Latest Articles about North Caucasus
US Move Against Doku Umarov Will Have Little Impact on Militant Activities
May 2011 ended with a loud statement made by US President Barack Obama in Paris, in which he declared the leader of the North Caucasus-based armed resistance, Doku Umarov, a terrorist, a move bound to please Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The US president further pledged... MORE
A Profile of Tarkhan Gaziev: The Third Man in Chechnya’s Rebel Troika
Tarkhan Gaziev is one of the most notable field commanders in Chechnya’s interminable rebellion against the Russian state. At various times during the second military campaign since 1999, he held a number of top military positions within the Chechen armed underground resistance. Gaziev commanded a... MORE
Ethnic and Religious Conflicts on the Rise in North Ossetia After Killings
On May 20, two bodyguards of South Ossetia’s leader Eduard Kokoity were killed in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia. According to some reports, Alim Kabulov and Oleg Ikaev were at the Vladikavkaz airport to meet Kokoity, who was expected to return from Moscow on the same day.... MORE
US Slaps Sanctions on Caucasus Emirate as Violence Continues in North Caucasus
The US State Department on March 26 designated the Caucasus Emirate under Presidential Executive Order 13224, which targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists, terrorist organizations or acts of terrorism. The State Department said in a statement that the action would “help stem the... MORE
Arrests in Astrakhan Point to the Spread of Islamic Insurgency in Russia
The term “jamaat,” considered native to the North Caucasus in view of the operations undertaken there by the armed resistance, is clearly spreading beyond the region’s borders. The Russian special forces recently did not even attempt to hide the existence of an Islamic underground cell... MORE
Militants or Civil Dissidents: Who are Moscow’s Key Enemies in Kabardino-Balkaria?
On May 22, the Russian security services killed one of the leaders of the Kabardino-Balkarian insurgency, Buzhigit Khadzhiev (aka “Musa, the emir of the northwestern front”). Magomed Zalikhanov, dubbed by the law enforcement agencies as an active supporter of the rebels, was also killed in... MORE
Georgia’s Increasingly Assertive North Caucasus Policy Is Likely to Cause Waves Across the Region
On May 20, the Georgian parliament recognized the mass killings and deportations of Circassians from the North Caucasus in the nineteenth century as “genocide.” The resolution, which passed by a vote of 95 to 0, said that pre-planned “mass killings of the Circassians by Tsarist... MORE
Pro-Rebel Website Posts Transcript of Interview with Doku Umarov
The rebel Kavkaz Center website on May 17 posted the transcript of an interview with Doku Umarov, the Chechen rebel leader who is also “emir” of the Caucasus Emirate. Earlier, on May 11, Kavkaz Center denied rumors in the Russian press that Umarov was receiving... MORE
Russian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee Meets with Circassian Activists
On May 16, members of the Russian State’s Duma committee on foreign affairs met with a group of Circassian activists from the North Caucasus and the overseas diasporas. The short, one-hour meeting, which was the highest level Russian government meeting with Circassian activists to date,... MORE
Kremlin Counter-Insurgency Efforts Deepen Local Animosity in Dagestan
On May 9, the leader of the North Caucasian rebels, Doku Umarov, appointed Ibragimkhalil Daudov (aka Emir Salikh) as the new head of the Dagestani insurgency -- or the “Dagestani front,” in Umarov’s words. Daudov replaces Israpil Velidzhanov (aka Emir Khasan), who was killed in... MORE