Russia’s Muslims: A Growing Challenge for Moscow
In dealing with Russia’s Muslim minority, the government in Moscow is facing a challenge that is likely to become more serious in coming years. By most estimates, self-identified Muslims make…
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North Caucasus
87 posts
Russia’s Virtual War Against Georgia: Risks of a PR Offensive
Georgia is the only post-Soviet neighbor—and, in fact, the only country in the world—with which Russia has a protracted and carefully cultivated political conflict that periodically escalates and generates serious…
Putin: A New de Gaulle?
In the weeks leading up to his election as president of Russia in March 2000, journalists asked Vladimir Putin which political leaders he found “most interesting.” They took his first answer, Napoleon…
Russians Support NGOs But Not Parties: Implications for Donors
In previous PONARS memos (see especially no. 221, also nos. 243 and 244), we presented October 2001 survey results showing weak support among Russians for human rights, particularly for civil liberties and…
The Structures of Chechnya’s Quagmire
The current situation in Iraq in the aftermath of the invasion by British and U.S. forces made many analysts pay closer attention to the problems facing the Russian forces in Chechnya. Rather…
Security Sell-Out in the North Caucasus, 2004: How Government Centralization Backfires
With the horrors of the September 2004 school hostage massacre in Beslan (North Ossetia) very much in the Russians’ hearts and minds, the Kremlin announced sweeping reforms to strengthen central…
Putin’s War in Chechnya: Who steers the course?
Each time a proposition is raised to resolve the Chechen conflict through negotiation, the Russian authorities respond with a double-riposte: We do not negotiate with terrorists, and there is nobody…
Ingushetia as a Microcosm of Putin’s Reforms
In the wake of the massacre at the Beslan schoolhouse in North Ossetia in early September 2004, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a major reform intended to fight terrorism. “What…
The Disconnect in How Russians Think about Human Rights and Chechnya: A Consequence of Media Manipulation
Despite considerable evidence collected by Russian and Western organizations of human rights abuses in Chechnya and a roll back in civil liberties in other spheres of life in Russia, survey data suggest…
‘Extremists and Bandits’ How Russia Views the War against Terrorism
When President Vladimir Putin picked up the phone to express his sympathy to President George W. Bush in the aftermath of September 11, and then followed-up by providing concrete assistance to the…