There is a widespread opinion that Wahhabism, or Salafism, a branch of Sunni Islam, is not a traditional religion for the North Caucasus. Many scholars, especially in Russia, say that the only form of traditional Islam in the region is Sufi Islam. (Sufism is a... MORE

Fresh on the heels of a series of attacks on police and a Muslim cleric in Dagestan during the second half of December and the first few days of January (Chechnya Weekly, January 4), security forces launched a special operation in the republican capital of... MORE

Several attacks reportedly took place in North Ossetia and Ingushetia this past week. A Russian army officer was wounded when a group of unknown persons attempted to penetrate a Russian military base on the outskirts of the village of Alkhan-Churt, located 15 kilometers from Vladikavkaz,... MORE

Servicemen from the “Vostok” battalion of the Russian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) fought with about five gunmen on the outskirts of the Dzhanei-Vedeno in the Vedeno district on January 9. A Chechen law-enforcement source told RIA Novosti that one of the rebels was... MORE

RIA Novosti reported on January 10 that a Rostov-on-Don military court had postponed hearings in the case of two Russian Interior Ministry officers charged with murdering civilians in Chechnya three years ago until January 16. Senior Lieutenant Yevgeny Khudyakov and Lieutenant Sergei Arakcheyev, are accused... MORE

Chechnya’s pro-Moscow government announced that it will erect a statue to Nikita Khrushchev in the center of Grozny this summer and will also name a school and a square in the center of the Chechen capital after the former Soviet leader, Newsru.com reported January 9.... MORE

- CHECHEN REFUGEES IN AZERBAIJAN ASK FOR HELP Kavkazky Uzel reported on January 10 that the Council for Chechen Refugees in Azerbaijan had sent an appeal to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, stating that the situation surrounding Chechen refugees in Azerbaijan... MORE

In looking back on the events of 2006 in the Northern Caucasus, it is impossible not to notice the significant political and strategic changes that have affected the Chechen resistance movement. The tactics used by the previous leaders of the movement—Abdul-Khalim Sadulaev and Shamil Basaev—constantly... MORE

On January 3, a shootout between gunmen and police in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala left a police officer and two local residents wounded and one gunman dead. Citing Dagestan’s Interior Ministry, ITAR-TASS reported that the incident took place around 5PM Moscow time on Ganidov... MORE

Interfax, citing a Chechen Interior Ministry source, reported on December 31 that two militants had surrendered in Chechnya. According to the news agency, one of the two, a resident of the Groznensky district village of Tolstoi-Yurt, handed over a Kalashnikov assault rife, while the other... MORE