Latest North Caucasus Weekly Articles
Political Chaos Reigns in the North Caucasus
Despite Russia’s failure over the last nine years to put an end to the conflict in the North Caucasus and the continuing political chaos in the region, it is nonetheless attempting to dictate its policies to Georgia. The recent events in the North Caucasus, including... MORE
Kremlin Policy in Ingushetia is Paralyzed
The Kremlin’s strategy toward the North Caucasus is based on the old imperial principle of carrot and stick. The stick is the Russian armed forces, special police units and Federal Security Service (FSB) that conduct bombings of the mountainous areas, mopping-up operations in villages and... MORE
Police and Officials Targeted in Ingushetia
There were also numerous attacks on police and other officials in Ingushetia over the past week. The republic's deputy mufti, Kombulat Zyazikov, was shot and wounded by unknown attackers on July 24. Itar-Tass reported that Zyazikov was traveling in an automobile on the Nazran-Karabulak highway... MORE
Policemen Murdered in Chechnya and Karachaevo-Cherkessia
Three policemen were killed in Chechnya on July 20. The Associated Press on July 21 quoted an anonymous Chechen Interior Ministry official as saying that the bullet-riddled bodies of three officers who had been guarding an Interior Ministry trailer were found on a collective farm.... MORE
Kadyrov Wants Russian Military to Vacate Land and Installations in Chechnya
Speaking during a government meeting in Grozny on July 19, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov demanded that the heads of power and law-enforcement organs strictly follow the law in using land and installations in Chechnya. “The Chechen Republic is a full-fledged subject of the Russian Federation;... MORE
Kadyrov Keeps the Heat on the Yamadaevs
In what appears to be an ongoing campaign by Chechnya's pro-Moscow administration against the Vostok Battalion of the GRU (Russian military intelligence), investigators with the republic's law-enforcement bodies are looking into the battalion's possible involvement in the murder of the Arsamakov brothers (Chechnya Weekly, April... MORE
Village Attacks Signal New Level of Rebel Coordination
The attack on the village of Muzhichi in Ingushetia on July 8 was noteworthy because it shows that the Chechens have begun to support comrades-in-arms who are within the Emirate but are located in close proximity yet belong to another vilayet (oblast). In this case... MORE
Russia Holds Military Exercises in the North Caucasus
A large-scale Russian military exercise called “Caucasus 2008” is underway in Russia’s North Caucasus. Russian news agencies on July 16 quoted an aide to the commander of the North Caucasus Military District, Lieutenant Colonel Andrei Bobrun, as saying that the exercise would involve about 8,000... MORE
Ingush Rebels Target Police as Opposition Speeds Up Protest Preparations
Akhmed Murzabekov, a former chief of police of Karabulak, Ingushetia, was killed on July 14. Newsru.com, citing the opposition Ingushetiya.ru website, reported that Murzabekov was killed in the Plievo municipal district of Nazran, the republic’s largest city, when unidentified gunmen fired on a Toyota Land... MORE