In his September 4 address to the nation concerning the Beslan tragedy, President Vladimir Putin cited the corrosive effect that corruption has had on the country's judicial and law-enforcement systems as one of the reasons for the wave of terrorism sweeping Russia. On September 11,... MORE

In an article headlined "Silence of Political Elite Is Deafening," the Moscow Times today (September 10) notes that much of Russia's political elite has "kept painfully quiet" about the Beslan school tragedy -- a function of its fear of "antagonizing the Kremlin," as Igor Bunin,... MORE

The existing Russian "peacekeeping" operation for Abkhazia is a legacy of the 1993 Russian military intervention in Georgia, the subsequent military advance to the Inguri River, and the ethnic cleansing of the Georgian plurality of Abkhazia's population by the Russian-backed Abkhaz minority. International organizations and... MORE

The Jamestown Foundation's recent visit to Abkhazia showed the results of a decade-long failure by international organizations and the West to initiate genuine peacekeeping and conflict-resolution efforts in the region. Back in 1994, along with the Russian "peacekeeping" deployment, the UN initiated what became known... MORE

A newspaper reported today (September 8) that one of the men who commanded the group that seized School No. 1 in Beslan, North Ossetia, was a former Ingushetian police officer. According to Vremya novostei, an insurgent who went by the nom de guerre "Magas" led... MORE

The September 1 terrorist attack in Russia's North Ossetian town of Beslan has not led the Kremlin to reassess its stance on neighboring Georgia. Moreover, many Russian policymakers and analysts have begun to search for traces of Georgian involvement in the Beslan tragedy. Russian attempts... MORE

Led by the Jamestown Foundation, a group of international analysts and journalists held in-depth talks recently in Sukhumi with self-styled "prime minister" Raul Khajimba, "minister of foreign affairs" Georgii Otyrba, and other Abkhaz representatives. The Sukhumi leaders are citizens of Russia and seem imbued with... MORE

Russia's President Vladimir Putin urged a radical restructuring of the country's security system after the hostage crisis in North Ossetia ended in a major bloodbath. But some influential analysts argue that the Kremlin's policies in the Caucasus need to be drastically changed to prevent a... MORE

Russian special forces on September 3 took control of Middle School No. 1 in Beslan, North Ossetia, which was seized by gunmen on September 1. Fighting broke out in the early hours of September 3 after the hostage-takers agreed to allow the removal of the... MORE

Two leading Russian journalists have apparently become victims of the events in North Ossetia. Novaya gazeta correspondent Anna Politkovskaya became seriously ill following a flight on the evening of September 1 from Moscow to Rostov-on-Don. From there, she had planned to travel together with Leonid... MORE