Kavkaz

RUSSIA Russia has vowed to defend the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a year after acknowledging their independence from Georgia. On Wednesday, people celebrated public holidays in the separatist regions to mark the anniversary. The event coincided with the opening of 160Km natural gas pipeline linking Russia directly …

GEORGIA Georgia on Thursday protested plans by its breakaway Abkhazia region to transfer control of the railway in the Black Sea territory to Russia, a move it said amounted to “robbery.” Abkhazia says the Russian railway authority will provide “reconstruction and rehabilitation” for the stretch of line running along the …

RUSSIA Russia will never reverse its decision to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as states independent of Georgia, President Dmitry Medvedev has said, the anniversary of the decision. The Kremlin recognized the Moscow-backed regions as independent on August 26 of last year, weeks after Russian forces crushed a Georgian attempt …

GEORGIA Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, leader of a political “We ourselves” party, Paata Davitaia, calls for ethnic Abkhazians and Ossetians to come to themselves and begin a dialogue with Georgia. Davitaia spoke about it at a press conference dedicated to the anniversary of Abkhazia and South Ossetia’s independence recognized …

RUSSIA Russia’s prime minister has vowed to protect the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, a year after it recognised their independence. Speaking at the opening of a direct gas pipeline to South Ossetia, Vladimir Putin said his country would not allow any “military escapades” by Georgia. The …

RUSSIA, GEORGIA Russia called on Tuesday for international recognition of the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia a year after its own recognition prompted Georgia to accuse it of a land grab. President Dmitry Medvedev announced Russia’s recognition of the two territories as independent on August 26 last …

GEORGIA The Ministry of Defense has made claims in the court against hundreds of former soldiers who have violated conditions of the contract, the Center for Human Rights said. The center said that the vast majority of respondents concluded the contracts with the ministry headed by Minister Irakli Okruashvili. At …

GEORGIA Georgia’s minister for refugees and accommodation has granted refugee status to a Russian soldier who deserted on July 1, a senior official said on Tuesday. Dmitry Artemyev left his post at a Russian base in the South-Ossetian controlled village of Perevi near the Georgian town of Sachkhere after claiming …

RUSSIA Ukrainian troops fought alongside Georgian forces in the brief conflict last August between Georgia and Russia, Moscow prosecutors say. Regular soldiers, as well as 200 members of a Ukrainian nationalist group, took part in the fighting, the prosecutor general’s office said. The statement comes amid worsening relations between Moscow …

RUSSIA Early reports of a series of explosions in the capital of Chechnya say at least five people have been killed, policemen among them, according to a Russian agency source. Bystanders near a shop in Grozny said it was the work of suicide bombers, one of them on a bicycle. …