 RFE/RL Caucasus Report 7/16/2010 4:19:25 PM 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 . |
 Kabardino-Balkaria President Looks For Scapegoats With less than three months to go before his presidential term expires, Kabardino-Balkaria Republic President Arsen Kanokov has complained he is under pressure from unnamed rivals who, he claims, do not shrink from using "dirty methods" to discredit him. More Azerbaijani media have reported that several people, including two police officers, were injured during a large-scale brawl in the village of Shotlanly in the Terter district between local residents and internally displaced persons recently relocated there. More  A Year Later, Still No Closure In Chechnya Estemirova Killing One year has passed since rights campaigner Natalya Estemirova was killed, and friends and colleagues say they're losing hope of seeing justice done. More  Possible New Lease On Life For EU Reps To Caucasus, Moldova A broad consensus is emerging in the European Union to extend the mandates of the bloc's special envoys to various global trouble spots. More  Former Armenian Foreign Minister Takes Party Back, Calls For Radical Change U.S.-born Raffi Hovannisian, who served in 1991-92 as Armenia's first post-Soviet foreign minister, has been elected chairman of the ruling board of the opposition Zharangutiun (Heritage) party he founded in 2002. More  Georgia's Main Gas Pipeline Up For Grabs Georgia's parliament has now passed in the first reading a draft law on the privatization of state assets that abolishes existing restrictions on the sale of the main North-South gas pipeline. The Georgian opposition has already expressed concern that Russia might acquire a controlling stake in the pipeline, giving it huge economic leverage. Meanwhile, there is concern in Armenia, which receives a large share of its gas via that pipeline, that Azerbaijan, which already manages much of Georgia's gas distribution network, might seek to acquire it. More |
