Wolf on alert to a human encounter, near Erzurum, Turkey.

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wolf_on_alert.jpg

The steppe wolf (Canis lupus campestris), also known as Caspian Sea wolf, is a subspecies of grey wolf native to the Caspian steppes, the steppe regions of the Caucasus, the lower Volga region, southern Kazakhstan north to the middle of the Emba, the northern Urals, and the steppe regions of the lower European part of the former Soviet Union. It may also occur in northern Afghanistan and Iran and occasionally the steppe regions of Romania and Hungary.

Rueness et al. (2014) showed that wolves in the Caucasus Mountains of the putative Caucasian subspecies, C. l. cubanensis, are not genetically distinct enough to be considered a subspecies, but may represent a local ecomorph of C. l. lupus.