On May 29, the respected Russian newspaper Vedomosti published an analytical article on the situation in the North Caucasus. Expressing a view rarely articulated by Russian experts, he described the processes in the region as “the continuation of the disintegration of the USSR” and “anticolonial.”... MORE

After the Crimean (a.k.a. Eastern) war of 1853–1856 and the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1856 ending that war, the Russian Empire began to turn toward the final conquest of the Caucasian mountaineers.  Russia was finally able to turn an army of 200,000... MORE

The Nabucco Committee’s meeting (see accompanying article) on May 21 in Bucharest has provided perhaps the final opportunity for comprehensively assessing the Nabucco-West project’s comparative advantages as a route for Azerbaijani gas to Europe. Prior even to the Committee meeting, the Nabucco participant governments had... MORE

On May 29, in Baku, addressing the final session of the Azerbaijani-American Forum’s “Vision for the future,” former United States Senator Richard Lugar underscored that the Nabucco-West gas pipeline project could considerably ameliorate the energy security of vulnerable countries in Central and Southeastern Europe, including... MORE

The armed resistance movement in the North Caucasus has carried out suicide bombings ever since the start of the second military campaign in Chechnya.  On June 4, 2000, a 22-year-old Chechen woman, Khava Baraeva, detonated an explosive-laden truck near a Russian military target, killing three... MORE

On May 14, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Russia’s 7th military base in Gudauta, in the Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia. At the base, Shoigu toured a Russian military sanatorium and parking lot under construction, which is planned to house current and incoming military... MORE

On May 21, Circassians worldwide marked the 149th anniversary of the end of the Russo-Caucasian war. In the North Caucasus, the largest republic with a Circassian population, Kabardino-Balkaria, held multiple events marking the anniversary. Hundreds of young people staged a procession in the republic’s capital,... MORE

On April 21–24, Azerbaijani Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov visited Israel. This was the first visit of a high-ranking official of Azerbaijan to this country since Baku became independent. During his trip, Mammadyarov held several meetings with the Israeli leadership, including President Shimon Peres,... MORE

The armed conflict in the North Caucasus continues to kill and maim (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/224400/). Murders, kidnappings and explosions have become the daily routine in this part of Russia. Only suicide bombings carried out by the armed resistance groups provide a slightly different picture. Neither side of... MORE

The Georgian government under Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili is escalating the level of repression and threats against the pro-Western opposition United National Movement (UNM). The arrest of UNM’s leader Vano Merabishvili on May 21 caps a series of repressive measures, which Ivanishvili had earlier threatened... MORE