Latest North Caucasus Weekly Articles
Final Settlement of North Ossetian-Ingush Conflict is tied to Peace in Ingushetia
In a surprising statement, Ingush President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov said that violence in the republic was rooted in the unresolved Ingush-Ossetian territorial dispute. To stabilize the situation in the republic, Yevkurov promised that all displaced persons from North Ossetia would go back to their homes. According... MORE
The Hunt for Rebels in Chechnya and Ingushetia Enters a Second Week
Military operations targeting rebel fighters in Chechnya and Ingushetia were conducted between May 17-24 near the villages of Bamut and Alkhasty in the Assa river valley, which serves as a boundary between the two republics. The operation involved up to several thousand Chechen policemen, among... MORE
Briefs
North Caucasus Natives Reportedly Arrested in EgyptRussian news sources reported on May 29 that Russian citizens in Egypt, most of them students at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, had been detained by authorities. Ingushetia.org quoted a Russian student at Al-Azhar as saying that Egyptian special services... MORE
Photo Surfaces of Sulim Yamadaev, Purportedly Among the Living
In the latest bizarre turn in the case of Sulim Yamadaev, the Chechen rebel website Kavkaz-Center on May 21 posted a photograph it said it received that day showing Yamadaev, the former commander of the Russian army’s elite Vostok battalion and rival to Chechen President... MORE
Memorial: Kidnappings in North Caucasus Go Unsolved and Unpunished
Memorial said in a report released May 26 on the situation in the North Caucasus that more than 3,000 people have been kidnapped or disappeared without a trace in the region since 2000. According to the Russian human rights group, most of the abductions and... MORE
Dagestan Plagued by Shootings and Power Cuts
The deputy mufti of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Dagestan, Akhmed Tagaev, was shot dead in the republic’s capital, Makhachkala, on May 25. As Interfax noted, Tagaev was in charge of public and media relations for the board and regarded as “one of the... MORE
Kadyrov’s Income-and-Property Declaration Strains Credulity
Sergei Stepashin, who heads the Russian Audit Chamber, the federal budgetary watchdog agency, was asked by REN-TV on May 27 why Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov stated in his recently released official property and income declaration that his only car is a Russian Zhiguli when, as... MORE
Militants Reportedly Killed in Nalchik Shootout
Several militants were reportedly killed during a special operation in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, on May 28. According to some Russian media, two rebels were killed after a 12-hour battle with security forces that had surrounded the apartment building in which they were holed... MORE
Moscow sees Chechnya’s Kadyrov as a Silver Bullet for the North Caucasus
“We have agreed, that we will fight against the militants together, regardless of which territory they are in,” Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov stated on May 17 during a joint press-conference with Ingush President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov. “I have waited long for this day” (Interfax, May 17).... MORE
Military Action Underway Across the Northeast Caucasus
For the first time in recent years, joint military and police operations targeting fighters of the armed resistance are underway simultaneously in all three republics of the Northeast Caucasus: Dagestan, the Chechen Republic and Ingushetia. The operation in Chechnya involves the troops from the defense... MORE