The start of the large-scale special operation by the police, military and Federal Security Service (FSB) forces launched in Chechnya’s Nozhai-Yurt district on February 13 sent the Russian news agencies into disarray. They reported there were three groups of militants headed by 26-year-old Arslan Mamedov... MORE

On February 18, the first North Caucasus forum of human rights organizations took place in Ingushetia. About 100 participants from other regions of the North Caucasus and Russia took part. In one of the most revealing statements to date, the head of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov,... MORE

On February 11, over 1,000 Circassian activists gathered in Maikop, Adygea, to discuss the issue of repatriating Circassians from war-torn Syria. In a special declaration passed at the conference, the participants called on the Russian government “to take the Circassians-compatriots living in Syria under its... MORE

Interfax reported today (February 17) that five policemen were killed and six wounded yesterday during two shootouts with militants in Dagestan’s Kazbekovsky district along the republic’s administrative border with Chechnya. A law-enforcement source told the news agency that the Russian special operation in the area... MORE

There was no sign anything sensational was in the offing during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit to the forum of peoples of southern Russia held in Kislovodsk on January 23. In essence, it was yet another gathering of leaders of the southern part of... MORE

On February 8, the newspaper Kommersant shed light on the current situation of the prominent Ingush militant leader Emir Magas (aka Ali Taziev, Ahmed Yevloev) – the only high-profile militant leader captured by the Russian security services alive in the past few years. In June... MORE

Aleksei Navalny, the anti-corruption blogger and rising star of the movement in opposition to Vladimir Putin, yesterday (February 9) accused the Chechen Interior Ministry of embezzling federal funds. Navalny wrote in his blog that he conducted his own investigation of purchases by the Chechen Interior... MORE

The leadership of the North Caucasian militants is attempting to capitalize on the rising tensions in Russian society. As popular protests against the return of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to the Russian presidency spread, the leader of the North Caucasian armed resistance, Doku Umarov, tried... MORE

On January 31, representatives of the 100,000 member Syrian Circassian community held a press conference in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria. Three of the visiting Syrians said their goal was to discuss with the government the possible repatriation of Circassians from conflict-ridden Syria to the North Caucasus. The... MORE

On February 2, the Dagestani government outlined its latest plans for curbing the insurgency in the republic. The statement by the head of Dagestan, Magomedsalam Magomedov, on governmental plans to exert control over the republic sounded like a plan to occupy a foreign country. “We... MORE