By empty (5/25/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Ilham Aliyev and Mikheil Saakashvili held talks in Baku on 24 May on the eve of the ceremony to mark the pumping of the first Caspian oil into the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) export pipeline, Georgian and Western agencies reported. Saakashvili said during those talks that the BTC pipeline, together with the gas pipeline from Baku via Tbilisi to Erzerum that will export natural gas from Azerbaijan\'s offshore Shah Deniz field, is \"very important for our independence and development,\" and will put an end to the dependence of the entire South Caucasus, including Georgia, on external energy supplies. Aliyev also met on 24 May with Kazakhstan\'s President Nursultan Nazarbaev, who again affirmed his country\'s commitment to export part of its Caspian oil via the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline.

By empty (5/25/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Oil is set to flow from the Caspian Sea direct to the Mediterranean for the first time after a $3.6bn (£2bn) pipeline opened on Wednesday. Starting in Azerbaijan, the 1,600km (1,000 mile) pipeline will pass through Georgia to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

By empty (5/23/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Chechens rallied in Grozny on 20 May to protest the acquittal the previous day by a Russian military court in Rostov-na-Donu of four Russian servicemen who killed six Chechen civilians in January 2002, Russian agencies reported. Participants at the rally adopted an appeal to the Russian government expressing \"incomprehension\" and \"outrage\" at the jurors\' \"callous\" decision. Pro-Moscow Chechen administration head Alu Alkhanov released a similar statement on 20 May protesting what he termed the court\'s \"illegal\" decision.