Poland ‘loses’ Georgia in EU diplomatic race
Poland appears to have changed its policy of unconditional support for Georgia against Russian intimidation, a recent interview given by the country’s president suggests. Warsaw has also reportedly abandoned hope of securing the position of EU Ambassador to Tbilisi, the Polish press reports.
Trouble brewing in North Caucasus
NAZRAN, Russia, Aug. 24 (UPI) — Unknown assailants fired on a car in the North Caucasus Republic of Dagestan, killing one following a shootout in nearby Ingushetia, a police official said. Russia – North Caucasus – Ingushetia – Dagestan – Police
Separate attacks kill two, injure three in Russia’s North Caucasus
Several attacks in Russia’s restive North Caucasus republics of Dagestan and Ingushetia have killed two people and injured three others overnight, local media reported.
Sharia law threatens Moscow control in Muslim Chechnya
MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) – Aspects of sharia law imposed in Muslim Chechnya in recent months are inching the republic closer to autonomy and posing a renewed threat to Kremlin control, analysts say.
Russia has deployed S-300 missiles in South Ossetia: Tbilisi
Tbilisi (AFP) Aug 25, 2010 Georgia accused arch-rival Russia on Wednesday of deploying sophisticated S-300 missile defence systems in a second breakaway Georgian region, South Ossetia, as well as Abkhazia. Moscow, which earlier this month announced it had placed S-300s in Georgia’s rebel Abkhazia region, denied that the surface-to-air missiles had also been deployed in South Ossetia. “Although …
Georgia Still Betting on an “Economic Miracle” with Poti Tax-Free Zone
In a large grassy field a few kilometers from Georgia’s Black Sea port of Poti lies a Free Industrial Zone that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in 2008 predicted would help transform Georgia into the “Dubai or Singapore” of the Caucasus. Now, more than two years later, the Poti zone is under pressure to meet those expectations.
Bearded Assailants Harassing Bareheaded Chechen Women
GROZNY — Chechen women said Friday that they had been harassed and some physically harmed by bands of men for not wearing headscarves during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Reuters reported.
ANALYSIS-Sharia law threatens Moscow control in Muslim Chechnya
Source: Reuters * Kadyrov seen as espousing sharia law in Chechnya * Encroachment of sharia could fuel separatism By Amie Ferris-Rotman MOSCOW, Russia, Aug 26 (Reuters) – Aspects of sharia law imposed in …
Georgian Monk Builds Stairway to Heaven
Come summertime, getting away from it all is the dream that haunts everyone. One Georgian Orthodox monk, though, has come up with a plan for a lifetime of escape atop a 40-meter-high rock column in central Georgia’s Imereti region.
Chechen rivals in surprise peace deal
Reuters/Moscow Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov seems to have made peace with a longtime rival who had accused the Kremlin-backed leader of having two of his brothers killed.
Ingushetia
Key facts, figures and dates
