On August 25, an explosion occurred on a Turkish natural gas pipeline that connects to the South Caucasus Pipeline, which transports gas from Azerbaijan, through Georgia, and into Turkey (Anadolu Agency, August 25). According to the Turkish press, the militant organization the Kurdistan Worker’s Party... MORE

On September 17, Armenia’s Energy Minister Yervand Zakharyan told journalists in Yerevan that the government’s final decision about RAO UES International’s intention to sell 100 percent of the shares of Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) should be expected within one week (Armenpress.am, September 17). By... MORE

On September 14, President Vladimir Putin arrived in Ingushetia on an unannounced visit and convened a government meeting in the capital, Magas (Kremlin.ru, September 14). Three days later, on September 17, the Russian president held another meeting in a highly unusual format—with the governor of... MORE

Politicians in the North Caucasus are increasingly calling on the government to step up efforts against the so-called Islamic State (IS) and take action against Russian citizens who support it. Meanwhile, the militants who became affiliated with the IS in the North Caucasus one year... MORE

The patterns of assassinations of clerics in the North Caucasus changed significantly after the establishment of the Caucasus Emirate. Prior to the advent of the Caucasus Emirate, the insurgents did not target religious figures. However, after proponents of the Caucasus Emirate declared as their goal... MORE

Georgia’s 2008 Law on Occupied Territories explicitly bans all domestic and foreign companies from conducting any type of economic (commercial or non-commercial) activities in the Russian-occupied territories of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia). Exceptions can be made in certain circumstances but only with the... MORE

While the governor of Dagestan, Ramazan Abdulatipov, has boasted of a drastic reduction in the number of attacks by insurgents in the republic, the Russian authorities’ statistics indicate that attacks in Dagestan are, in fact, increasing. At a recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin,... MORE

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to Baku, on September 1, followed just a few days later by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s official visit to Moscow, have fueled ongoing speculation that Russia is conducting parallel consultations on the Karabakh conflict resolution process (see EDM, August... MORE

On September 10, Maksim Shevchenko, a member of the Council for Human Rights under the President of the Russian Federation, unexpectedly announced that the Council would ask President Vladimir Putin to allow the repatriation of Circassian Syrians to the North Caucasus. In an interview with... MORE

Dagestan is the largest republic of the North Caucasus and, at the same time, the region’s most unstable because of the frequent attacks by the armed Islamic opposition movement. The majority of armed militants in the republic currently operate under the flag of the radical... MORE