On January 10, the day after it published its interview with Shamil Basaev, Kavkazcenter posted an interview with the man who it said led the October 13 raid in Nalchik—Anzor Astemirov (a.k.a. Emir Seifulla) head of the Kabardino-Balkarian sector of the Caucasian Front. Echoing Basaev,... MORE

Kavkazky Uzel reported that relatives of rebels killed during the October 13 operation in Nalchik had expressed indignation over the Kavkazcenter interviews with rebel leaders Shamil Basaev and Anzor Astemirov. "A young woman calling herself Fatima, whose husband died in the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria and... MORE

Kavkazky Uzel reported on January 10 that Aleksandra Zakharova, the London-based lawyer for Rasul Kudaev, the former detainee at the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo, Cuba, who was later detained by Russian authorities for allegedly participating in the October 13 rebel raid on Nalchik, had... MORE

The separatist Chechenpress news agency's website posted a statement on January 11 from the Sharia Jamaat, the armed Dagestani Islamic militant group. In it, the group claimed that its "Dzhundulla" sub-unit had killed three members of an Interior Ministry unit in the village of Novolakskoe... MORE

Testifying on January 12 at the trial of Nurpashi Kulaev, the sole Beslan hostage-taker to be put on trial, former North Ossetian President Aleksandr Dzasokhov told the republic's Supreme Court that during the hostage crisis he tried to contact Aslan Maskhadov through his emissary, Akhmed... MORE

The year 2006 in the North Caucasus has started with a new fierce battle in Dagestan's mountains. On January 2, a special police unit that was combing a gorge between the villages of Gimri and Shamil-Khala ran into an ambush and had to retreat. Additional... MORE

The issue of Chechnya figured during the talks in Moscow on January 16 between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Moscow Times on January 17 quoted Merkel as saying during a joint press conference with Putin that the situation in Chechnya... MORE

The first victims of the new NGO law appear to be several foreign groups operating in Ingushetia. The Moscow Times reported on January 18 that the federal Prosecutor General's Office had announced that two foreign NGOs providing humanitarian assistance to refugees in the North Caucasus... MORE

The Memorial human rights group said that the number of abductions in Chechnya dropped in 2005 but that kidnapping remains an acute problem, the Associated Press reported on January 17. According to Memorial, 316 people were kidnapped last year, of whom 127 are still missing... MORE

Chechen President Alu Alkhanov told journalists in Grozny on January 17 that the process of "stabilization" in Chechnya was irreversible, RIA Novosti reported. The republic's "illegal armed formations" are unable to mount large-scale operations, he said, but added that the presence of "foreign mercenaries" in... MORE