Gorbachev, we learn, was born and raised in the Stavropol region in Russia's
northern Caucasus. Gorbachev's parents worked on a collective farm, as did the future president in his teens.
Earlier on Tuesday, Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian said that recent tariff concessions have eased the export of Iranian goods to the
Northern Caucasus region, calling for further cuts to have sharp increase in trade between the countries of the region.
His work as a photojournalist has focused on developments in
Northern Caucasus, which has experienced ethnic and intercultural conflict and political and economic instability.
He expressed hope that both countries will expand cooperation in the fields of trade, economy, tourism, energy, and mega projects especially in
Northern Caucasus province that has a Muslim majority.
"If I answer this question as a consumer, and not as a state representative on the
Northern Caucasus, I can say that Baku tomatoes are mostly in demand in the Russian consumer market," the deputy minister said.
He added that their weapons were also "highly-effective" in the past when the Russian armed forces used them to oust terrorists who invaded the
Northern Caucasus regions of Russia two decades ago, as well as in Vietnam.
Some experts from Central Asia and Russia fear transition of relations between the United States and Russia into cold war over Syria and Ukraine may bolster development of various separatist, terrorist groups from Central Asia,
Northern Caucasus and further creation of the broad terrorist underground groups targeted at the Central Asian states, China and Russia.
Under the pressure of European policy, the Russians had to move fast in the
Northern Caucasus: in the late 18th century, Britain and France became actively involved in the geopolitical Caucasian games.
The term Holodomor refers specifically to the brutal artificial famine imposed by Stalin's regime on Soviet Ukraine and primarily ethnically Ukrainian areas in the
Northern Caucasus in 1932-33.
In the 1990s, the local conflicts in the
Northern Caucasus and the accompanying terrorism threatened investments.
In the nineteenth century, for instance, when the Russians took over the
northern Caucasus region from the Ottomans, they expelled the native Circassian population--around one million people--to lands still under Ottoman control.