Latest Articles about The Caucasus

UN SECURITY COUNCIL SHUTS EYES AND EARS TO GEORGIA

At Moscow's request, the United Nations Security Council excluded Georgia from the March 28 session that discussed prolonging the mandate of the United Nations Missions of Observers in Georgia. UNOMIG has been stationed in Abkhazia since 1994 as a passive, largely irrelevant bystander that never... MORE

MOSCOW HINTS IT MAY FORMALIZE INCORPORATION OF SOUTH OSSETIA

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov's aide, Gennady Bukayev, told a joint session of North Ossetia's and South Ossetia's leaderships in Vladikavkaz on March 22 that Moscow has "decided in principle" to merge the two entities into a single one within Russia. The question is not... MORE

DESECRATION OF KORAN COULD PROVOKE ATTACK IN DAGESTAN

On March 3 Russian security officials swept through several villages in the Khasavyurt district of Dagestan, North Caucasus. According to RIA-Dagestan, "Officers of the Ministry of Interior Affairs [MVD] and the Federal Security Service [FSB] are combing the Khasavyurt area adjacent to Chechnya with the... MORE

GEORGIA EXTRICATING FROM GAZPROM’S BEAR HUG

The winter now ending was almost certainly the last one during which Georgia had to face Gazprom's commercial blackmail and supply cutoffs. Within the coming months, Georgia will begin receiving Azerbaijani gas through the Shah Deniz-Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum (Turkey) transit pipeline and will also have an opportunity... MORE

KOSOVO IMPEDES SETTLEMENT OF ABKHAZ SITUATION

Talk of possible independence for Kosovo, Serbia's separatist enclave, is markedly hampering the Georgian government's efforts to find a mutually acceptable model for the reintegration of its breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The Abkhaz separatists argue that the possible recognition of Kosovo's independence strengthens... MORE

AZERBAIJAN SIGNALS EASTWARD TILT WITH PRESIDENTIAL VISIT TO JAPAN

President Ilham Aliyev's official visit to Japan on March 8 marks another milestone in Azerbaijan's slow re-orientation toward Asia. During the visit, he met with Japanese Emperor Akihito, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Foreign Minister Taro Aso, and the head of the Japanese International Development Agency... MORE

INGUSH REBELS TARGET LOCAL RUSSIAN POPULATION

Late on the night of February 27, Magomed Chakhkiev, a deputy to the parliament of Ingushetia, was driving in the town of Nazran when masked gunmen suddenly blocked his way near the town's main sports arena. The gunmen shot through the wheels of Chakhkiev's car,... MORE

GEORGIAN POLICE CLAIM TO SOLVE HIGH-PROFILE MURDER

The Georgian Interior Ministry has announced that it has solved the killing of Sandro Girgvliani, the 28-year-old chief of the international relations division at the United Georgian Bank. On March 6, Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili told a news conference that four officers from the Interior... MORE