By Tevan Poghosyan (3/23/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: Armenia’s close coordination with Russia in foreign policy matters was natural given the alliance between the two countries and the widely based perception in Armenia of Russia as the main provider of security vis-à-vis the potential Turkish threat. At present, Armenian foreign policy is undergoing some changes that can be best described as putting substance to its long-declared policy of complementarity. There is a real desire to strengthen relations with NATO, to have greater involvement with the EU, and also to behave as a true member of the Euro-Atlantic community.

By Jaba Devdariani (3/23/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: Russia retains two military bases in Georgia, the Batumi and Akhalkalaki bases, and the South Caucasus Headquarters, in Tbilisi. The total number of Russian personnel in the country is estimated at 3000 men. Following the 1999 agreement concluded in Istanbul, Russia withdrew the Vaziani base near Tbilisi, and partially also the Gudauta base in secessionist Abkhazia.

By Murad Batal al-Shishani (3/23/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: Aslan Maskhadov was born and raised in Kazakhstan in the middle of the fifties, just like most leaders of the Chechen Independence Movement, such as Jokhar Dudayev and Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev. These leaders have become in the Chechen collective mental recollection an expression of one of the greatest crimes of the twentieth century, the Stalinist deportation and exile. Maskhadov moved up in his military service after graduating from the Military Academy in 1972 in Georgia.