News Digest
DESPITE YUKOS SCANDAL, IT WAS A GOOD YEAR FOR RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRES
By empty (3/2/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
\"Forbes\" magazine this month released its annual list of the world\'s billionaires, with Russia\'s representation increasing from 17 in 2003 to 25 this year. Jailed former Yukos CEO Khodorkovskii remains the richest person in Russia, at No. 16 on the \"Forbes\" list with an estimated worth of $15 billion.TBILISI, BATUMI RELEASE DETAINED GEORGIAN STUDENTS
By empty (3/1/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Two students from Batumi who were detained in Tbilisi last week on suspicion of illegal possession of weapons were released on 27 February. They were then temporarily detained at the Tbilisi airport the same day, having given a pledge not to leave Tbilisi. However, following the intervention of Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, they were permitted to fly home to Batumi, where they were given a heroes\' welcome.CHECHEN GROUP CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR MOSCOW METRO BOMBING
By empty (3/1/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A group calling itself Gazoton Murdash has sent three e-mail messages to the Chechen website kavkazcenter.com claiming responsibility for the 6 February suicide bombing in the Moscow subway that killed at least 40 people. The signatory to the e-mails said the bombing was carried out in retaliation for the execution by Russian forces of dozens of Chechen civilians in an operation in the Grozny suburb of Aldy four years earlier.FSB ARRESTS QATARI CITIZENS IN APPARENT TIT-FOR-TAT
By empty (3/1/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested two citizens of Qatar on 28 February, just days after Qatari authorities charged two detained Russian special-services employees with the 13 February murder of former acting Chechen President Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, Russian media reported. \"Izvestiya,\" citing the Qatar News Agency, reported on 29 February that the two detained Qataris are members of Qatar\'s national judo team who had flown from Minsk to Moscow en route to Belgrade to participate in a qualifying tournament for the 2004 Athens Olympics. The two were arrested at a Moscow airport.Visit also
Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Greater Central Asia as A Component of U.S. Global Strategy, October 2024.
Analysis Laura Linderman, "Rising Stakes in Tbilisi as Elections Approach," Civil Georgia, September 7, 2024.
Analysis Mamuka Tsereteli, "U.S. Black Sea Strategy: The Georgian Connection", CEPA, February 9, 2024.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, ed., Türkiye's Return to Central Asia and the Caucasus, July 2024.
Book Svante E. Cornell, ed., "The Changing Geopolitics of Central Asia and the Caucasus" AFPC Press/Armin LEar, 2023.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell and S. Frederick Starr, Stepping up to the “Agency Challenge”: Central Asian Diplomacy in a Time of Troubles, July 2023.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.