US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, paid a six-hour visit to Georgia on July 5, as part of a tour of five countries in five days. Her Georgia visit was the first by a top US official since Vice-President, Joseph Biden, visited exactly one year... MORE

International demand for Azeri gas (EDM, July 1) is also rising outside the European Union. It is mostly driven by the anticipation of post-crisis industrial recovery and by considerations of supply security through diversification.Russia’s Gazprom is preparing in its own way for Europe’s post-crisis recovery.... MORE

Insurgency-related violence took place throughout the North Caucasus this past week, with incidents reported in Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and Chechnya. A freight train was the target of a bombing in Dagestan today (July 2). The incident took place on the Manas-Achi railway line around 5:25... MORE

The US and Russian presidents’ nibbling at hamburgers has had little, if any, effect on the situation in the North Caucasus. Even the US State Department’s decision to designate Doku Umarov as a would-be threat to American interests (www.rus.ruvr.ru, June 24) might be seen as... MORE

Demand for Azerbaijani natural gas is surging, with potential buyers scrambling to Baku. The gas transit agreements, signed by Azerbaijan and Turkey on June 7, have opened prospects for unimpeded transportation of Azeri gas to consumer countries via Georgia and Turkey. These agreements, and consequent... MORE

On June 22, the German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau published an article by Andreas Förster entitled “Georgian Mafia Planned a Coup,” in which it was stated that part of the Georgian political opposition received funds from Georgian organized crime networks in Europe to foment unrest in... MORE

On June 17, the leaders of civil organizations in Karachaevo-Cherkessia condemned the Circassians' resolution, which called for the break up of this small, multiethnic republic in the Northwest Caucasus. On June 5, an extraordinary meeting of Circassians in Karachaevo-Cherkessia, or the "Cherkes" in Russian, called... MORE

Russia has welcomed the decision by the United States to designate Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov, the “Emir” of the so-called Caucasus Emirate, a terrorist. The US move came on June 23 –the eve of Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev’s, summit with US President, Barack Obama,... MORE

Six months after Aleksandr Khloponin was appointed as the Russian president’s envoy to the specially created North Caucasus Federal District, it can be safely concluded that he has not brought anything new or particularly important to Russia’s troubled region. An attempt to shift Russia’s policy... MORE

On June 20, the Sunday Times published an article on the two Dagestani women suspected of carrying out the twin suicide bombings on the Moscow metro last March, Maryam Sharipova and Dzhanet Abdurakhmanova, and included videos on its website. Sharipova, 28-year-old teacher, and 17-year-old Abdurakhmanova... MORE