News Digest
GEORGIA MAY DEMAND DAMAGE PAYMENT FROM RUSSIA
By empty (2/17/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Georgia could demand $15 billion from Russia in damages it says it suffered during the standoff in Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region. \"Russia has annexed Abkhazia and South Ossetia, inflicting damage on Georgia estimated at no less than $15 billion. A parliamentary commission must be set up to gather all evidence and show them to the world,\" Shota Malashkhia, chairman of the interim parliamentary committee for the restoration of Georgia\'s territorial integrity, told the parliament on Monday.GEORGIA, ABKHAZIA AGREE ON REOPENING RAILROAD
By empty (2/17/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
During talks in Sukhum on 25 February, Georgian and Abkhaz government representatives reached agreement on all issues related to the resumption of rail communication between Russia and Armenia via Abkhazia\'s Black Sea coast and Georgia, Abkhaz Prime Minister Leonid Lakerbaya told Caucasus Press. Russian Railways head Vladimir Yakunin said on 25 February that a joint venture will be established to attract the investments required to finance repairs and renovation of the rail line, which has been in disuse since the outbreak of the 1992-1993 war. The cost of doing so has been estimated at between $100-150 million.PROSECUTORS SAY MURDER OF KYRGYZ WAS PROBABLY HATE CRIME
By empty (2/16/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Ethnic enmity figures among the main motives behind the murder of a female Kyrgyz citizen in St. Petersburg, officials with the city prosecutor\'s office told Interfax. \"The murder case has been handed over from a district prosecutor\'s office to the city Department for Investigating Serious Crimes,\" an official said.KAZAKHSTAN TO BEGIN OIL EXPORTS TO CHINA IN MAY
By empty (2/24/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Kazakhstan\'s Energy Ministry has announced that Kazakhstan will start \"full-scale oil exports\" to China through the Atasu-Alashankou pipeline in May. The pipeline, which became operational in December is designed to have an initial annual capacity of 10 million tons. Also on 24 February, Energy Minister Baktykozha Izmukhambetov told Interfax that Kazakhstan hopes to increase oil production 30 percent by 2010 in comparison with 2005 figures.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.