News Digest
KYRGYZ PROTEST MARCH ENDED
By empty (9/16/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Government and opposition representatives reached agreement late on 12 September in the town of Toktogul that the approximately 800 protesters who began a march on Bishkek to demand President Askar Akaev's resignation will abandon that undertaking, and drop their demand for the revision of the Sino-Kyrgyz border agreement signed in May, in return for the release of 12 protesters arrested in the town of Tash-Komur in June and in Djalalabad earlier this month, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. But as of 14 September none of the 12 detainees had been released, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reported, quoting an aide to parliamentarian Azimbek Beknazarov. In addition, the government pledged that by 15 November President Akaev will punish three top officials for their role in the shooting deaths of five demonstrators in Aksy in March.RACISTS ALLEGEDLY VIDEOTAPE MURDER
By empty (9/16/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Skinheads in St. Petersburg who allegedly beat to death an Azerbaijani watermelon trader on 13 September reportedly videotaped the murder, lenta.ru reported on 16 September, citing police sources.CHECHEN LEADER IMPLICATED IN ABDUCTIONS
By empty (9/17/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Kadyrov has created his own military formation, which is engaged in apprehending not only Chechen militants but innocent civilians who are then taken to his personal jail in his home village of Tsentoroi for "trial" and "sentencing" at the hands of Kadyrov's youngest son Ramazan, according to an article by Anna Politkovskaya in "Novaya gazeta" on 16 September. The victims are reportedly then taken to a former dairy farm some 20 kilometers west of Grozny, from which no one is known to have emerged alive. According to Politkovskaya, the Chechen Prosecutor-General's Office is aware of Kadyrov's armed thugs but is powerless to take any action against them.GROZNY BOMB KILLS 18
By empty (9/17/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Six people, including two children, were killed outright and 12 more have died of injuries received when a bomb exploded on 16 September at a crowded bus stop in central Grozny, Russian agencies reported. Some 20 people were injured. On 17 September, Chechen officials detained three suspects whose names have not been released.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.