Latest North Caucasus Weekly Articles
Military Intensifies Security Sweeps as Summer Fighting Season Approaches
Last March Nikolai Patrushev, the Chief of the Federal Security Service (FSB) visited the Chechen capital of Grozny, where he declared that al-Qaeda is still active in the North Caucasus. Patrushev named Dokka Umarov, the Chechen rebel leader, as the head of the Caucasian al-Qaeda.... MORE
Chechen Government Calls for Abolition of ORB-2
Newsru.com and Kavkazky Uzel reported on May 4 that the heads of Chechnya’s law-enforcement bodies and security agencies asked Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov to initiate the abolition of ORB-2, the controversial operative-investigative unit of the Southern Federal District’s main Interior Ministry department that operates in... MORE
Memorial Notes a Sharp Drop in Disappearances in Chechnya
Oleg Orlov, the chairman of the board of Memorial Human Rights Center, told Radio Ekho Moskvy on May 7 that the number of disappearances in Chechnya has dropped sharply. “In Chechnya in recent months some changes for the better have taken place: for the first... MORE
District Elections in Dagestan Reveal Ethnic Discord
Earlier this year, the North Caucasian republic of Dagestan was rocked by two election campaigns, including elections for the local legislature and elections for district and village chiefs. Both the campaigns and elections themselves – all of which were held on the same day, March... MORE
Strategy and Perspectives on Dokka Umarov’s Rapprochement with the Radicals
Dokka Umarov’s recent appointment of Supyan Abdullaev as the rebel vice-president highlights an increasing political shift within the Chechen insurgency whereby the secular wing is now accelerating its efforts to restore its broken ties with the radical wing of the separatist movement previously led by... MORE
Chopper Goes Down in Southern Chechnya
A helicopter ferrying Russian servicemen to an operation in southern Chechnya crashed in the republic’s Shatoi district on April 27, killing everyone aboard. Reports about the number of people killed in the crash of the Mi-8 were contradictory. ITAR-Tass reported on April 27 that 18... MORE
Kadyrov Marks May Day the Old-Fashioned Way
During a May Day demonstration in Grozny, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov called on the rebels to lay down their arms and return to a peaceful life. “I am convinced that your work, aimed at reviving the republic and restoring the cities and villages from the... MORE
More Unhappy Chechen Memories of Boris Yeltsin
Chechens have continued to look back at the record of Boris Yeltsin, who died on April 23 (see Chechnya Weekly, April 27). Judging by interviews conducted by Umalt Chadayev of Prague Watchdog, Chechens, unlike many Western commentators and observers, see little to remember fondly. “The... MORE
Security Sweeps Continue in Ingushetia
RIA Novosti reported on May 1 that two servicemen from a Russian Interior Ministry unit based in Khankala, Chechnya, had been killed in an explosion in Ingushetia’s Nazranovsky district. The agency quoted a source in Ingushetia’s Interior Ministry as saying that the servicemen were taking... MORE