Latest Articles about The Caucasus
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
RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN ROW COULD SERIOUSLY SOUR RUSSIA-WEST RELATIONS
The latest crisis in the chronically uneasy relationship between Moscow and Tbilisi is not likely to fizzle out any time soon, as the positions of the two sides appear to be irreconcilable. This poses a painful dilemma for the West: do the United States and... MORE
ARMENIAN OPPOSITION ATTACKS “CRIMINAL ELEMENTS” IN GOVERNMENT
Armenia’s main opposition forces have opened a new front in their standoff with the government, launching a joint movement against what they claim is the growing role of “criminal elements” in the country’s political life. Influential Defense Minister Serge Sarkisian and other leaders of the... MORE
PUTIN COMMENTS REVEAL DESIRE FOR REGIME CHANGE IN TBILISI
The ordeal of four Russian military intelligence officers arrested in Georgia on September 27 and charged with espionage (see EDM, October 2) ended when the men were expelled to Moscow on Monday, October 2. Speaking on the condition of confidentiality yesterday in Moscow, a high-ranking... MORE
TBILISI NEUTRALIZES ALLEGED RUSSIAN SPY RING, GAINS POLITICAL MILEAGE
The arrest of four Russian military intelligence officers and eleven alleged accomplices in Georgia on September 27-28 is part of Tbilisi’s ongoing efforts to neutralize a purported Russian spy network in Georgia. Two weeks earlier, on September 6, Tbilisi claimed to have averted a coup... MORE
SAAKASHVILI’S U.N. ADDRESS TRANSFORMS DISCUSSION ON POST-SOVIET CONFLICTS
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s September 22 address to the United Nations General Assembly has transformed the terms of international discussion on the post-Soviet “frozen” conflicts. After Saakashvili’s address, hardly any international actors other than Moscow’s ad-hoc supporters could any longer defend Russia’s “peacekeeping” and “mediation”... MORE
NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE PARTY OF AZERBAIJAN RALLIES FOR AZERIS IN IRAN
Parliamentary elections in November 2005 brought severe negative consequences for the Azerbaijani opposition. Most opposition parties are in a state of collapse; others have seen their activities stagnate because they have no results to show for the past 12 years. Yet, recent events suggest that... MORE
ABKHAZIA REQUESTS GEORGIAN APOLOGY AND DREADS NEW WAR
Abkhaz separatists have dismissed Tbilisi’s “fresh roadmap” to resolve Georgia’s secessionist conflicts. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili proposed the new approach in his address to the UN General Assembly on September 22. Saakashvili called for a direct Georgian-Abkhaz dialogue, but he hinted that force could become... MORE
REBEL “NOGAI BATTALION” SPURS RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES TO OFFER ASSISTANCE TO NOGAI MINORITY
"The leaders of bandit formations plan to carry out several terrorist acts in several republics of the North Caucasus,” Dagestan’s interior minister, Adilgirei Magomedtagirov, told journalists on September 14. But despite the broad statement by Magomedtagirov, who has fully recovered from a recent attempt on... MORE
OPPOSITION FRAGMENTS AHEAD OF GEORGIAN LOCAL ELECTIONS
On October 5, Georgians will vote to fill 1,683 seats in 69 local municipal councils. Unlike the 2002 local elections, where voters directly elected the mayors except in Tbilisi and Poti, the October ballot will chose city councils, which will later elect mayors. In Tbilisi... MORE