Latest North Caucasus Weekly Articles
In the Footsteps of Dokka Umarov: Kadyrov’s Trip to Kabardino-Balkaria
On May 13, the pro-Russian leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, made his first official visit since February 15, when the Kremlin appointed him as Chechnya’s acting president. Kadyrov visited another North Caucasian republic – the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria (KBR). The Chechen leader explained his trip... MORE
Putin Happy with the Kadyrov Government’s Work
President Putin has praised the performance of Chechnya’s government under the leadership of the republic’s president, Ramzan Kadyrov. Putin’s comments came during a meeting of Russia’s Public Chamber on May 16, when he responded to a report on the situation in Chechnya given by chamber... MORE
More Violence in Dagestan
A bomb blast in Makhachkala on May 14 seriously wounded Dagestani railway official Omari Alilov and a police officer who was passing by, the Associated Press reported. The news agency quoted Makhachkala transport police chief Akhmed Magomaev as saying that the blast occurred while Alilov... MORE
Zakaev Thanks Signatories of Open Letter to Putin
In an interview posted on the website of the separatist Chechenpress news agency on May 14, Akhmed Zakaev, the London-based foreign minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI), commented on the recent open letter from more than 100 British luminaries to President Vladimir Putin... MORE
Rights Group Reports on Victims of Chechnya “Amnesties”
The Vienna-based International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) released a report on May 16 entitled “Amnestied People as Targets for Persecution in Chechnya,” which documents the fate of people who have been amnestied in Chechnya and were subsequently abducted, tortured and killed. According to... MORE
Strasbourg Court Finds Russia Guilty Again in Deaths of Chechens
On May 16, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, rejected Russia’s appeal of a ruling condemning its military forces for the disappearance and presumed death of Khadzhi-Murat Yandiev in Chechnya in 2001. According to the Associated Press, Russia will have to pay... MORE
Chechens Detained in Alleged Moscow Terror Plot
Moscow’s Lefortovo District Court on May 10 sanctioned the arrest several days earlier of two Chechens, Umar Batukaev and Ruslan Musaev, in connection with an alleged plot to carry out a terrorist attack during the May holidays using explosives that were discovered in a car... MORE
Chechnya’s Human Rights Ombudsman Criticizes the Republic’s Prosecutor
Chechnya’s human rights ombudsman, Nurdi Nukhazhiev, said on May 16 that the republican prosecutor’s office has failed to monitor the protection of human rights, Interfax reported. “It is my duty to state that, regrettably, the prosecutor’s office has not become an oversight instrument in instances... MORE
British Luminaries Denounce Human Rights Abuses in Chechnya
Britain’s Independent newspaper on May 7 published an open letter from more than 100 British political and cultural luminaries to Vladimir Putin, urging him to use his final year as Russian president “to act to end the war and to restore peace and justice in... MORE
A Profile of the Karachai Dzhamaat
The leadership of Karachaevo-Cherkessia has loudly and vociferously claimed, despite all evidence to the contrary, that the republic is the quietest region in the Northern Caucasus (www.kavkaz.memo.ru, March 23). The minister of internal affairs of the republic has noted that “he possesses no information regarding... MORE