Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, has urged Russia to help resolve tension in Georgia’s rebel regions rather than “contributing to it”.   Rice was in Tbilisi, the country’s capital, on Thursday in a show of support for Georgia, an ex-Soviet state which wants to join Nato and is …

Gangs of the Russian invaders from the so-called North Caucasus Military District are ready “to provide assistance to the Russian troops in case the situation gets more aggravated in the conflict zones in Abkhazia and South Ossetia”, as gang leader of Russian North Caucasus Military District, Sergei Makarov, said.

From July 5 to July 7, an international Islamic conference entitled “The Place and Role of Sufism in the Islamic World,” which gathered together more than 200 clergymen from Russia and other countries, was held in the Chechen town of Gudermes. According to official sources, the event was organized by …