Latest Articles about The Caucasus

TBILISI CLAIMS RUSSIAN NAVY HOLDING EXERCISES OFF GEORGIAN COAST

In an October 18 news conference, Georgia’s First Deputy Defense Minister Mamuka Kudava and Coastal Guard commander Davit Gulua announced that Russian warships are conducting live-fire exercises of an intimidating nature off Georgia’s coast, mainly off Poti. The Russian ships are exercising mainly in the... MORE

KREMLIN LOSES CONTROL OVER INGUSH POLICE

On October 15, Russia’s RIA-Novosti news agency reported that the Interior Ministry of Ingushetia, a region in the North Caucasus adjacent to Chechnya, would be strengthened by additional 200 policemen, mainly senior officials dispatched from other parts of Russia. Temporary police departments will be set... MORE

MOSCOW MORE WORRIED ABOUT SAAKASHVILI THAN KIM JONG-IL

Among all of North Korea’s neighbors, Russia seems to be the least concerned with the recent nuclear test conducted by the reclusive regime of Kim Jong-Il. Of course, the Russian Foreign Ministry made an official protest and demanded that Pyongyang must "immediately return to the... MORE

ARMENIA, EU TO LAUNCH “ACTION PLAN” ON CLOSER TIES

Next month the European Union and Armenia will sign a five-year action plan related to the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) program that enables EU neighbors to establish preferential relations with the 25-country bloc. The development will be hailed by the authorities in Yerevan as an... MORE

AZERBAIJAN BECOMING POPULAR DRUG TRAFFICKING ROUTE

Last week the Ministry of National Security of Azerbaijan broke up a transnational network funneling illegal drugs from Iran toward Europe via Azerbaijan. Two citizens of Azerbaijan were arrested in relation to this case, and authorities confiscated 19 kilograms of hashish from them. They had... MORE

SOLANA BLINKS, DEEPLY

The European Union’s High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, opined in a European Parliament hearing that international recognition of Kosovo’s independence from Serbia could set “a precedent” adversely affecting Georgia in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. With some trepidation Solana imagined, “We... MORE

RUSSIA’S ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WARFARE FAILING TO SUBDUE GEORGIA

Russia’s economic and psychological warfare against Georgia is intensifying in the wake of, and notwithstanding, the release of four Russian military intelligence officers who had been caught in flagrante in Georgia. Arrested on September 27 and indicted for espionage and subversion, the four officers (a... MORE