On April 14 in Vienna, the OSCE's Permanent Council approved a Training Assistance Program (TAP) for Georgian Border Guards to replace the OSCE's Georgia Border Monitoring Operation (BMO). Russia had exercised its veto power to terminate the BMO as of December 31, 2004, thus removing... MORE

At the moment, the atmosphere in the North Caucasus can best be described as "the calm before the storm." As the weather becomes warmer, the population and the authorities are bracing for the renewed attacks that the rebels promised all winter. In February rebel military... MORE

Even though Moscow successfully eliminated Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov in an apparently carefully planned and long-term operation in March, there is little sign of progress towards peace in the breakaway republic. In fact, the number of Russian troops stationed there has recently risen by 5,000... MORE

Armenia appears to have given Georgia fresh assurances that it will use its influence to prevent a major destabilization of the situation in the southern Georgian region of Javakheti, which is predominantly populated by ethnic Armenians. Tension in the impoverished area bordering Armenia and Turkey... MORE

After visits to Saudi Arabia, Iran, and China, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliev reversed course and paid a visit to a European country -- Poland -- on March 30. The trip refuted speculations that Azerbaijan was gradually shifting its foreign policy course towards the East. The... MORE

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili made his first visit to Kazakhstan on March 31, marking a new, post-Shevardnadze era in Kazakh-Georgian relations. The young and beaming Saakashvili, a child of the Rose Revolution, sitting together with his aging Kazakh counterpart, a lingering shadow from the communist... MORE

The collapse of Askar Akayev's regime in Kyrgyzstan, so similar to the events in Georgia or Ajaria, has reinvigorated the debates simmering in Moscow since the Orange Revolution in Kyiv: Is a revolution, preferably of a "velvet" kind, possible in Russia? Opinions are heavily on... MORE

Presidents Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia and Robert Kocharian of Armenia met informally on April 1-2 in the Georgian mountain resort of Gudauri, without media coverage. Their agenda included the situation in Akhalkalaki, where two recent rallies by local Armenian residents aired political and economic demands,... MORE

Regional protests continue to spread across Russia. Late last year, the residents of Karachaevo-Cherkessia, a region in the western portion of the North Caucasus, demanded the resignation of Mustafa Batdyev, the local president. After a week-long standoff, the opposition dropped their demands in return for... MORE