By empty (10/18/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Abdul-Khalim Sadullaev, the successor to slain Chechen President and resistance leader Aslan Maskhadov, has released a statement, which was posted on 18 October on chechenpress.org, expressing \"great regret\" that some civilians died during the 13 October attack on Nalchik by fighters of the Kabadino-Balkar sector of the Caucasus Front. At the same time, Sadullaev stressed that the Chechen militants directed their fire exclusively at military facilities, and that the \"absolute majority\" of the civilian casualties died as a result of indiscriminate return fire by Russian and local police and security personnel.By empty (10/17/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Speaking in New Delhi on 17 October, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov denounced the publication in the 16 October \"Sunday Telegraph\" of an article alleging that former members of the Russian military covertly helped Iran obtain technology to build missiles capable of reaching European capitals. According to the newspaper, Russian officers worked as middlemen in transferring the missile technology from North Korea to Iran. Ivanov called this report \"nonsense and ravings,\" and added that \"nobody has ever registered attempts by Russia to violate her international obligations.By empty (10/17/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Azerbaijan deployed high security and made arrests in anticipation of the return from exile of a key opposition figure, but he failed to turn up as expected and was instead arrested in Ukraine on a warrant from Interpol, officials said. Rasul Guliyev, a former speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament and the head of the former Soviet republic\'s opposition Democratic Party (ADP) who now lives in the United States, had been due to return to Baku where authorities made clear they would arrest him immediately. Hundreds of anti-riot police were positioned around the Baku international airport, and access to the facility was closed for hours to members of the public, with the exception of airline passengers with valid tickets.By empty (10/17/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Baku\'s Bina Airport has not given the plane carrying Azerbaijani Democratic Party leader Rasul Guliyev permission to land, party press secretary Nureddin Ismailov told the press. \"Guliyev\'s plane has crossed the Azerbaijani border, but Bina Airport has not given it permission to land,\" he said. (Interfax).The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst is a biweekly publication of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, a Joint Transatlantic Research and Policy Center affiliated with the American Foreign Policy Council, Washington DC., and the Institute for Security and Development Policy, Stockholm. For 15 years, the Analyst has brought cutting edge analysis of the region geared toward a practitioner audience.
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