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Taliban strengthens political position of Afghan defence agencies

2008-05-19 15:19:23, , Copy editor: Mikhail LOGVINOV

[ Andrei Serenko – Expert at the centre for studying contemporary Afghanistan ] The audacious attack by terrorists during a military parade in Kabul on the 27th of April has in the end strengthened the political position of the heads of Afghan defence structures. At the same time it showed that western public opinion, especially its direct constructors – European mass media is the weakest link in the fight against Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. This has become obvious after the recent terrorist attack carried out in Kabul.

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Pro & Contra: Monitoring Racism

2008-04-28 01:15:30, , Copy editor: Mikhail LOGVINOV

[ By Dmitri Babych, Russia Profile ] The Fastest Growing Number of Racial Intolerance Victims Are From Central Asian States. The Moscow Bureau of Human Rights (MBHR), a Russian NGO monitoring and combating racist activity in the country recently published disturbing statistics of racist attacks that took place in the first four months of 2008.

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The Lame Duck Challenge

2008-03-24 03:33:26, , Copy editor: Mikhail LOGVINOV

[By Yelena Biberman] Although the Two-Plus-Two Consultations Yielded Few New Compromises, Their Overall Tone Was Positive. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Moscow on March 17 for two day long two-plus-two “consultations” with their Russian counterparts, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, and also to meet with President Vladimir Putin and President-elect Dmitry Medvedev.

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Russia Steps on the Gas. Germany’s Leading Kremlinologist Calls for Europe to Take Russia’s Energy Partnership Offer Seriously

2008-03-01 05:13:26, , Copy editor: Mikhail LOGVINOV

[By Graham Stack] Germany is Russia’s most prominent European partner, and now Germany’s most important Russia specialist has published a snapshot of Russia and its ambivalent relationship to Europe, containing a wealth of insider information and hot off the press.

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A Wider Look at Putin’s Presidency. All Roads Lead to the Kremlin

2008-03-01 05:06:37, , Copy editor: Mikhail LOGVINOV

[Comment by Sergei Tereshenkov] Presidential elections this Sunday will elevate Dmitry Medvedev to Russia’s highest office, but they will also underscore the impact of President Vladimir Putin’s tenure. Looking back at the eight years that transformed Russia’s political system and changed its positioning on the global arena reveals a mix of dizzying success and stark failure.

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20 Foreign Policy Questions for Medvedev. How Does the Successor View Russia’s Place in the World?

2008-01-28 06:36:40, , Copy editor: Mikhail LOGVINOV

[Comment by Vladimir Frolov] Last week, First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev accompanied President Vladimir Putin to Bulgaria in his new capacity as a soon-to-be-registered presidential candidate. Although he was there more as chairman of the board of Gazprom than the likely next president of Russia, Medvedev’s separate meetings with Bulgarian leaders were clearly meant to present him to a friendly foreign audience.

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Crackdown in Ingushetia: The FSB Operation Coincides with a Planned Opposition Meeting

2008-01-28 06:32:02, , Copy editor: Mikhail LOGVINOV

[By Dmitry Babich] The situation in the North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia is becoming more and more unstable. On Friday, the local branch of the FSB declared several areas inside the republic a “counter-terrorist operation zone.” According to Russian legislation, this allows police and FSB agents to search people and vehicles entering this area or prevent them from entering it. Police also have the right to enter people’s homes as well as other powers.

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Dmitry Medvedev: myth and reality on Vladimir Putin’s “heir”

2007-12-21 20:26:24, , Copy editor: Mikhail LOGVINOV

“Liberal technocrat”, “leader of the Gazprom clan”, “straw-man” for Vladimir Putin... Comments — often contradictory — came in waves since December 10 in the Russian and Western press concerning the next Russian president. One more refined analysis about the biographical profile of Dmitry Medvedev indicates that the latter has patiently woven a number of networks in Russian power circles where he could leisurely explore the inner workings during the past 15 years or so.

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All the Next President’s Men. Dmitry Medvedev’s Civiliki

2007-12-21 20:16:22, , Copy editor: Mikhail LOGVINOV

[By Graham Stack] Roll over siloviki, the civiliki are on their way. Dmitry Medvedev, United Russia and Vladimir Putin’s presidential candidate, is not a member of the dreaded siloviki network. Instead, he is the leading member of the “civiliki,” a network of St. Petersburg civil law scholars whom he has pulled up into high positions in Gazprom and the Russian court system.

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Two aspects of Russian-German asset swap agreements

2007-12-21 20:09:54, , Copy editor: Mikhail LOGVINOV

[Igor Tomberg for RIA Novosti] - First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev spent his first day as an official presidential candidate at Gazprom, where he heads the board of directors. On December 18, Medvedev and German Deputy Chancellor and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier attended the commissioning of the South Russkoye gas condensate field in west Siberia, 3,500 km (2,175 miles) away from Moscow.

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The New Caucasus Emirate? Islamic Terrorists in the North Caucasus have a Global Reach

2007-11-29 15:02:18, , Copy editor: Mikhail LOGVINOV

[Comment by Gordon M. Hahn] The problem of radical Islam in Azerbaijan is hardly new or unique for the Caucasus, even if much of the international media has refused to cover it. Its origins go back to the late 1980s and early 1990s when the young, independent Azeri state, under nationalist President Abulfaz Elchibey, indirectly supported Chechen rebels. Elchibey also allegedly invited the Muslim guerilla fighter Amir Khattab to the former Soviet Union in 1992, to help Azerbaijan in its war with Armenia. This lone anecdote proves that this problem cannot be taken out of the larger context of the growth of radical Islam in the Caucasus; after becoming acquainted with Shamil Basayev in Nagorno-Karabakh, Khattab moved his operation to Chechnya just as international terrorism chose this area as a battleground for a war with Russia.

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A Restricted Election. New Laws Have Changed the Nature of Russia’s Election Campaigns

2007-11-29 14:55:08, , Copy editor: Mikhail LOGVINOV

[By Karen Dawisha] When Vladimir Putin took power in 2000, he was fond of making references to imposing a dictatorship of the law. As the state has become stronger vis-à-vis the opposition, both civil and political, it has become clear what he meant in these early statements. The Kremlin control of party formation, the use of the law on extremism to target both liberal parties and skinhead groups and the use of technicalities to diminish opposition chances of gaining any foothold in the Duma underlie the slogan heard in some Russian newspapers, quoting Spanish dictator Francisco Franco: “For friends, anything; for enemies, the law.”

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Very Nice to Meet You, I'm the Tsar. Parody Becomes Reality

2007-11-22 13:10:00, , Copy editor: Mikhail LOGVINOV

[Comment by Alexander Arkhangelsky] The autocratic sovereign Ivan the Terrible, as portrayed by the actor Yury Yakovlev in a popular comedy, was despotic, sentimental and not especially bright. Transferred to the Soviet Union by a time machine, he appeared very democratic, however, as he greeted commoners: "Very nice to meet you, I'm the tsar."

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