Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

RFE/RL Caucasus Report 6/10/2011 7:01:02 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 .

 

Tom De Waal: The Chances For Peace In Nagorno-Karabakh With an upcoming summit in Kazan on June 25, the festering Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is back in the spotlight. More   Convicted Colonel Killed In Moscow A Russian ex-army officer jailed for the murder of an 18-year-old girl in Chechnya in 2000 has been shot dead in Moscow. More   Armenia 'Interested' In Russian Artillery A senior Russian defense industry executive says Armenia wants to acquire Russian rocket artillery systems that have a firing range of up to 90 kilometers. More   Malta Court Gives Green Light For Sale Of Georgian-Registered Ship The crew of a Georgian-registered ship who made a dramatic escape from Libya earlier this year could finally be on their way home soon after a ruling by a court in Malta. More   Belgrade Erects Statue To Former Azerbaijani President A statue of late Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev has been unveiled in a Belgrade park whose renovation was aided by 2 million euros ($2.9 million) from the Azerbaijani government. More   The Georgian Political Landscape After May 26 The demonstrations in Tbilisi that culminated in the violent dispersal of protesters by police early on May 26 did not achieve their stated goal of forcing Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to step down. The events of the past two weeks have nonetheless changed the alignment of political forces in the country, calling into question the authorities' respect for the rule of law and seriously damaging the credibility of at least two prominent opposition politicians. More   Azerbaijani Bank Identified As Major Spam Facilitator A team of computer scientists in California has been investigating Internet spam for years and found that just a handful of banks are processing nearly all of the transactions generated by those unsolicited e-mail messages. More   Azerbaijan Removes Mubarak Statue The authorities in Azerbaijan have removed a monument to deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The statue of the former Egyptian leader sitting in an armchair in front of three pyramids was taken away from a park in the town of Khirdalan near the capital on June 7. More   Countdown To Karabakh Conflict Talks In Kazan During the G-8 summit in Deauville in late May, the presidents of France, Russia, and the U.S., the three countries that jointly co-chair the OSCE Minsk Group, issued a statement calling on the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to "finalize" at their planned meeting in Kazan on June 25 the so-called "Basic Principles" for resolving the Karabakh conflict. More   Video: Azerbaijan Traffic Cop On The Take? Authorities in Azerbaijan say they're investigating a downtown Baku traffic stop after RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service presented them with video from June 6 that shows a traffic cop accepting cash from a motorist. More   Armenian Opposition 'Open' To Concessions To Government A leading Armenian National Congress (HAK) official says the opposition alliance is ready, in principle, for mutual concessions in its upcoming negotiations with President Serzh Sarkisian's government. More   Armenian Opposition Deputy's Brother Released From Jail The brother of a prominent Armenian opposition parliament deputy has been set free after spending more than three months in detention on corruption charges an opposition party says are politically motivated. More   Azerbaijan’s Song Contest Victory Puts A President In The Hot Seat The Eurovision spectacle has at last gives Baku a chance to prove its “European-ness” in the eyes of the world. More   U.S. Hopeful Over Armenian Dialogue Outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Marie Yovanovitch says Washington welcomes the upcoming dialogue between Armenia's government and the largest opposition force and hopes it will lead to free and fair elections. More   Charges Against Azeri Activist Shelved Charges filed against Azerbaijani Facebook activist and blogger Elnur Majidli for advocating the overthrow of the government have been suspended. More   Beheading Of Poet Fuels Anti-Islamic Feeling In North Ossetia The murder in Vladikavkaz last week of a venerated Ossetian poet, purportedly by a radical Muslim, has inevitably triggered a backlash against North Ossetia's Muslim minority, which is estimated at between 25 and 30 percent of the republic's population of 720,000. More   Reforms Leave Armenian Schools Empty Sweeping structural changes in Armenia's education system over the past decade will leave the country's state-run universities and colleges with barren classrooms in the fall. More   Armenian Government Still Backs Growth Forecast Armenian Economy Minister Tigran Davtian says the government stands by its earlier projections that the pace of economic growth in the country will nearly double this year compared to 2010. More