 RFE/RL Caucasus Report 15.07.2009 A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about the countries of the South Caucasus and Russia's North Caucasus region.For more stories on the Caucasus, please visit and bookmark our Caucasus page . |
 Russian Rights Activist Killed in North Caucasus A prominent Russian human rights activist has been found dead hours after being kidnapped in the North Caucasus region. Natalya Estemirova investigated atrocities in Chechnya. Her death is the latest in a series of similar killings that have gone unsolved. More  Medvedev Meets With Acting Ingushetian President Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met on July 14 at his dacha near Sochi with Rashid Gaysanov, who as Ingushetian prime minister automatically assumed the duties of acting president following the June 22 suicide bomb attack that left President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov seriously injured. More A Russian-made passenger jet traveling from Tehran to Yerevan crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 168 passengers. More  Armenian Party Seeks FM's Resignation Over Karabakh A hard-line Armenian party says it will seek the resignation of Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian over what it views as President Serzh Sarkisian's failed policy in the Nagorno-Karabakh talks, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More  Is A Russia-Georgia War Off The Table? Mikheil Saakashvili has often raised the specter of a second Russian invasion. But in a sudden about-face, the Georgian leader now says he has no worries about a new war. The change of tone comes just a week after U.S. President Barack Obama's trip to Moscow. Did the U.S. offer Georgia a guarantee of support in case of a fresh invasion? More  Will Moscow Throw Away A Unique Opportunity In Daghestan? For years, political observers and NGOs both in Russia and abroad have argued that the indiscriminate violence with which Daghestan's18,000-strong police force targets suspected Islamic militants has only served to drive increasing numbers of young men to join the resistance ranks. More  Cossacks Seek To Take Over Most Of North Caucasus The leaders of the Terek Cossacks recently reached agreement on drafting a formal request to the Russian State Duma to revive the 19th-century Terek Oblast. Doing so would require amending the current territorial-administrative structure of the Russian Federation to abolish five existing national republics: Kabardino-Balkaria, Chechnya, Ingushetia, North Ossetia, Daghestan, and part of Stavropol Krai. More The Armenian National Congress (HAK) headed by former President Levon Ter-Petrossian issued a statement on July 13 registering concern that the revised Madrid Principles that form the basis for continuing talks on resolving the Karabakh conflict entail concessions on the part of Armenia of a magnitude that is tantamount to "treason." More  Nagorno-Karabakh Must Be At Table Nagorno-Karabakh is a separate state with its own democratic traditions, and, in the long run, any serious progress towards resolving the conflict cannot take place unless its representatives return to the negotiating table and agree to share the responsibility for implementing the hoped-for peace agreement, says Robert Avetisyan. More  Georgian Opposition Marks Time, Waits For Biden Visit The opposition had hoped 10,000 people would turn out on July 9 to demonstrate their continued commitment to bringing about regime change. But in recent weeks the opposition has suffered a series of setbacks that have compromised individual leaders, perhaps irrevocably. More Imagine you're a police chief in the Azerbaijani capital and you're holding a pair of activist bloggers on pretty dubious charges of hooliganism. Further imagine that supporters of the detainees are gathered outside your police station for word of what awaits the two, potentially drawing attention to the case. What to do? More Grigor Voskerchian, who walked free from the courtroom as part of a general amnesty declared by authorities last month after spending about 18 months in prison, was sentenced in connection with last year's postelection unrest. More  'Strategic' Nabucco Deal Inked In Ankara Turkey and four EU member states have signed a deal allowing work to start on the Nabucco natural gas pipeline, which is aimed at allowing Western Europe to tap directly into non-European gas reserves. The project should reduce dependence from the EU's biggest and most capricious supplier. More  Azerbaijani Activists Denied Release Before Trial Two youth activists, Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizada, have been ordered in a closed court hearing to be held in detention for two months until the next hearing in their trial, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports. More  Minsk Group Hopeful Of 'Breakthrough' The visit by the French, Russian, and U.S. co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group to Yerevan and Baku may have brought a formal settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict one step closer. More  Donkey Satire In Azerbaijan We wrote yesterday about the arrests of two Azerbaijani youth activists. The video above, produced and distributed by the OL and AN youth movements, is the type of thing that likely got them into hot water. More Mediators Look Forward To Next Karabakh Summit International mediators have visited Yerevan to discuss preparations for the upcoming fresh meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More  Vacationing In Nagorno-Karabakh With all the speculation about a potential peace deal on Nagorno-Karabakh, the real savior of the disputed region might not be the Minsk Group, but tourism. More  Youth Activists Arrested In Azerbaijan Prominent Azerbaijani youth activists Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizada were arrested early on July 9 after being involved in a fight in a restaurant. More Is A Karabakh Peace Agreement Within Reach? The French, Russian, and U.S. co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group arrived in Yerevan on July 8 for new talks on resolving the Karabakh conflict. It is their fourth visit to the region this year, and could pave the way for a further meeting later this month between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, who met in late January in Switzerland, in early May in Prague, and in early June in St. Petersburg. More  Nervous Neighbors In 'Near Abroad' Ever since Barack Obama famously pledged a "reset," smaller countries in Russia's near abroad have feared their interests will be sacrificed for smoother superpower relations. What's the mood in Georgia and Ukraine as the summit begins? More Inspired by "The Atlantic's" mock "World Leaders" Facebook group, RFE/RL presents a Facebook-style summary of last week's events. More  Meet The New Public Face Of Beleaguered Nabucco It's been an up-and-down year for the Nabucco natural gas pipeline. Just as work on the long-stalled project seems set to finally begin, some shift -- usually at the hand of Russian energy giant Gazprom -- alters the commercial landscape and Nabucco's chances appear to recede. But the pipeline's supporters have just selected a big name in European politics to help push the project toward realization -- former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. More |
