Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has denied charges that he was involved in the killing of Natalya Estemirova, the Memorial activist who worked in the human rights group's office in Grozny and was kidnapped and murdered on July 15. Memorial chairman Oleg Orlov told Interfax that... MORE

U.S. Vice-President Joseph Biden's imminent visit to Georgia will be watched for indications of an American strategic re-engagement with the Black Sea-South Caucasus region. The Obama administration has not yet defined its policy in this regard and the Vice-President cannot be expected to announce any... MORE

After visiting breakaway South Ossetia on July 13 and Russian troops based deep inside Georgia, President Dmitry Medvedev traveled to Novorossiysk to inspect Russia's main deepwater Black Sea port and nearby military facilities. Medvedev visited the Black Sea fleet flagship cruiser Moskva, attended a meeting... MORE

Memorial has blamed Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov for the murder of Natalya Estemirova, who worked in the Russian human rights group's office Grozny. Estemirova's body was found with bullet wounds to the head and chest near the village of Gazi-Yurt in Ingushetia yesterday just hours... MORE

Following U.S. President Barack Obama's reaffirmation of political support for Georgia at the Moscow summit (EDM, July 14), and anticipating U.S. Vice-President Joseph Biden's visit to Tbilisi, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev inspected the occupied South Ossetia on July 13. Medvedev made clear that the Russian... MORE

Top Russian officials are claiming that the security situation in the North Caucasus is improving. News reports from the region, however, paint a different picture. President Dmitry Medvedev told Ingushetia's acting president, Rashid Gaisanov, during a meeting in Sochi yesterday that "the fight with bandits"... MORE

U.S. President Barack Obama's firm stand on Georgia during the July 6-7 Moscow summit, to be followed by Vice-President Joseph Biden's visit to Georgia on July 22, marks a crossroads in U.S. policy toward Georgia. With the Obama administration's transition process now practically complete, the... MORE

The incendiary idea of abolishing the republics of North Caucasus resurfaces in the Terek Cossacks' demands as a way of dealing with regional problems, but Moscow's constraints still persist. Terek Cossack army's ataman Mikhail Inkavtsov attacked North Caucasus republics, accusing the ethnic republics of being... MORE

The Russian MoD controlled Zvezda TV reported on July 9 that the Far Eastern Military District (MD) is preparing its largest redeployment of hardware since World War II as part of an "anti-terrorist" exercise with China. On 22 July the Russian armed forces will jointly... MORE

Today, the northwestern part of the North Caucasus region (comprised of the republics of Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachaevo-Cherkessia and Adygeya) is increasingly becoming one large battlefield. An affluent resort area during the Soviet period, today the region attracts very few Russian visitors, primarily due to its instability.... MORE