As Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, this week announced a new strategy to bring prosperity to the North Caucasus, people across the region publicly accused local authorities of abusing human rights. Putin said in the city of Kislovodsk in Stavropol Krai on July 6 that... MORE

After a six-month lull, the Chechen capital Grozny has once again experienced another suicide bombing attack. On the evening of June 30, a suicide bomber attempted to enter the Grozny concert hall shortly before a performance. He was stopped, but managed to set off an... MORE

Several Jordanian newspapers and websites published details in early June about 24-year-old Jordanian Anas Khalil Khadir, stating that he was killed in Chechnya after joining the jihad there. Khadir’s family members, who live in Zarqa (a city located east of Jordan’s capital city of Amman),... MORE

On June 29, Dagestan’s President, Magomedsalam Magomedov, delivered his first annual presidential address to the parliament and people of the republic. Magomedov described the contemporary situation in the republic as “complicated, problematic and even prone to crisis.” He tried to strike a balance between criticizing... MORE

On July 2, the newspaper Vedomosti unveiled Aleksandr Khloponin’s long-promised ambitious plan to develop the North Caucasus Federal District. The three possible scenarios in the North Caucasus are described as inertial, basic and optimal, with the last being favored the most. The optimal scenario is... MORE

Insurgency-related violence took place throughout the North Caucasus this past week, with incidents reported in Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and Chechnya. A freight train was the target of a bombing in Dagestan today (July 2). The incident took place on the Manas-Achi railway line around 5:25... MORE

The US and Russian presidents’ nibbling at hamburgers has had little, if any, effect on the situation in the North Caucasus. Even the US State Department’s decision to designate Doku Umarov as a would-be threat to American interests (www.rus.ruvr.ru, June 24) might be seen as... MORE

On June 17, the leaders of civil organizations in Karachaevo-Cherkessia condemned the Circassians' resolution, which called for the break up of this small, multiethnic republic in the Northwest Caucasus. On June 5, an extraordinary meeting of Circassians in Karachaevo-Cherkessia, or the "Cherkes" in Russian, called... MORE

Russia has welcomed the decision by the United States to designate Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov, the “Emir” of the so-called Caucasus Emirate, a terrorist. The US move came on June 23 –the eve of Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev’s, summit with US President, Barack Obama,... MORE

Six months after Aleksandr Khloponin was appointed as the Russian president’s envoy to the specially created North Caucasus Federal District, it can be safely concluded that he has not brought anything new or particularly important to Russia’s troubled region. An attempt to shift Russia’s policy... MORE