed from Russia to Germany (see EDM, November 19). The warnings seem designed to line up wider European support for the project...

Russia's Radical Military Reform in Progress

Russia's Radical Military Reform in Progress

Russia's top military commander, First Deputy Defense Minister and Chief of General Staff General Nikolai Makarov told journalists that the Russian army structure was too bulky and...

Russia Says It May Abandon Nord Stream Pipeline and Switch to LNG

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned on November 12, and Gazprom Vice-President Aleksandr Medvedev echoed on November 18, that Russia might abandon the project to lay a gas pipeline, Nord Stream, on the Baltic seabed to...

Russia and the World Gold Market

One might ask how far Kremlin-backed Russian companies will go in their quest to take control of valuable gold mining assets not only in Eastern and Central Europe, but in South America and Central Asia as well. One example of...

Russia Wants New Airbase in Tajikistan

Russia’s defense priorities within Central Asia are changing in the aftermath of its war in the South Caucasus. There, the Russian armed forces rediscovered the importance of airpower, which it used efficiently to achieve...