The month-long confrontation over the disputed presidential elections in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia has claimed its first victim. Tamara Shakryl, 78, was a senior associate at the Institute for the Study of the Humanities, Abkhazian Academy of Sciences, and backed presidential candidate Raul Khajimba.... MORE

Russia's Gazprom is counting on three factors to rush Georgia advice, into a political decision to sell the country's gas transportation system to the Russian monopoly. Those factors are: the approaching winter, the urgent need for capital injections into that system, and fortuitously convergent support... MORE

On November 10, Georgia's Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and Conflict Resolution Minister Giorgi Khaindrava reported to the cabinet of ministers' session that demilitarization of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict zone is progressing in a satisfactory manner. Nightly incidents, in which Ossetian armed groups fire from hilltops... MORE

The Georgian parliament and public are deeply divided about a government-proposed tax amnesty. The most controversial part of the bill, which focuses on "undeclared taxation duties and property legalization," is the list of affected taxpayers. During the October 27 cabinet meeting, President Mikheil Saakashvili asked... MORE

On November 5, Russia and the OSCE sponsored a meeting in Sochi between Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and South Ossetian separatist leader Eduard Kokoiti. This was the first meeting between a top Georgian official and Kokoiti since his election as South Ossetian President in... MORE

The aftermath of the October 3 presidential election in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia has finally unmasked Moscow's policy towards Abkhazia. Ironically, Russia has presented itself as a player -- if not instigator -- of the current unrest in Abkhazia. On November 3, the two... MORE

On November 3-5, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer visited, for the first time in this capacity, the three South Caucasus countries. He conferred with the head of state, the defense minister, military leadership, and other top officials in each of the three capitals. The... MORE

The Georgian government faces new problems in its two breakaway provinces. Nightly shoot-outs have resumed in South Ossetia, while Abkhazia still has no clear winner in its October 3 presidential election. Although no casualties have been reported in South Ossetia, recent developments very much resemble... MORE

Intensive discussions are underway at the OSCE's Vienna headquarters on the decisions and documents to be adopted by the organization's year-end conference. Moscow has already successfully ruled out from the principal final document, the Political Declaration, any reference to Russia's 1999 Istanbul Commitments to withdraw... MORE

Intensive discussions are underway at the OSCE's Vienna headquarters on the decisions and documents to be adopted by the organization's year-end conference. Moscow has already successfully ruled out from the principal final document, the Political Declaration, any reference to Russia's 1999 Istanbul Commitments to withdraw... MORE