On October 14 in Baku, Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company president Rovnag Abdullayev and Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller signed an agreement on Azerbaijani gas exports to Russia. The move is a logical follow-up to the June 29 agreement, signed by the same company chiefs –in the... MORE

Georgian officials have denied accusations made by the head of Russia’s main security agency that Georgian special services have aided al-Qaeda-linked terrorists in Russia’s North Caucasus.Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Aleksandr Bortnikov, who also heads Russia’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee (NAK), claimed during an NAK meeting... MORE

Turkey and Armenia signed twin protocols on October 10 that were in preparation since February of this year (EDM, February 10, March 27, April 9, May 14, May 18, October 7). Under the agreement, Turkey and Armenia will establish diplomatic relations and re-open their border.... MORE

Despite promises of renewed “decisive” action, Armenia’s largest opposition alliance led by former President Levon Ter-Petrosian remains reluctant to make a new push for power and is instead seeking to form a more broad-based anti-government coalition. Ter-Petrosian has publicly admitted that he and his Armenian... MORE

Local elections were held across Russia on October 11, with Chechnya and Ingushetia holding municipal elections for the first time. Opponents of the Kremlin said that the elections, held in 75 out of Russia’s 83 regions and won overwhelmingly by the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir... MORE

One of the trends surfacing in news reports about the North Caucasus insurgency this year is the presence of Azeri fighters within the rebel ranks. Chechnya’s president Ramzan Kadyrov also pointed a finger at Azerbaijan in a recent interview, claiming: “Most of the ammunition warehouses... MORE

Shootouts between insurgents and police and other violent incidents have been reported across the North Caucasus this week, a week which also marked the second anniversary of the proclamation of the Caucasus Emirate, the notional Islamic state declared by the radical Islamist wing of the... MORE

On October 5, a police unit in the southern Dagestani city of Derbent complained of being forced by their superiors to vote for a certain candidate in the mayoral elections set to take place on October 11. Seventy-five policemen signed the complaint to the Russian... MORE

Moscow’s Tverskoi district court yesterday (October 6) ordered the Memorial rights group Chairman Oleg Orlov to retract his statement that Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov was responsible for the death of Natalya Estemirova, the Memorial activist kidnapped in the Chechen capital Grozny and found murdered in... MORE

Chechnya yesterday (October 5) marked two holidays simultaneously: the birthday of President Ramzan Kadyrov, who turned 33, and Grozny City Day. In 2008, Grozny City Day was moved to coincide with the Chechen leader’s birthday. As the Kavkazsky Uzel website pointed out, Chechen officials explained... MORE