Latest Articles about The Caucasus
Azerbaijan Quietly Lending Impetus to Nabucco Project
Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov of Turkmenistan, and Abdullah Gul of Turkey met on November 28 and 29 in Turkmenistan to discuss trilateral cooperation with a focus on natural gas deliveries. The presidents held bilateral talks in Ashgabat before meeting in the trilateral... MORE
Circassian Congress Calls for Unification of Circassian Republics in North Caucasus
An extraordinary congress of Circassian people took place on Sunday, November 23, in Cherkessk, the capital of the North Caucasus republic of Karachaevo-Cherkessia. The congress date had been announced and rescheduled several times. Several days before the event, the leader of the republic’s Circassians, Mukhamed... MORE
Dagestan’s Sharia Jamaat Expands and Reorganizes
It is possible even with a cursory glance at militant activities in the North Caucasus to see clearly that their main zones of action remain—for the second year in a row— Dagestan and Ingushetia. While Ingushetia’s Sharia Jamaat (led by Emir Magas) is well ahead... MORE
Sulim Yamadaev Says a Chechen Unit Has Been Sent to Moscow to Kill Him
On November 24 the Russian newspaper Gazeta quoted Magomed Khambiev, the former defense minister of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI) and current deputy in Chechnya’s pro-Moscow parliament, as saying that three pending criminal cases against former Vostok battalion commander Sulim Yamadaev will be... MORE
Human Rights Violations Remain Rife in Ingushetia
While some observers have praised Ingush President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov and members of the republic’s opposition have expressed a willingness to give the new leader a chance to make the changes he has promised (North Caucasus Weekly, November 21), a number of Ingush are reportedly starting... MORE
Medov Removed as Ingushetia’s Interior Minister
Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev removed Musa Medov as Ingushetia’s interior minister on November 24. Medov, along with Murat Zyazikov, who was removed as Ingushetia’s president late last month (North Caucasus Weekly, October 30), were accused by the republic’s opposition party of involvement in the... MORE
Armenia Debates an Elusive Peace with Azerbaijan
Faced with a growing outcry from nationalist groups opposed to major concessions to Azerbaijan, Armenia’s leadership is scrambling to clarify its policy on the unresolved Karabakh conflict to the domestic political elite and the broader public. President Serzh Sarkisian met with leaders of about 50... MORE
Shooting Incident in Georgia: Information Warfare Heats Up
On November 23, in an already tense situation between Moscow and Tbilisi, automatic gunfire was allegedly directed toward a motorcade taking Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Polish President Lech Kaczynski to the village of Metekhi, in Kaspi District, to meet victims of the Russian-Georgian war.... MORE
Russia Admits Rebel Fighter Activity in Chechnya
Faced with recurring reports of assaults and assassinations in Grozny and the rest of Chechnya, Russian government officials are being forced to admit that rebel fighter operations have become a reality. As always, the leadership of Russia’s Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense attempts... MORE
Dagestani Jamaat Expands Operations into Azerbaijan
Everything started last August 17 with the explosion at the Abu Bekir mosque in Baku. This mosque is considered a meeting place for those who adhere to the Salafi ideology. A grenade was thrown into the mosque during the evening prayer, killing two people and... MORE