Moscow's Dagestan dilemma;
A slower pace for chemical weapons eradication

The incredible shrinking Russian government;
Medvedev refocuses on anti-corruption

Some realism on Iran;
New START inches forward

Back in the USSR;
Umarov: public enemy number one

New sub expands Russia's naval capabilities;
A tentative sign of economic recovery

A fresh focus on military readiness;
New media restrictions, for the children

Easing entry for Europeans;
Lake Baikal as political flashpoint

Some unexpected competition for Central Asian gas;
New homeland security measures for Russian transit

Ukraine, Georgia off NATO's agenda;
Putin, Medvedev split on Soviet legacy

Sevastopol extension creates turmoil in Kyiv;
More lustration on Katyn

South Stream gathers steam;
A step forward in the Arctic

Kremlin moves to combat police corruption;
Yukos and the ECHR

A new day for Russian justice?;
Some rare positive demographic news

One step forward, one step back in Chechnya;
Repopulating the Far East

U.S.-Russian arms pact inches forward;
New Russo-Japanese territorial tensions

A step forward for South Stream;
Russia's emptying schools

There's an old saying, familiar to historians and foreign policy practitioners, that "geography is destiny." A modern twist to this rule is that demography is no less decisive.

Russia is finding this out the hard way. Over the past several years, under the direction of former President (and current Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin and his handpicked protege, Dmitry Medvedev, Russia may have re-emerged on the international scene with a vengeance. But behind all of the Kremlin's contemporary geopolitical bluster, the successor state of the once-mighty Soviet Union is caught in a demographic and socioeconomic death spiral.

Russia and cybersecurity: ally or adversary?;
Soviet nostalgia runs deep