Latest North Caucasus Weekly Articles
Shootouts in Dagestan Claim Lives of Police and Militants
A policeman and two militants were killed near the village of Mutsalaul in Dagestan’s Khasavyurt district on September 10, Kavkazky Uzel reported. According to the website, the incident occurred when gunmen opened fire on a car that was being driven by a policeman, who was... MORE
Zyazikov Accuses U.S. of Destabilizing Ingushetia
Ingush President Murat Zyazikov said that he wanted an “objective” investigation into Magomed Yelvoev’s death, Reuters reported on September 8. “By all means, this is a tragedy ... and we are interested more than anybody else to clarify this matter, and we will inform the... MORE
Gunmen Target Zyazikov’s Home and Cousin
Newsru.com reported on September 11 that unidentified attackers had fired grenade launchers and machine guns at Ingush President Murat Zyazikov’s home in the Nazran municipal district village of Barsuki the previous evening. A home located nearby belonging to relatives of Zyazikov was also reportedly targeted.... MORE
McCain’s Call to Recognize Chechen Independence Has Inspired Chechens
On August 26, John McCain, the presumptive U.S. presidential candidate for the Republican Party, suggested that “after Russia illegally recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Western countries ought to think about the independence of the North Caucasus and Chechnya.” McCain added: “Russia accuses... MORE
Ingush Opposition, Rights Groups Call Yevloev Killing a Political Murder
Magomed Yevloev died on August 31 from a gunshot wound sustained while in police custody. Police said he was shot after lunging for an officer’s gun, but his supporters and human rights groups say they do not believe that explanation. As Kommersant reported on September... MORE
Dagestani Journalist Murdered, Opposition Newspaper Targeted
Telman Alishaev, a journalist with the TV-Chirkei Islamic television channel in Dagestan, died on September 3, a day after he was shot near his home in the republic’s capital, Makhachkala. The Moscow Times reported on September 4 quoted Dagestani Interior Ministry spokesman Mark Tolchinsky as... MORE
Two Yevloevs in Ingushetia are Too Much for the Russian Government
The disturbing news circulated in the mass media on Sunday, August 31, forced many to think again about the North Caucasus, a region where assassinations have long become the norm of the political landscape. The murder of the owner of Ingushetia’s most popular independent website... MORE
Briefs
Editor of Independent Newspaper Attacked in Kabardino-Balkaria On September 2, Miloslav Bitokov, chief editor of the newspaper Gazeta Yuga (Newspaper of the South) in Kabardino-Balkaria, was beaten by unidentified assailants in the republic’s capital, Nalchik. The newspaper’s deputy editor, Zarem Khadrtsev, said the incident took... MORE
Police Disperse Demonstrators Protesting Killing of Website Owner
Police in Ingushetia’s largest city, Nazran, forcefully broke up an anti-government protest on September 2, two days after police shot dead Magomed Yevloev, owner of the opposition Ingushetiya.ru website. Reuters reported that the protest started during the funeral of Yevloev, who died after being shot... MORE
Moscow Faces a Sea of Troubles in the Caucasus
It appears that Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov still has not given up his ambition to crush his old rival Lieutenant Colonel Sulim Yamadaev, commander of the Vostok battalion (a Russian Defense Ministry special forces unit) and Hero of Russia. On August 6, all Russian information... MORE