Without Moscow to keep them in line …

‘Georgia’s Child Brides: Opting for Marriage over School’

“While the Caucasus long has had a reputation for bride kidnapping, early marriages started to soar after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, as civil war and rampant unemployment fomented chaos, researchers say. Parents sometimes would agree to their daughters’ marriages to prevent them from being kidnapped.”

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/73076

‘Kyrgyzstan Sees Rise in Child Brides’

“Kyrgyzstan’s minimum legal marriage age is 18. But since the fall of the Soviet Union, weddings increasingly have been performed by Islamic clergy in a ceremony known as nikaah that is often not registered with the state. Because the marriages fall outside of state control, there is no oversight to ensure the bride and groom are of legal age.”

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/73086