Latest Articles about The Caucasus
EVEN STEEP PRICE HIKES IN AZERBAIJAN CAN’T UNIFY OPPOSITION
The start of 2007 has brought new opportunities for Azerbaijan’s opposition parties to revive their activism. The decision of the State Tariff Council to increase prices for gasoline, electricity, and other utilities in January has sparked dissatisfaction from large segments of the population, creating an... MORE
RUSSIA REMAINS IN DENIAL REGARDING EXISTENCE OF NUCLEAR BAZAAR
Last week Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili disclosed that a sting operation had resulted in the February 1, 2006, arrest in Tbilisi of a Russian citizen, Oleg Khintsagov, who had attempted to sell 100 grams of weapons-grade uranium. The Georgian authorities carried out the sting... MORE
TANGERINE CRISIS IN SOUTH OSSETIA PROMPTS KREMLIN TO BACK AWAY FROM DEADLOCK WITH GEORGIA
On January 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that he would allow the Russian ambassador to return to Georgia, after recalling him last October. At that time relations between Russia and Georgia had seriously deteriorated, and Moscow also imposed economic sanctions and cut all transportation... MORE
U.S. UNABLE TO NAME NEW ARMENIA ENVOY AMID GENOCIDE ROW
For months the Bush administration has been unable to appoint a new U.S. ambassador to Armenia due to a dispute with the influential Armenian community in the United States over the mass killings and deportations of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey. The row broke out last... MORE
KARS-AKHALKALAKI-TBILISI-BAKU RAIL PROJECT SOON TO ROLL FORWARD
Thanks in large measure to Azerbaijan’s rapidly growing economic strength, the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku (KATB) railroad-building project can soon become a reality. The project had stalled for more than a decade, due to a lack of funding for the Georgian stretch of the line. Now Azerbaijan is... MORE
REGIONAL LEADERS SEAL KARS-AKHALKALAKI-TBILISI-BAKU RAILWAY DEAL
Last Saturday, January 13, representatives from the governments of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey took a significant step forward in the realization of the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku railway project, which will link Asia and Europe through the Caucasus. Representatives of three parties met in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi,... MORE
SHAH-DENIZ GAS BUTTRESSING GEORGIA, AZERBAIJAN ECONOMICALLY AND POLITICALLY
At 10 pm local time on January 14, commercial production and the delivery flow of gas started at the first well of Azerbaijan’s giant offshore field Shah-Deniz, a BP-led project. In the afternoon of the following day, the first volumes of gas reached Georgia through... MORE
KREMLIN LETS ADYGEYA KEEP ITS VIRTUAL AUTONOMY
On December 13, the parliament of Adygeya, a region in the North Caucasus, voted to confirm Aslan Tkhakushinov as president of the republic. According to Russian law, the president of the Russian Federation nominates a candidate for regional leadership posts and the local parliament votes... MORE
ARREST OF ARMENIAN “COUP PLOTTERS” RAISES QUESTIONS
Armenian authorities claim to have thwarted a coup d’etat that was allegedly planned by hard-line nationalists opposed to major concessions to Azerbaijan in the conflict over Karabakh. Two prominent veterans of the Armenian-Azerbaijani war were controversially arrested last month and now look set to stand... MORE
AZERBAIJAN’S PRESIDENT TURNS DOWN GAZPROM’S “BLACKMAIL” PRICE
Azerbaijan has ceased importing gas from Russia as of January 1. Despite the anticipated shortage of gas in the country -- compounded by an unanticipated production delay at the international Shah Deniz gas project -- Azerbaijan has refused to pay $235 per 1,000 cubic meters... MORE