Latest Articles about The Caucasus
U.S. and Georgia Sign Strategic Partnership Charter
On January 9 in Washington, barely a week before the change of administrations there, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Minister of Foreign Affairs Grigol Vashadze signed the U.S.-Georgia Charter on Strategic Partnership. The document and the overall guiding concept primarily involve issues of hard... MORE
Ingushetia’s New Leader Hints at a Merger with Chechnya
At the end of December, Ingushetia’s new president, Yunus-bek Yevkurov stated during an end-of-the-year press conference that the merger of the North Caucasus republics into a gubernia was a likely prospect (Ingushetia.org, January 7). Various versions of changing administrative borders in the North Caucasus have... MORE
A Look Back at Insurgent Activities in the North Caucasus in 2008
The results of 2008 for the North Caucasian resistance movement are ambiguous. Against the backdrop of militant activities by the jamaats of Ingushetia and Dagestan—and also compared with the somewhat less intense activities of the militants in Chechnya—very little can be said about the activities... MORE
Spain Extradites Chechen Terror Suspect
On New Year’s Eve, Spain extradited to Russia a Chechen accused of involvement in the June 2004 rebel attacks on the Ingush Interior Ministry building and other installations in Nazran. The BBC quoted the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office as saying that Murat Gasaev had been... MORE
Violence Haunts a New Year in Ingushetia and Dagestan
The start of the New Year has seen little abatement of violence in Ingushetia. On January 7, an improvised explosive device went off in a garage near an apartment building in the city of Karabulak, killing two people. A federal military source told Interfax that... MORE
Chechens Protest Parole for Budanov
Some 2,000, people rallied in Chechnya on December 29 to protest the granting of parole to Yuri Budanov, the Russian colonel who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the murder of an 18-year-old Chechen woman, Elza Kungaeva. According to the Associated Press, protesters... MORE
Website: Few Improvements in the North Caucasus in 2008
In a review of last year’s events in the North Caucasus, Kavkazky Uzel wrote on January 7 that 2008 saw neither “stabilization” nor a successful conclusion to “the war on separatism,” the “uprooting of extremism,” or an end to the problem of kidnapping. “This was... MORE
Azerbaijan Closes Foreign Radio Stations, but Fails to Give a Credible Reason
On December 30 the National TeleRadio Council of Azerbaijan made the long-awaited, hotly discussed, and politically polarizing decision on terminating the license for foreign radio stations in the country. This, most importantly, affected three popular radio stations: Radio Liberty, Voice of America, and BBC, as... MORE
OSCE Mission in Georgia on Its Death Bed
With a sleight of its hand, Russia has run the OSCE out of South Ossetia. The mandate of the OSCE Mission in Georgia expired on January 1, because Russia blocked the routine annual extension of that mandate by the organization. This is only the latest... MORE
Russia to OSCE: Recognize South Ossetia or Get Out
Russia is threatening to run the OSCE out of South Ossetia at the end of the year. Moscow will only relent if the OSCE recognizes the Russian-installed authorities as legitimate and treats Russian-occupied South Ossetia as an essentially sovereign state.The OSCE has maintained a monitoring... MORE