Kavkaz

Azerbaijan intends to hold talks on its breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, President Ilham Aliyev said Friday, according to Russian news agencies.

One Russian serviceman was killed and ten others injured in a series of blasts across the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya on Thursday, RIA Novosti news agency reported Friday, citing a police source.

Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan said on Thursday that Armenia worked for the normalization of its relations with Turkey and he was optimistic about it.

NAZRAN, Russia (Reuters) – Armed men drove into Russia’s Ingushetia region and abducted up to 15 people including policemen from a checkpoint and a slot machine parlour, police and witnesses said Friday.

TBILISI (Reuters) – Georgia has outlawed investment in its breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions and imposed entry restrictions on foreigners, under legislation designed to isolate the two Russian-backed territories.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Armenian Parliament Speaker Ovik Abramian on Thursday hailed Iran’s principled stance on regional issues.

TBILISI (Reuters) – Georgia said on Thursday that Russia had deployed 2,000 extra troops in South Ossetia in the past week and was preparing to stir up more trouble in the breakaway territory.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia test-fired an intercontinental Stilet missile on Wednesday as part of the checks needed to extend the service of the weapon until 2010, the strategic missile forces said. The missile, which belongs to a type commissioned in 1979 and known in the West as SS-19, was fired …

Hoping to get Georgia back on its feet after this summer’s armed conflict, international donors have gathered for a major fund-raising conference.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran, Russia and Qatar, which together account for 60 percent of the world’s gas reserves, took their first serious steps toward forming an OPEC-style cartel for natural gas.