Andrei Krasno is a correspondent for RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service.
RFE/RL spoke with Aleksandr Verkhovsky, an expert with the Sova research group and a former member of the Russian presidential advisory council on civil society, about what lies behind the recent spate of sometimes violent anti-Semitic incidents in the North Caucasus and what might lie ahead.
Across southwestern Russia in recent weeks, not far from the border with Ukraine, citizens have been shocked to hear anti-Kremlin messages coming from their radios as pro-Ukraine forces take the war to Russia’s airwaves.
Russia’s Stavropol region hasn’t extended temporary asylum for a single Afghan so far this year, an advocate said. It’s a reversal of past practice -- and may be reflective of a wider trend.
Although the real dimensions of the possible crisis will only be known after a year or two, psychologists are alarmed about the rise in addiction cases among Russian soldiers returning from Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials have underlined the importance that Kyiv attaches to holding Bakhmut as it makes the final preparations for its expected counteroffensive this spring.
The chest-thumping founder of Russia’s notorious Wagner mercenary group flexed his political muscle to get a local mayor to back down and allow the burials of Wagner soldiers. But Yevgeny Prigozhin’s influence may already be on the wane.
As casualties rise in eastern Ukraine, more and more families are not being informed about the deaths of their relatives fighting for the Wagner mercenary group there.
Opposition politician Aleksei Navalny has set himself the goal of blanketing Russia with a network of regional offices. But efforts to open offices in the North Caucasus have met with strong resistance from both from the local authorities and the people who live in the region.
