[en] Linear stability of shear-Alfven vortices is studied analytically using the Lyapunov method. Instability is demonstrated for vortices belonging to the drift mode, which is a generalization of the standard Hasegawa-Mima vortex to the case of large parallel phase velocities. In the case of the convective-cell mode, short perpendicular-wavelength perturbations are stable for a broad class of vortices. Eventually, instability of convective-cell vortices may occur on the perpendicular scale comparable with the vortex size, but it is followed by a simultaneous excitation of coherent structures with better localization than the original vortex