By empty (2/10/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The European Court for Human Rights agreed on 16 January to hear the cases of six Chechens who claim their relatives were tortured or killed by Russian troops in 1999-2000. The court rejected the Russian government\'s argument that the plaintiffs have not exhausted all possibilities to address their grievances offered by the Russian legal system. Russian human rights ombudsman for Chechnya Abdul-Khakim Sultygov rejected the court\'s decision as an attempt to exert pressure on Moscow on the eve of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) session that is to focus on Chechnya.

By empty (2/10/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Russian news agencies on 16 January quoted Georgian Transport Minister Merab Adeishvili as warning that Georgia might block access to and communications with Russian military bases in Georgia unless Moscow suspends the rail communication resumed last month between the Black Sea city of Sochi and the Abkhaz capital, Sukhum. During talks in Moscow on 14-15 January, Russian Transport Ministry officials told Adeishvili that a commercial company is responsible for operating the railway. Also on 16 January, Georgia\'s Ambassador to Russia Zurab Abashidze conveyed a formal protest to Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Valerii Loshchinin in connection with the rail link.

By empty (2/10/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The United States handed over to Kazakhstan Monday the first of 39 high mobility army vehicles to be delivered to this Central Asian nation as part assistance in fighting terrorism, defense officials said. U.S.