Kavkaz

Russia placed additional arms and troops to Abkhazia, thus provoking new tensions in the conflict area, Georgian State Minister for Conflict Settlement David Bakradze said at a special briefing on 12 November.

Russia says it has completed pulling out its troops from Russia, leaving only “peacekeepers” behind. The move comes as Georgia is set to lift its week-long state of emergency after police broke up protests in the capital, Tbilisi, according to its parliamentary speaker.

An EU investigator said Wednesday he has evidence to suggest that a Ukrainian airstrip was used by CIA-operated planes involved in the U.S. extraordinary rendition program.

Russia’s main pro-Kremlin party suffered a drop in support in an opinion poll issued on Wednesday, but still seemed set to dominate a December parliamentary election widely seen as a referendum on the rule of President Vladimir Putin.

In a hotel room in southern Russia, Lydia and Pavel Izvozchikov are praying their son will be found alive somewhere in the shallow waters at the mouth of the Black Sea.

Georgia will lift its state of emergency in two days, Parliament Speaker Nino Burjanadze said on Wednesday, but a court order looked set to keep the main opposition television station off the air.

Georgia has severely damaged its chances of winning a promise of NATO membership at a summit next April with a crackdown on protests that has shocked even its supporters in the West, diplomats said on Wednesday.

Russia may deploy its newest Iskander tactical missiles in neighboring Belarus in response to U.S. plans for a missile shield in eastern Europe, Russian media quoted a senior general as saying on Wednesday.

The recognition of Abkhazia by Russia would amount to declaration of war against Georgia and “we will accept this challenge,” an influential lawmaker Givi Targamadze, who chairs the parliament’s defense and security committee, said on November 13.

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday he expected a parliamentary election on December 2 to give him a “moral right” to influence Russian politics after he steps down from his Kremlin post next year.