Latest Articles about The Caucasus
Hazing Scandal Highlights Russian Military’s Complex Relationship with the North Caucasus
On November 17, the news of mass hazing incidents in the Russian Baltic fleet broke in the media. According to the reports, a group of Dagestani conscript soldiers had harassed their ethnic Russian –or Slavic, as some media outlets preferred to call them– peers for... MORE
Insurgent Violence Reported in Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan
The Russian federal authorities today imposed a counter-terrorist operation regime on part of Chechnya’s Achkhoi-Martan district, with the aim of neutralizing a group of militants hiding out in a wooded mountainous area. The regime means that military and law enforcement personnel will have the right... MORE
Turkish Diplomacy Reshapes the Armenian Political Landscape
The dramatic rapprochement with Turkey is having profound implications for Armenia’s domestic political scene and, in particular, among its diverse and volatile opposition. The main opposition player, Levon Ter-Petrosian, has defended President Serzh Sargsyan against what he sees as unjustified nationalist criticism and essentially offered... MORE
Medvedev Receives a Shortlist of Potential Leaders for Volatile Dagestan
On November 19, United Russia party leader Boris Gryzlov presented five candidates for the position of president of Dagestan to President Dmitry Medvedev. The candidates include the current leader of Dagestan, Mukhu Aliev; the deputy head of the Dagestani government, Magomed Abdullaev; an advisor to... MORE
Medvedev’s Questionable Plan to Form a Government Post in Charge of the North Caucasus
In his annual State of the Nation address to the Federal Assembly on November 12, President Dmitry Medvedev spent a whole section of his speech talking about the situation in the North Caucasus. The president admitted that the region is still a threat to peace... MORE
Isa Yamadaev Says Hit Squads Have Order to Kill Him Before New Year’s
Isa Yamadaev – the younger brother of former Vostok battalion commander, who was shot dead in Dubai in March, and of State Duma deputy Ruslan Yamadaev, who was shot dead in Moscow in September 2008– has asked the Russian head of state for protection after... MORE
Insurgents Carry Out a Series of Attacks in Kabardino-Balkaria
The Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria this week has been the target of a series of attacks apparently carried out by insurgents. On the evening of November 17, an electric power substation in the Adyl-Su Gorge in Kabardino-Balkaria’s Elbrusk district was blown up. Later that same evening,... MORE
Moscow Excises “Separatist” Articles from Constitutions of Circassian Republics
The parliament of the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria has ratified changes in the republican constitution at the request of the Russian Prosecutor-General. Final agreement was reached on November 10 after prolonged debates followed by two unsuccessful attempts to vote on the issue (Gazeta Yuga, November 12).The... MORE
Azerbaijan Accelerates Gas Export Diversification Efforts
Gas production in Azerbaijan is set to reach 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) annually by 2013 from currently operating fields (Trend Capital, November 13). Over and above that level, the second phase of production at the Shah Deniz field is projected to add another 16... MORE
Azerbaijan Seeks Alternative Gas Export Routes: Sending a Signal to Ankara
“We are interested in exporting our resources through different routes,” Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev stated during his visit to Bulgaria on November 13 (AZTV). On the same day, he paid a short working visit to Sofia to meet his counterpart Georgi Parvanov and to sign... MORE