Latest North Caucasus Weekly Articles
Federal and Chechen Interior Ministers Say That All is Calm
A group of combat engineers from the federal Interior Ministry’s Internal Troops came under automatic weapons fire on July 31 in a wooded area near the village of Chishki in Chechnya’s Groznensky district. According to ITAR-Tass, a contract serviceman was wounded in the attack. On... MORE
Rebels Fire on FSB Headquarters in Ingush Capital
Interfax reported on August 1 that three officers from an Interior Ministry mobile unit who were wounded in an attack in Ingushetia remain in grave condition in a hospital in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia. The attack took place on July 31 in the village of Nizhniye... MORE
The Future of Ramzan Kadyrov
It has become commonplace for Ramzan Kadyrov’s public statements to be less an expression of his own views and more of a way for one of the Kremlin cliques to shed light on yet another possibility of what will happen to the Russian Presidency in... MORE
The Continuing Exodus of Ethnic Russians from the Caucasus
Starting in the 16th century and continuing into the 19th century, Russian settlers followed Russia’s armies in the process of annexing the Caucasus. The first Russians in the region came as refugees, fleeing their own oppressors, and settled among the mountaineers, adopting local clothes (e.g.... MORE
Close Associate of Ingush President Murdered
Violence also continued this past week in Ingushetia (Chechnya Weekly, July 19). A well-known religious figure, Vakha Vezizhev, was killed on July 21. As Kommersant reported on July 23, Vezizhev formally held a minor post in the republican nationalities affairs ministry, but was also an... MORE
Briefs
- Police Major Murdered in Kabardino-Balkaria A police major was murdered in Kabardino-Balkaria on July 23, Kavkazky Uzel reported on July 25. According to the website, Akhmat Teberdiev, head of the criminal investigation department of the Elbrussky district police department, was shot in the back... MORE
Strasbourg Court Rules Against Russia for Novye Aldy Killings
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, has again ruled against Russia in a case involving Chechnya (Chechnya Weekly July 19, 12). This time, the court ruled in favor of five Grozny residents who had filed a lawsuit against Russia for the deaths... MORE
ORB-2 Chief Replaced
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov won an apparent victory this past week, when Akhmed Khasenbekov, the head of ORB-2, the controversial operative-investigative unit of the Southern Federal District’s main Interior Ministry department that operates in Chechnya, was replaced by Isa Surguev, who previously worked in the... MORE
Rebels and pro-Moscow Forces Exchange Fire Across Chechnya
The past week saw yet another spate of rebel attacks in Chechnya (Chechnya Weekly, July 12). ITAR-Tass reported on July 19 that two policemen were killed and three wounded when their outpost came under fire near the village of Assinovskaya in Chechnya’s Sunzhensky district earlier... MORE
The Proposed Merger of Adygeia and Krasnodar Krai: Who Wants it, Why and What Would Be the Consequences?
This article asks two questions: who is behind the proposed annexation of Adygeia by its neighbor, Krasnodar Krai, and what would be the likely consequences of the liquidation of Adygeia’s republic status? To the first question, I answer that the impetus for annexation comes primarily... MORE