By empty (7/22/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Russia and the other four states that border the oil-rich Caspian Sea began three days of talks in Moscow on Tuesday on their long-standing dispute over how to divide it up. \"There are still differences on a number of key problems regarding the status of the Caspian,\" Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said at the opening of the 10th meeting of a working group attended by deputy foreign ministers. Ivanov proposed holding at the end of this year or early next year a meeting of foreign ministers of the Caspian states to \"stimulate the process of negotiation\" on the sea\'s status.

By empty (7/22/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

In a 21 July statement posted on chechenpress.com, Aslan Maskhadov argued that in the light of the brutality inflicted on Chechens by Russian troops over the past two years and Russia\'s categorical rejection of his repeated offers of peace talks, only the involvement of the international community can bring about an end to the ongoing fighting. Maskhadov explained that independence for Chechnya is not an end in itself, but the only way of ending the past four centuries\' standoff with Russia and of guaranteeing Chechnya\'s security.

By empty (7/22/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said on Monday that he had sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin expressing Tbilisi’s categorical rejection of double standards applied by Russian authorities and their lack of respect for the decision of the heads of CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries of 1996, forbidding any unilateral economic and political contacts with Abkhazian separatists without coordination with Georgian leadership. Moscow has not yet reacted to this statement. But on the same day, on July 21, the Russian Defense Ministry’s press service denied reports about possible supplies of S-300 missile system to Abkhazia, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper says.