Latest Articles about The Caucasus
MOSCOW THREATENS GEORGIA AS BUSH-PUTIN SUMMIT NEARS
Testing the West's collective credibility, Russia is again fabricating pretexts for possible military action on Georgian territory, ostensibly to go after "Chechen and international terrorists" in the Pankisi Gorge. This latest cycle of threats is more dangerous than previous ones because Moscow has just dictated... MORE
FORMER ABKHAZ PRESIDENTIAL RIVALS UNITE UNDER PRESSURE FROM MOSCOW
Georgia's breakaway region Abkhazia holds a second round of its presidential elections today (January 12). Sergei Bagapsh claimed victory in the initial election on October 3, 2004. However, Russian officials soon arrived in Abkhazia to annul the result. Russia forced Bagapsh to re-run the election,... MORE
RIVAL GEORGIAN MINISTERS CROSS SWORDS
Last week, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was forced to mediate between two bickering members of his government. Ultimately, Saakashvili reached a temporary truce in the standoff between Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili and his predecessor, Gia Baramidze, currently State Minister for European Integration. Baramidze had replaced... MORE
DEFENSE MINISTER TARGETS CORRUPTION IN GEORGIAN MILITARY
Irakli Okruashvili, Georgia's Minister of Defense has alleged the continued existence of widespread corruption within the military. On January 4, he named senior Ministry of Defense officials, whom he said were involved in misappropriating funds, and set the target of seeing them imprisoned within one... MORE
OPPOSITION LEADER RESIGNS IN ATTEMPT TO RE-ENERGIZE AZERI POLITICS
Etibar Mammadov, the long-time chairman of the Azerbaijan National Independence Party (ANIP) and one of the most influential opposition leaders in Azerbaijan, announced his resignation from his party position on December 24. His decision came as a surprise not only to other political parties, but... MORE
ARMENIA TO DEPLOY TOKEN CONTINGENT TO IRAQ
On December 24, the Armenian parliament approved a symbolic deployment of Armenian military personnel as part of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. The vote was 91-23, with one abstention, after a seven-hour closed session late into the night. A last-hour switch by the opposition National... MORE
BABITSKY’S INFERNO
Radio Liberty's Andrei Babitsky recently traveled to Chechnya for the first time in a year. On January 3, he shared his observations with colleague Andrei Sharyi. According to the veteran Chechnya correspondent, there have been no "significant changes" over the last year. Babitsky quoted a... MORE
2004’S GRIM TALLY
The Memorial human rights group estimates that 384 residents of Chechnya were kidnapped in 2004, Interfax reported on January 3. Memorial spokesman Dmitri Grushkin told the news agency that 182 of these people were freed, 22 found dead, 173 are still listed as missing, and... MORE
ALEXEYEVA: HUMAN RIGHTS CRUCIAL TO REBUILDING
Moscow Helsinki Group head Lyudmila Alexeyeva said that protecting human rights in Chechnya is crucial to accelerating reconstruction in the republic, Interfax reported on January 3. "First of all, it is necessary to ensure that security agencies act in compliance with the law and observe... MORE
BRIEFS
--BODY COUNTS The Federal Security Service claimed that more than 200 separatist fighters were killed and more than 900 people detained on suspicion of "involvement in terrorist activities" in Chechnya during 2004, Gazeta.ru reported on January 3. The rebels, for their part, claimed they killed... MORE