NEWS: RFE/RL Caucasus Report - 4/9/2010 (rferl.org)

A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about the countries of the South Caucasus and Russia's North Caucasus region. For more stories on the Caucasus, please visit and bookmark our Caucasus page .

Kadyrov Picks A New Quarrel With Moscow Chechen Republic head Ramzan Kadyrov has reportedly argued that there is no need to deploy bureaucrats, police, and FSB personnel to Chechnya from elsewhere in Russia. He alleged that some personnel sent to serve in Chechnya simply "sit around in local police departments and never venture outside." More
European Court Finds Azerbaijan Guilty Of Election Fraud The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has issued its first ruling on a complaint about election fraud in Azerbaijan and found the government guilty. More
Georgian Police Arrest Opposition Leader Georgian police briefly arrested opposition leader Aleksandr Shalamberidze in Tbilisi today. More
EU Frustrated By South Caucasus Divisions A debate on April 7 in the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee on the need for a comprehensive EU strategy for the South Caucasus served to highlight frustration within the bloc over divisions within the region itself. More
Iranian Nobel Laureate Urges Armenia To Release 'Political Prisoners' Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi says she hopes Armenian officials will listen to international human rights activists pleas and release a dozen jailed opposition activists. More
New Moves To Thwart, Expedite Ratification Of Landmark Armenian-Turkish Protocols The opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation--Dashnaktsutiun (HHD) has suffered a further setback in its ongoing campaign for the annulment of the two protocols signed last October by the foreign ministers of Armenia and Turkey on establishing and developing formal diplomatic relations between the two countries. More
Local Election Campaign Begins In Georgia Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on March 30 formally scheduled local elections for May 30, the constitutionally specified deadline. A total of 36 political parties and movements subsequently applied to the Central Election Commission to register to participate in the ballot. More
Armenian TV Station Owner Hopeful Of Regaining License The owner of an Armenian television station that was denied a license and shut down in 2002 says he is optimistic the station will get a license and resume broadcasting by the end of this year. More
Chechen Legislators Target Federal Envoy The Chechen parliament has adopted a statement openly criticizing Aleksandr Khloponin, whom Russian President Dmitry Medvedev named two months ago to head the newly created North Caucasus Federal District. More
For Moscow's Ethnic Minorities, A Fresh Sense Of Fear Being an ethnic minority in the Russian capital can be a stressful experience even in ordinary times. But after Monday's double attack in the Moscow metro, Moscow residents from the Caucasus and Central Asia are especially on edge. More
News Profile: Who Is Doku Umarov? Since the start of the first post-Soviet Chechen war in the fall of 1994, rebel leader Doku Umarov has risen from a rank-and-file fighter to command a network of insurgent groups across the North Caucasus. More
Umarov Claims He Ordered Moscow Blasts In a new video, Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov claims responsibility for two suicide bombings on the Moscow metro that killed at least 39 people and wounded scores more. More
Daghestan's Laks Plan Protest Meeting Representatives of Daghestan's Lak population have formally requested permission from the Makhachkala municipal authorities to stage a meeting in the city on April 3 to protest the dismissal of their co-ethnic, Amuchi Amutinov, who heads the Daghestan branch of the federal Pension Fund. More
Russian Authorities Warn of Possible New Attacks Authorities in Russia have vowed to track down the organizers of the deadly March 29 metro blasts, saying they have video footage of the alleged bombers and are on the trail of their accomplices. But critics blame the security services for failing to prevent the bombings and say they're skeptical law enforcers can prevent future terrorism, amid warnings of possible new attacks. More
Georgia's Armenian Minority Looks Ahead To Local Elections The NGO Javakhk, one of several that seek to represent the interests of the prominently Armenian population of the southern Georgian region of Javakheti, has convened a congress in the regional center, Akhalkalaki, on to discuss priorities and demands in the run-up to the Georgian local government elections scheduled for May 30. More