Already in 2012, two Iranian terrorist plots against Azerbaijan have been exposed, Moscow has substantially reinforced its garrisons in the Caucasus in expectation of a war involving Iran by this summer, and Russia has also warned Georgia against hosting US troops there for purposes of... MORE

On March 3, Russia’s Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAK) preliminarily confirmed the killing of another leader of Ingushetia’s militants, Adam Tsyzdoev. Tsyzdoev and another rebel were killed by the security services in the northern Ingushetian town of Malgobek. The militants reportedly fired shots at police who tried... MORE

A police colonel was assassinated today (March 2) in Dagestan’s capital Makhachkala. The victim, identified as 51-year-old Magomed Musaev, the deputy head of the criminal investigation department in Makhachkala’s Sovietsky district, was shot by unidentified attackers as he drove to work. According to initial reports,... MORE

Addressing the Caspian-European Integration Business Club in Baku (Trend, Today.Az, February 29), Azerbaijan’s Industry and Energy Minister Natig Aliyev announced that negotiations on a Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan gas pipeline are advancing, as part of the EU-backed Southern Corridor to Europe. For its part, Azerbaijan is holding meetings... MORE

The death of yet another Dagestani rebel leader this month passed unnoticed against the backdrop of bloody fighting in the border area between Chechnya and Dagestan last week. Like the killings of previous Dagestani insurgent leaders, the latest killing will have little impact on the... MORE

Armenia plans to hold first-ever joint military exercises with the United States just months after agreeing to a more ambitious cooperation framework with NATO. Highlighting its “complementary” foreign and security policy, Yerevan at the same time seems intent on deepening its already close military ties... MORE

On February 20-26, Georgia marked “Occupation Week,” commemorating the Red Army’s February 1921 occupation of the Georgian Democratic Republic and the latter’s annexation by Soviet Russia. Public events were held in memory of Georgia’s first democratic republic, the victims of the 1921 and 2008 Russian... MORE

On February 27, Russian state television’s Channel One announced that the Russian and Ukrainian security services had thwarted a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The attack allegedly was supposed to take place soon after the March 4 Russian presidential election. Members of the... MORE

The billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder of the “Georgian Dream” opposition movement, has unveiled the movement’s top team for the upcoming parliamentary elections. A businessman with no previous political experience, Ivanishvili entered politics in October 2011, launched Georgian Dream as a public movement in December, intends... MORE

On February 20, the Memorial Human Rights Center published its October 2011 report on the situation in the mountainous region of Kabardino-Balkaria. The report details the adverse effects of the counter-terrorist regime on the economic situation in this remote and vulnerable republic. A counter-terrorism operation... MORE