This is a legacy website featuring a collection of work by the Carnegie Endowment’s global network of scholars on topics including Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia, and the post-Soviet states. This site is a product of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace based in Washington, D.C. For more recent work by Carnegie scholars in this field, please visit Carnegie Politika.
The administration of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan embraced a Russian takeover of the nation’s economy that left political control in Armenian hands. As Sargsyan began to have second thoughts about this bargain, he found himself short of options.
While the world waits for a Fourth Wave of Democracy, it is witnessing a diametrically different phenomenon: a surge of new authoritarianism.
Following Putin’s re-election, Russia faces two more key junctures that could shape the country’s future. The Kremlin will have to deal with limited revenues and it faces another election cycle in 2016-18.
After the Boston bombings it should be clearer than ever before that the United States needs fulsome security partnerships with other countries.
The two suspected terrorists were influenced at least indirectly by the Chechen wars which devastated Chechnya. While this was traumatic for most, a small minority have become radicalized.
The Boston bombing has heightened tensions in Europe and has had repercussions for Russia, especially in light of the need to provide security at the Sochi Olympics.
Muslims make up around 20 percent of Russia’s population and there are disgruntled elements that are active on the internet.
The North Caucasus, home of a low-level Islamist insurgency, is easily Europe’s worst conflict zone. Moscow has lost authority over the territory—but no one else has gained it.
There is so far no evidence that the two suspects in the Boston bombings had direct links with any known terrorist organizations in the region. Most likely, the overall environment was conducive to their radicalization.
The current situation in Dagestan may have more bearing on the actions of the Boston bombers than the situation in Chechnya.