Latest North Caucasus Weekly Articles
The Increasingly Deadly Struggle for Power between Kadyrov and Alkhanov
The statements made by the pro-Moscow Chechen leaders Alu Alkhanov and Ramzan Kadyrov are becoming ever more comical as the two leaders consistently contradict each other while addressing the same issues. The complex relationship between the head of the pro-Moscow government, Ramzan Kadyrov, and the... MORE
Memorial: Vostok’s Crimes Must be Probed
Kavkazky Uzel on May 19 quoted a Chechen law-enforcement source as saying that officers of the Vostok battalion, the special unit subordinated to the Russian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) and commanded by Sulim Yamadaev, are under investigation by the military prosecutor’s office and... MORE
Russian Commander: Chechen Rebels Supported by Local Population
The commander of the Combined Group of Forces in the North Caucasus, Major General Nikolai Sivak, said in an interview published in the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda on May 20 that 17 servicemen have been killed in the region so far this year, which is an... MORE
Georgia Threatens to Play the Rebel Card in the North Caucasus
Russian-Georgian relations continued to be tense because of the situation around the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia. When additional Russian troops were deployed to Abkhazia under the pretext of increasing the number of peacekeeping troops in the region to guarantee its security, the Georgian authorities... MORE
The North Caucasus Factor in Georgia
Russia has played the North Caucasus card against the Georgians once before - during the armed conflict of August-September 1992. At the time, Russia took advantage of the close ethnic ties between the Abkhaz and the Adyg (both are members of the same language subgroup... MORE
Zakaev Praises Kadyrov
The prime minister of the rebel Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI), Akhmed Zakaev, has praised Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov for ending “zachistki" (security sweeps) that resulted in the disappearances of Chechen civilians, as well as for having presided over Chechnya’s “decolonization,” Kavkazky Uzel reported on... MORE
Ingushetia: Attacks Continue, as do Charges of Official Lawlessness
Gunmen in Ingushetia killed three policemen on May 14. Reuters quoted a police source as saying that the three officers were found shot dead in a forested area outside Nazran. The Associated Press quoted the Interior Ministry's branch in Ingushetia as saying that the officers... MORE
Vladimir Ustinov Named Presidential Envoy to the Southern Federal District
President Dmitry Medvedev has named Vladimir Ustinov, who previously held the post of Justice Minister, to be presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District, replacing Grigory Rapota, who has been switched to the post of presidential envoy to the Volga Federal District. Ustinov is widely... MORE
Kadyrov Presses his Campaign against the Yamadaevs
Following the inauguration of the newly elected Russian president Dmitry Medvedev on May 7, the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov initiated another public campaign against his political rivals, the Yamadaev brothers, and the Vostok battalion that is headed by one of the brothers, Sulim Yamadaev. In... MORE