Latest Articles about The Caucasus
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
Chechen Interior Minister Tries to Play Down the Insurgency
At a meeting with the heads of the combat detachments of Chechnya’s district and municipal internal affairs departments on December 5, Chechnya’s interior minister, Police Lieutenant General Ruslan Alkhanov, said that in the past month alone 10 members of the illegal armed formation were killed... MORE
Spain Agrees to Extradite Former Rebel Commander
Spain on December 13 agreed to extradite a Chechen wanted on terrorism charges, Murad Gasayev, to Russia in connection with the June 2004 attack on government buildings in Ingushetia. According to the Associated Press, Gasayev was arrested by police in an apartment in the eastern... MORE
U.S.-Georgia Strategic Partnership to Address Georgia’s Vulnerability
U.S.-Georgian bilateral security and military arrangements could come not a moment too soon. This strategic partnership should remedy the security vacuum that the United States, NATO, and the European Union had, each in its own way, allowed to develop in the Black Sea-South Caucasus region... MORE
U.S.–Georgia Security and Military Agreement in the Works
Discussions are advancing on a framework agreement between the United States and Georgia, covering various aspects of relations including security and military cooperation. U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matt Bryza, in Tbilisi on December 16 and 17 for consultations, was tight-lipped when journalists asked... MORE
Russia or the South Caucasus: Options for NATO and the United States to Supply Forces in Afghanistan
The incoming U.S. Administration and (less credibly) NATO declare their intention to augment forces and escalate combat in Afghanistan. At the same time, however, security risks have reached unacceptable levels on the route for military and civilian supplies into Afghanistan via Pakistan. The Pakistan route... MORE
Baku Emphasizes Economic and Humanitarian Assistance to Georgia
The Azerbaijani government recently announced further steps aimed at strengthening its strategic ally and neighbor Georgia and improving the post-war conditions there. This tangible help to Georgia, Baku believes, is more important than the political declarations often desired in the Georgian capital.Foremost, the Azerbaijani state... MORE
Militant Actions Shake Up Dagestan
The frequency of militant actions carried out by the members of the Sharia Jamaat in Dagestan increased drastically in late November and early December. Practically not a day goes by without news reports about armed assaults on police forces in the capital of Makhachkala and... MORE
KBR Authorities Again Vow to Catch Anzor Astemirov
Authorities in the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic (KBR) announced on December 5 that they are searching for the militants who murdered the head of the republic’s anti-organized crime directorate (UBOP), Anatoly Kyarov, back in January (North Caucasus Weekly, January 17). “The murder of Kyarov was unequivocally carried... MORE
Sharia Jamaat Threatens Dagestani Police, Officials, Clergy
The Associated Press reported on December 6 that police in Dagestan stormed a two-story 10-room hotel near the republic’s capital Makhachkala where armed militants were blockaded and that two rebels and a policeman died during the operation. The news agency quoted Dagestan’s Interior Ministry as... MORE