Happy Monday! I hope your weekend was filled with joy. I’ve spent the last week tinkering with the Russian Security Research Lab — and I’ve now connected all the main data sources, so some kind of progress is definitely being made! This week, I want to look at the conviction of eight people for their involvement in the October 2022 attack on the Crimean bridge, and what issues it highlights both with terrorism cases in Russia and reporting on them. With that in mind, here’s what you can...
19 days ago • 5 min read
Happy Monday! Time is an arbitrary concept, but I thought I’d experiment with a different release schedule — to see both whether it fits better into my schedule and whether it leads to more people reading. It’s always hard to tell, but life is all about variety. So, happy Monday it is! This week, I’ll be picking up from last week’s discussion of Proyekt Media’s efforts to map nepotism in the regime of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov (read that one here). Having already discussed the strengths...
26 days ago • 5 min read
Happy Friday! I hope this week is bringing you at least some joy and satisfaction. I’ve spent much of it working on the Russian Security Research Lab (RSRL), trying to get in-text references to connect to the appropriate databases. This has involved writing lots of code (no-code software really means less-code software), merging two massive databases as a workaround to an insurmountable problem, and swearing a lot at my computer/AI. But I’ve nevertheless been making progress. This week,...
about 1 month ago • 6 min read
Happy Friday! I was missing from your inbox last week because I had too much to do and not enough time to do it. I hope you missed me (if not, why not?!). And, to be honest, sometimes I struggle for an idea that I think is worth your time. But, this week at the eleventh hour, I’ve got a small idea I want to explore: The apparently declining media profile of Apti Alaudinov. With that in mind, here’s what you can expect this week: A fading media star? Limited evidence to support a hypothesis...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Happy Friday! It’s been a bit of a quiet period for me over the last month, but this week I’ve been busy doing one of the types of client project that I enjoy the most: producing a review of the academic literature to answer a question that matters to them. It's always one of my favourites because (a) I get to learn new things and (b) I know the end result is definitely useful to someone. Today, however, I don’t expect to be particularly productive, because I’ve been up far longer than the...
2 months ago • 6 min read
Happy Friday! A weekend illness spreading into the start of the week to create a general feeling of blurgh meant that I wasn’t sure I was going to get a newsletter to you this week. But it’s October, which means it’s time for a quarterly roundup of violence in the North Caucasus. So I’ve marshalled the mental energy and the data to bring you something after all! What you’ll find this week: Patterns of violence remain broadly similar What lies beneath the figures Ambiguous indicators for the...
2 months ago • 4 min read
This week, I want to touch on a topic that’s been rattling around my head for quite some time: the question of which parts of the Chechen security apparatus matter most. After all, the overall number of units is large and continually growing, but not all play an equally important role. Understanding which ones are significant helps focus attention — both for monitoring and accountability purposes. With that in mind, here’s what you can expect this week: How to determine which units matter The...
3 months ago • 4 min read
Happy Friday! I hope your week is going well. Mine has been decidedly meh, although I did get to meet up with a motley crew of Russianists, which is always fun. I didn’t think I’d have anything newsletter-worthy this week, but then the Kadyrov regime popped up and did something…so here I am! What I want to touch on this week is yet another example of the Kadyrov regime flaunting its ability to violate the law — and what we can expect if Adam Kadyrov succeeds in replacing his father. With that...
3 months ago • 4 min read
Happy Friday! When I’m not working, I sometimes like to do things that bear no relation or resemblance to work. One of these is playing computer games. Nothing fancy, I don’t try to be any good, and I usually prefer sports. But, of late, I’ve started playing an online strategy game called Total Battle. It falls into a recognisable genre: You have to develop a city and build armies to defeat other players and monsters. One of the big work projects I’m working towards is a detailed exploration...
3 months ago • 5 min read