Today's headlines speak of the bleak but sadly not unfamiliar news of another human rights activist being murdered in the North Caucasus.  On Sunday, businessman and rights defender Maksharip Aushev was killed when 60 rounds of bullets were sprayed into his car along a highway in the province of Kabardino-Balkaria.  Aushev is the third human rights activist to be murdered in the trouble spot in a little over three months, following the murder of Memorial's stalwart Natalya Estemirova in July and childrens' charity officer Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband in August. The Guardian adumbrates Aushev's trajectory into the sphere of human rights advocacy, prompted by the experience of his own son and nephew being kidnapped, followed by ...

TODAY: Iran uranium plan waiting to be concluded; Russia backs Serbia on Kosovo; Lavrov exit denied; Ingushetian cabinet out.  Ex-US Yukos unit to launch mammoth lawsuit; picketed journalist gets unlikely defender; UN says Russia should improve immigration policies; grave problem for MoscowThe Washington Post reports that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has announced that an agreement between Tehran and six world powers to allow Russia to help enrich uranium for an Iranian reactor awaits finalizing.  ITAR-TASS says that the Foreign Ministry has denied rumors that Lavrov may resign.  The Foreign Minister has rebuffed questions about who truly runs Russia, Putin or Medvedev, at a press conference, where he answered, 'you should not pit the Kremlin against ...

TODAY: Obama firm on reasons for missile defense decision; Medvedev and Putin seem to take it as a positive sign; Putin wishes to see trade the next barrier broken; Russia will abandon Kaliningrad missile plans.  Pressure mounting regarding Iran situation; Israel apparently promises Medvedev no attack on Ahmadinejad regime.  Top cleric murdered in Ingushetia; disappearances abound.Barack Obama is still arguing the independence of his decision on missile defense saying, 'the Russians don't make determinations about what our defense posture is,' but if they are 'less paranoid' as a result, than can be considered a 'bonus'.  Defense Secretary Robert Gates has reiterated this position in an article in the New York Times.  Medvedev sees otherwise: '...

TODAY: NATO head upbeat on relations with Russia; Medvedev looks to imams for help with Caucasus Islamic insurgents; suggests a TV channel.  Russia on the defensive regarding WW2; 70th anniversary of its start to prove a diplomatic minefield?  St Petersburg heritage status in jeopardy with Gazprom tower looming.The New York Times reports on how the period of relative tranquility in Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan has ended with a surge in violence.  Reuters relays Russian claims that an al-Qaeda agent has been killed in Dagestan.  The republic's recovering President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov has warned Medvedev that Islamic insurgency has 'permeated all facets of life in society'.   The Russian president has urged Muslim clerics to help ...

TODAY: Ingush President returns to work; concerns about dam surfaced decade ago; Georgian minister retracts comments on US aid; Medvedev in Mongolia; TB alert; anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact sees debates resurface.President Medvedev is, according to ITAR-TASS, confident that Ingushetian President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, who is returning early from convalescence, will institute order in the region.  Yevkurov has expressed a desire to see an increase in the number of police following an upsurge in violence.  The Kremlin has rejected claims from a Chechen website that separatist group the 'Battalion of Martyrs' was responsible for the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydrodam disaster as part of an 'economic war' against Russia.  Apparently no explosives were found at the site.  According ...

TODAY: Violence explodes in Ingushetia; Interior Minister fired. Wall rumored to be built between Georgia and Abkhazia; Georgia to leave CIS.  Russian diplomats expelled.  Dozens missing in hydropower plant disaster.  Ship found.President Medvedev has dismissed Ingush Interior Minister Ruslan Meiriyev after a suicide bombing in Nazran which killed 20 people and injured 138.  Tatyana Lokshina from Human Rights Watch has described the attack as 'a big blow to the Kremlin', which is wrestling with insurgency in all corners of the region.  Ingushetian President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov has said that it is in the interests of 'the United States, Britain, and Israel' to destabilize the Caucasus, and 'to prevent Russia from reviving the former Soviet might'.  A ...