In August, a group of international analysts and journalists led by the Jamestown Foundation visited the Georgian-South Ossetian "conflict zone" at the height of tensions fueled by Russian military activities there. The OSCE Mission contributed to the visit's success by graciously providing briefings, transport, and... MORE

An armed gang of around 17 militants burst into a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, on September 1 seizing children and parents as hostages. The incident has plunged Russia into a hostage crisis reminiscent of the seizure of a Moscow theater in October 2002. Early... MORE

Over the last two days of August, Georgian senior officials, including Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and National Security Council Secretary Gela Bezhuashvili, have vehemently denied media speculation about an impending reorganization of the leadership of the power ministries. "Such reshuffle is not planned," Bezhuashvili told... MORE

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld visited Ukraine in mid August to discuss Ukraine's military contingent in Iraq. Since August 2003, Ukraine has had 1,576 troops in Iraq deployed 130 km south of Baghdad in the Polish-run sector. An additional 146 troops are to be... MORE

Led by the Jamestown Foundation, a group of international analysts and journalists recently held in-depth talks in Tskhinvali with South Ossetian representatives Boris Chochiev and Murad Jioev. The discussion was held at the height of tensions fueled by overt and covert Russian activities in South... MORE

As the Eurasia Daily Monitor went to press, Russian media were reporting that a group of terrorists, including several female suicide bombers, had taken more than 400 people hostage, among them 200 children, in a school in the North Ossetian city of Beslan.

A bombing near the Rizhskaya metro station in northeastern Moscow on August 31 may have been the work of a female suicide bomber who was the sister of a Chechen woman suspected of having blown up one of the two airliners brought down on August... MORE

On the last day of summer, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder visited Russian President Vladimir Putin at his vacation residence, Bocharov Ruchei, near Sochi. Their discussions were broad and inconclusive, ranging from the Middle East and Iraq, to Russian oil, Iran's... MORE

The Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun is reporting that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is interested in visiting the disputed Southern Kuril Islands; the "Northern Territories" in Japanese parlance. Koizumi hopes to at least make a helicopter or boat tour of the islands as soon as... MORE

Joint UK-Kazakh military exercises held in Kazakhstan, August 18-25, may herald closer cooperation between the two countries and open future exercises to greater regional participation. This diplomatic success, in the context of the war on terror, promotes British interests in the region and facilitates joint... MORE