On September 9 Russian President Vladimir Putin signed three decrees that could deepen the crisis in the volatile North Caucasus. Putin issued the decrees to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the voluntary unification of Adygeya, Karachaevo-Cherkessia, and Kabardino-Balkaria with Russia. In the 16th century, a... MORE

“Four servicemen were killed and four injured when a convoy of vehicles hit a mine,” the Russian state agency RIA-Novosti reported on September 6. Such news would not be a surprise coming out of Chechnya, but this incident happened in North Ossetia, a North Caucasus... MORE

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned the Georgian government to curb the country's creeping inflation. The admonition has provided evidence that the country's actual economic situation significantly differs from the government's rosy pronouncements. Since the beginning of 2006, the government has continuously touted impressive... MORE

Recent weeks have revealed a rift between Armenia’s two most powerful leaders that could have far-reaching implications for the political future of the South Caucasus state. President Robert Kocharian is reportedly monitoring with unease the efforts by Defense Minister Serge Sarkisian, his hitherto chief lieutenant... MORE

On August 12 military and police units clashed with a group of rebels near the city of Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, a region in the North Caucasus. As troops combed the woods near Nalchik, they met and clashed with a rebel group in a... MORE

Georgian authorities have successfully restored legal order and are starting intensive development work in the hitherto isolated upper part of the Kodori Gorge. Tbilisi-based authorities of the pre-1992 Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia are now relocating to upper Kodori, the only part of Abkhazia not controlled... MORE

Georgia will hold elections for local governments in early December, Giorgi Arveladze, head of President Mikheil Saakashvili’s administration, announced on August 7. Arveladze mentioned two reasons for choosing that month: to allow incumbent governments time to complete projects and to allow the new governments to... MORE

On August 10, Leonid Krivonos, the acting military commandant of Chechnya, stunned the Russian public by commenting that the Russian military command in Chechnya expects rebel activity in Chechnya to increase in August and September. Krivonos mentioned the recent ambushes and bombings of Russian military... MORE

The ongoing military operations between Israel and Lebanon have sparked popular protests and heated debates in Azerbaijan. Although a predominantly Muslim country, Azerbaijan prides itself on being a secular country and having strong ties with Israel and the United States. Nevertheless, the high rate of... MORE

On July 8, insurgents in the North Caucasus region of Dagestan simultaneously attacked two senior local officials. Early in the morning a roadside bomb killed Bitar Bitarov, prosecutor for the town of Buinaksk, as he was driven to his office. After the blast, Bitarov’s car... MORE