WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leaves this week on an eight-day trip that will include stops in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. The State Department said Clinton begins her May 31-June 7 trip with visits to Denmark, Norway and Sweden that will largely focus on the environment. Clinton then travels to Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, where the State Department said she would discuss "regional security, democracy, economic development and counterterrorism." One topic...

... Current Politics think tank, said Kadyrov might be trying to show some activity, fearing that the country's leadership might decide to cut federal budget subsidies to some or all of the regions despite promises not to do so. Chechnya and the other North Caucasus republics are among the most heavily subsidized regions, provoking nationalist sentiments of ethnic Russians, who have rallied repeatedly under the slogan: "Stop Feeding the Caucasus." In November, the Audit Chamber said 18 billion...

... people and wounded just over 100 more in the Dagestani capital Makhachkala late Thursday, in what police are calling a terrorist attack. Analysts said the attack was further evidence of the government’s inability to bring peace to the restive North Caucasus, but warned against linking it to Vladimir Putin’s inauguration on Monday. The toll from the bombings made it the most deadly terrorist attack since the January 2011 bombing at Domodedovo Airport that killed 37. There was no immediate claim...

... Abkhazia with the help of Georgian special services to attack Winter Olympic Games facilities in Sochi. There are a few problems with this allegation. Linking Georgia to terrorist cells in Abkhazia only calls attention to Sochi's vulnerability to North Caucasus terrorist networks. You would think that Russia would be playing the threat down. It's almost as if this scenario were written in Tbilisi, not Moscow. The FSB has provided no proof that Umarov, who is the leader of the terrorist group Caucasus...

... gotten involved in interethnic conflicts and tension, its ham-fisted police methods have been far more destructive than conciliatory. This was the case in Chelyabinsk, where the police sent requests to schools asking for a list of students of "Caucasus nationality" along with their addresses and parents' names. They requested this information for both Russian citizens and noncitizens alike. The director of Math School No. 31, Alexander Popov, responded by publishing the request on Internet...

... toward putting their money into big projects across Russia, a market they described as "empty" during a presentation in Moscow Friday. Russian government officials are pushing the foreign corporations toward the regions, particularly the North Caucasus, but no agreements have yet been signed. Top executives from infrastructure, construction, tourism and leisure investors Dalian Wanda Group and China Oceanwide Holdings Group concluded a second visit to Russia in less than a year this week. ...

... appeal to the Constitutional Court to annul the results of the elections,” Aram Manukyan, a leader of the congress, said Tuesday. International monitors have given a mixed assessment of the vote in Russia’s main ally in the strategic South Caucasus. Republican Party officials said the elections were democratic. The Armenian National Congress, which had no seats in the previous parliament, said it would not refuse the parliament seats it had won. “The bloc’s participation in...

... their believers respect the Constitution, which stipulated the separation of and state. Experts pointed out that, despite being unconstitutional, Sharia courts already exist in the country. "In practice such courts already work in the rural North Caucasus," said Alexander Verkhovsky of the Sova Center, which tracks extremism and xenophobia. Arslan Khasavov suggested that Ren-TV had aired his father's quotes out of context. "Why has the full recording not been shown?" he wrote...

... signed a contract with the Defense Ministry, joining the Air Force's special forces. Dubbed "The Russian Rambo" in some publications, Lebed lost a foot to a land mine but didn't resign, returning to service with a prosthesis in the North Caucasus a few months later. In several acts of battlefield heroism, he reportedly risked his life rescuing his men. He was awarded the Hero of Russian Federation title in 2005. After taking part in the 2008 Russian-Georgian war, he received the Order...

... politicians," said Kynev, referring to the region connected to St. Petersburg and home to a pro-Putin political elite. If his nomination is approved, Khudilainen would be taking over a region struggling with ethnic tensions between locals and North Caucasus migrants. In 2006, a domestic dispute in the city of Kondopoga led to widespread ethnic violence that was fueled by nationalist sentiments. Khudilainen indicated earlier that he holds a more supportive position toward migrants and welcomed them...

... addition, the members said, workers are not allowed to form trade unions and go on strike, harsh anti-extremism laws are applied to trifling comments on the Internet, most mass media are controlled by authorities, and abductions and murders in the North Caucasus continue. Addressing the complaints, Medvedev said he would consider a hotline for reports about police corruption, but said he saw “no threat” to freedom of speech and called the obstruction of nongovernmental organizations “not...

Police have opened a criminal case in connection with a brawl between members of pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi and the family of a Chechen government official over the official's wife's parked car, after a video of the fight went viral online. Police have opened a criminal case in connection with a brawl between members of pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi and the family of a Chechen government official over the official's wife's parked car, after a video of the fight went viral online. Members of Nashi's...

... known public attitudes. According to Levada Center polls, only 28 percent of Russians supported liberal immigration policy in 2011, while 64 percent favored restrictions. Lifting quotas and legalizing millions of immigrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus could lead to a surge in nationalist protests that could quickly turn against the authorities. The absence of political will is likely to remain the main obstacle to a consistent reform of Russia's migration policy. But if the government misses...

... declared the victor there with nearly 100 percent of the vote. In contrast, United Russia fell short of 40 percent of the vote in the Samara region under Artyakov. The only other regions where United Russia scored close to 100 percent were in the North Caucasus. 179695 179742

... archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, who offered the following tolerant words: "There is no reason to limit the Islamic community's ability to live by its own rules." As for Khasavov's appeal to establish Sharia courts, they already de facto exist in the Caucasus. No one in Russia, the United States, France or elsewhere can deny any two Muslims the right to settle their differences with the help of an imam. The only way governments can address this issue is not through violence but by offering a better...

... also keep their previous responsibilities: the former will remain in charge of sports and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, construction and utilities, as well as regional policy, while the latter will continue to oversee the development of the North Caucasus. First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov will continue to oversee financial and economic issues, which include budget planning, investment, tax policy and Russia’s trade relations. He will also remain in charge of the government’s...

... convinced the ultranationalists to leave Manezh Square by assuring them during talks on the square that he would look into their grievances about the police’s handling of an investigation into the killing of an ethnic Russian football fan by a Caucasus native. He was responsible for keeping a close eye on anti-Kremlin protests, which largely remained untarnished by violence until riot police and demonstrators clashed on the eve of President Putin’s inauguration this month. Former Interior...

... newspaper Azadliq quoted Loreen as saying after last week’s encounter. “One should not be silent about such things.” Opposition activists and international rights groups accuse President Ilham Aliyev of stifling dissent in the southern Caucasus nation, which became independent of the Soviet Union in 1991. Aliyev, who denies the accusation, has run the country since 2003, when he succeeded his father. After the result was announced, hundreds of people poured onto a roundabout in central...

... Slavic warrior’s ax in Russian, after retiring from KGB successor Federal Security Service in 1992. His first major contract was to provide protection for Turkish construction company Enka as it built housing for military personnel in the North Caucasus, Izvestia said. After being elected to the Duma in 2001, Gudkov transferred ownership of the company to his wife, Maria Gudkova. It now has 15 subsidiaries and a staff of more than 1,000 people. With possibly every major company seeking security...

... heavyweights, to serve as powerbrokers with the regional elite. The ranks of the envoys have included a former prosecutor general and a former Kremlin chief of staff, while acting Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Khloponin now serves as envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District. Kholmanskikh's nomination was roundly criticized by opposition-minded politicians, with Nikolai Levichev, leader of A Just Russia’s Duma faction, even joking that a former governor should be hired to replace Kholmanskikh...