Latest North Caucasus Weekly Articles
RAMZAN BANS ALL THINGS DANISH
Responding to the controversy surrounding a Danish newspaper's publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammed, acting Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov announced to journalists in Moscow that Chechnya would not admit "anything that comes out of Denmark"—including non-governmental organizations. "They (the Danes) play on the... MORE
MUSLIMS IN DAGESTAN AND INGUSHETIA PROTEST CARTOONS
Responding to the printing of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammed by a Danish newspaper and other publications, the imam of the main mosque in Makhachkala, Dagestan, offered a special prayer "recited only on the eve of war, social explosion, or other serious disturbance," Gazeta reported... MORE
KURCHALOI EXPLOSION: ACCIDENT OR TERRORISM?
The Emergency Situations Ministry reported on February 8 that 13 people were killed and more than 20 injured in an explosion at a two-story military barracks of the Vostok Battalion of the federal Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) in the village of Kurchaloi, some... MORE
FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY HEAD CONVICTED
A Nizhny Novgorod court on February 3 found Stanislav Dmitrievsky, head of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, guilty of inciting ethnic hatred and gave him a two-year suspended sentence, the Associated Press reported. Dmitrievsky was convicted for publishing two peace appeals by Aslan Maskhadov and Akhmed... MORE
PUTIN SUPPORTS “DIALOGUE” WITH SOME REBELS WHO STOP FIGHTING
President Vladimir Putin said February 7 that he was open to the possibility of "a dialogue" with Chechen rebels if they first rejected violence and surrendered their weapons. "If one or another [terrorist] structure laid down [its] arms and firmly stated that it had rejected... MORE
“JAMAAT” CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR VLADIKAVKAZ BLASTS
A message signed by someone named Khuzayf, who identified himself as deputy to the emir Saad, commander of an armed jamaat in North Ossetia, claimed responsibility for the February 2 bombings of gambling establishments in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia's capital. The Associated Press quoted Boris Dzgoev,... MORE
BRIEFS
--MILITANTS KILLED IN DAGESTAN Two alleged militants died in a shoot-out with security forces in Dagestan's Caspian Sea port of Kaspiisk, Interfax reported on February 7. Security forces reportedly fired on the home in which they were holed up with cannon and flame-throwers mounted on... MORE
Sadulaev’s New Decrees Reveal Divisions Within the Separatist Movement
On February 2, the Chechen rebel leader Abdul-Khalim Sadulaev issued three new decrees that radically changed the structure of the separatist government. In the decrees, which were posted on the Chechenpress, Kavkazcenter and Daymohk websites, the leader declares the principle that "all the heads of... MORE
PUTIN: OTHER NORTH CAUCASUS REGIONS “MORE WORRYING” THAN CHECHNYA
The situation in Chechnya and the North Caucasus was among the subjects that President Vladimir Putin addressed during his January 31 Kremlin press conference. “I think that it is possible to talk about the end of the counter-terrorist operation since Chechnya’s law enforcement agencies will,... MORE
IS RAMZAN’S FORMAL ELEVATION IMMINENT?
An article published in the January 31 edition of Kommersant has triggered speculation that Chechen Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov is poised to replace Sergei Abramov as Chechnya’s prime minister. Citing unnamed sources in Grozny, the newspaper reported that Abramov, who is in Moscow recovering... MORE