Latest Articles about North Caucasus
Top Arab Militants and Police Reportedly Killed in Vedeno Battle
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov reported on March 18 that one of six suspected militants killed in a special operation in the village of Khazhi-Yurt in Chechnya’s Vedeno district was the Arab militant Abu Khaled, who was in charge of providing security for Doku Umarov, the... MORE
Murder of Circassian Activist Unsettles Multi-Ethnic Karachaevo-Cherkessia
On March 15, the funeral of a Circassian activist killed the previous day turned into an impromptu protest rally. An estimated 200 Circassian demonstrators gathered at the central square, next to the republican government building in Cherkessk, the capital of Karachaevo-Cherkessia, to protest against the... MORE
Russian Government and Public View North Caucasians With Suspicion
On March 10, the independent union of the Dagestani police and prosecutors petitioned President Dmitry Medvedev, asking him to dismiss the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Aleksandr Bastrykin. The union members accused Bastrykin of inciting ethnic hatred and undermining basic human rights as described by... MORE
Insurgent Violence Reported in Dagestan, Ingushetia, Chechnya and Kabardino-Balkaria
An empty freight train was bombed and derailed on the outskirts of Dagestan’s capital Makhachkala on the evening of March 11. A source in the transport police department of the North Caucasus branch of Russian Railways told ITAR-TASS that the blast left a crater about... MORE
Killing of Said Buryatsky Unlikely to Deter North Caucasus Insurgency
A key event in early March, was the death of one of the chief ideologues of the armed resistance in the North Caucasus, Said Buryatsky (Aleksandr Tikhomirov) (www.1tv.ru, March 5). He was killed in the village of Ekazhevo in Ingushetia’s Nazran district during a major... MORE
Ingush Organize Demonstration to Protest Against Kidnappings of Compatriots
On March 6, several hundred protestors in Ingushetia’s Plievo settlement, which is situated in the vicinity of Nazran, the republic’s largest town, blocked local highways and demanded that authorities investigate the kidnapping of Mikail Pliev. Ingushetia’s leading opposition figure, Magomed Khazbiev, joined the demonstration. Police... MORE
Russia’s President Visits North Caucasus Offering No Real Solution to its Main Problem
In the eleventh year of conflict in the North Caucasus, the Russian leadership intends (yet again) to radically change the situation to its advantage. With this intent, on February 27, President Dmitry Medvedev unexpectedly arrived in Nalchik (the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria) (www.rian.ru, February 27).Perhaps the... MORE
Said Buryatsky Reported to be Among Six Militants Killed in Ingushetia
Russian news agencies reported today (March 5) that Aleksandr Tikhomirov, aka, Sheik Said Buryatsky, the Muslim convert from eastern Siberia’s Buryat republic who became the main ideologist of the North Caucasus insurgency, was among six rebels killed in a special operation in the village of... MORE
The North Caucasus Receives Unprecedented Attention from Russian Leaders
On March 1, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made an unannounced brisk visit to the North Caucasus. In the North Ossetian town of Beslan, Putin met the head of North Ossetia, Taimuraz Mamsurov, and in the capital of Ingushetia, Magas, he held a longer meeting with... MORE
Is the Kremlin Announcement a new Drive to Suppress Government Critics?
On February 27, President Dmitry Medvedev made a surprise trip to the North Caucasus, visiting Nalchik in Kabardino-Balkaria and Cherkessk in the neighboring republic of Karachaevo-Cherkessia. The Russian president reiterated that the government remains concerned about the situation in the North Caucasus. Recognizing the growing... MORE