Nabucco, the strategic project for transportation of Caspian gas to Europe, seems threatened by the non-strategic pipeline projects, ITGI (Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy) and TAP (Trans-Adriatic Pipeline). These are less advanced, compared with Nabucco, but are also less ambitious in scope, and consequently easier to source with... MORE

The ITGI (Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy) and TAP (Trans-Adriatic Pipeline), with planned capacities at 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) annually for each, require no further sourcing beyond Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field, Phase Two. Both ITGI and TAP are headed for southeastern Italy. The Nabucco project, however, is... MORE

It has become a tradition that August is an especially volatile month in the North Caucasus. This year has not been an exception, with the situation in the North Caucasus becoming more aggravated, especially in those regions that were relatively quiet in the preceding time... MORE

Three pipeline project consortiums (Nabucco, ITGI, and TAP) compete against each other over priority access to gas production in Azerbaijan. The transporters’ contest is now intensifying as the deadline draws near for submitting proposals to the gas producers’ consortium in Azerbaijan.Although their respective merits are... MORE

On August 15, the newspaper Kommersant, quoting sources in the Russian security services, reported that the Federal Security Service (FSB) had thwarted a major terrorist attack in Moscow region. A group of young North Caucasians allegedly planned to derail the high speed Sapsan train that... MORE

On August 11, the counterterrorism operation regime in effect in Kabardino-Balkaria was partially lifted. The suburbs of the republican capital Nalchik – Khasanya, Belaya Rechka and Volny Aul – along with several nearby settlements in the Chegem district   were officially taken off of the counterterrorism... MORE

One policeman was killed and two wounded yesterday (August 11) during a shootout with alleged rebels in Dagestan’s Tsuntinsky district. The incident took place in the village of Vitiyatl when a group of suspected rebels discovered in a private home opened fired on police. Three... MORE

On July 23, Elnur Aslanov, the head of the Presidential Administration’s Department for Political Analysis and Informational Provision stated: “For the better promotion of history, politics and the culture of Azerbaijan, cultural centers in various countries will be opened in the near future. The president... MORE

Interviewed on the third anniversary of the Russia-Georgia war, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev took credit for the invasion orders and subsequent basing of Russian troops in Abkhazia and South Ossetia (Russia Today TV, Radio Ekho Moskvy, First Caucasus TV Channel [PIK, Tbilisi], August 5; www.kremlin.ru,... MORE

Having failed to re-conquer the North Caucasus using force or realized the high price to be paid for such a conquest, Moscow is attempting to deprive regional nationalists and religious radicals of their social base of support by providing additional financial infusions. In the process... MORE