Latest North Caucasus Weekly Articles
Chechen Rebels Ratchet Up Attacks Yet Again
On June 30, unidentified gunmen fired on servicemen from a unit of Interior Ministry Internal Troops located on the outskirts of the village of Komsomolskoye in Chechnya’s Urus-Martan district, Kavkazky Uzel reported. No one was hurt in the incident. On June 29, unidentified gunmen fired... MORE
Ingushetia’s Militants Reportedly Target Rights Abusers, Police Informers
Interfax reported on July 2 that unidentified attackers in Nazran, Ingushetia, fired grenade launchers and automatic rifles at the home of an officer with the criminal investigation department of Nazran’s main internal affairs directorate (GUVD) on the evening July 1. No one was hurt in... MORE
Who’s Who in the Moscow Chechen Community
With everything that is happening in Chechnya today, the affairs of Chechen communities outside of their homeland are not receiving much notice. Moscow alone, for instance, was home to up to 20,000 Chechens, according to the 2002 census, and informal data puts this number at... MORE
Ramzan Kadyrov Fails to Demonstrate His Counter-Insurgency Capabilities
It seems that the Kremlin has decided to give its proxy in Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, another chance to prove his ability to restore order in the volatile region. In May, there were rumors in the republic that Kadyrov would be replaced as the local leader... MORE
Briefs
Kremlin Officials Visit Chechnya Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Naryshkin and his deputy, Vladislav Surkov, made a surprise visit on June 26 to Chechnya to discuss local governance and economic sustainability with Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, the Moscow Times reported on June 27. “Clearly the... MORE
Mass Graves Discovered in Chechnya
Kommersant reported on July 3 that the first mass grave dating from the period of the second military campaign in Chechnya has been discovered in the republic’s Groznensky district. According to preliminary data, the grave could contain the remains of as many as 300 people.... MORE
Moscow Increases Financial Support for the Chechen Government
Against the background of increasing rebel attacks in Chechnya and the political standoff between the Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov and his rivals, the Yamadaev brothers, the Russian government approved a new program for developing the Chechen economy. Unlike previous programs, this one will focus not... MORE
Human Rights Watch Denounces Abuses in Ingushetia
On June 25, Human Rights Watch released a report stating that the situation in Ingushetia is starting to resemble that of Chechnya several years ago in terms of human rights abuses. The New York-based group stated in a summary of the report that the Chechen... MORE
Kadyrov Calls for a Joint Military Operation Against the Rebels
In the wake of a series of rebel attacks in Chechnya, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov on June 18 called on federal and Chechen units to conduct a “joint military operation” against the militants, the newspaper Severny Kavkaz reported on its website on June 19. “It... MORE
Increase in Chechen Attacks Linked to Broader North Caucasus Strategy
We wrote back in April that the Chechen militants’ renewed combat operations needed to be viewed with a certain degree of caution (Chechnya Weekly, April 3). The reasons for such caution had to do with the two-year reduction in such activities related to the deaths... MORE