Latest Articles about The Caucasus
Moscow Turns to Cossacks to Staunch the Exodus of Ethnic Russians From the North Caucasus
The Cossack issue has become relevant in Russia against the backdrop of the outflow of ethnic Russians from the North Caucasus (https://expert.ru/ratings/izmenenie-doli-russkih-v-naselenii-respublik-severnogo-kavkaza/). Chechnya and Ingushetia have practically become ethnically homogeneous and Dagestan will soon become the next republic to shed its ethnic Russian population entirely... MORE
Tensions Heighten Between Chechnya’s Leader and Influential Dagestani Figure
Few signs existed that there would be any change in the brotherly and neighborly relations between Ramzan Kadyrov and Saigidpasha Umakhanov—the mayor of Khasavyurt, a city on Dagestan’s administrative border with Chechnya. Umakhanov has long been considered one of the main figures in Dagestan’s political... MORE
Georgia Offers Compromise to NATO Prior to the Alliance’s Summit in Wales
At a joint conference with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, Maia Panjikidze, the foreign ministers of Germany and France, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Laurent Fabius, respectively, stated that the European Union was prepared to sign the Association Agreement with Georgia as early as this... MORE
With Eye on Ukraine, Kremlin Reduces Aid to the North Caucasus and Eases Travel Abroad
The Russian government announced this month that it would cut developmental programs in the North Caucasus by another 13 percent, down to the equivalent of about $6 billion over the next decade. The Russian government’s program for developing the North Caucasus until 2025, which was... MORE
Analysts Say a Russian Fall in the North Caucasus Will Follow the Russian Spring in Ukraine
Nationalist-leaning Russian experts are expressing concern over the situation in the North Caucasus, demanding that Moscow use more force there. Against the backdrop of Russia’s aggressive moves in Ukraine, some Russian analysts wonder if the Kremlin will ever be as resolute in defending Russia’s interests... MORE
Despite Bilateral Talks, Russian Threat Still Hangs Over Georgia
A quick glimpse could lead one to conclude that Georgian-Russian relations are truly improving. After an April 16 meeting in Prague, Czech Republic, Zurab Abashidze, the Georgian prime minister’s special representative for relations with Moscow, and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin both sounded highly... MORE
Another Political Murder Committed in Dagestan
On the morning of April 17, Dagestani parliamentary deputy Musa Islavov was killed on Babayurt Road in the city of Khasavyurt by unidentified assailants who fired at his car before fleeing the crime scene. The deputy was killed on the spot while his driver, 45-year-old... MORE
Ukrainian Crisis Sparks Worries in the South Caucasus
On April 11, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev appointed Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin as chairman of the Russian part of the inter-governmental commission on economic cooperation with Azerbaijan. The news arrived as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security... MORE
Russian Military Says It Will Lift Restrictions on Drafting North Caucasians
On March 31, a Russian Joint Staff official, Lieutenant General Vasiliy Tonkoshkurov, made a surprise statement about the country’s conscription campaign at a press conference on the spring 2014 military draft campaign in Russia. During the event Tonkoshkurov announced that residents of the North Caucasus... MORE
The Olympic Truce Between Russia and Georgia
The chief of the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, stated at an April 9 meeting of the Russian security services and law enforcement agencies that the FSB thwarted a terrorist attack during the Winter Olympics in Sochi. “The prevention of the attack... MORE