Latest Articles about North Caucasus
Dagestani Authorities Crack Down on Banned Muslim Organization
Several Russian news agencies reported on April 30 that two people were wounded when police and interior ministry troops in Dagestan were involved in what RIA Novosti called “a friendly-fire shootout” the previous day. The news agency, quoting an anonymous law-enforcement source, reported that the... MORE
Chechnya: Bombings, Shootings and Counter-Terrorist Operations Persist
RIA Novosti reported on April 25 that three explosions and a shooting over the previous 24-hour period in Chechnya had left one soldier dead and three wounded. A law enforcement source told the news agency that a soldier was killed when gunmen fired on a... MORE
Ingush Presidential Bodyguards Reportedly Involved in Shootout
Kavkazky Uzel reported on April 29 that unidentified attackers the previous evening fired an anti-tank grenade launcher at a group of servicemen who were guarding a train loaded with military equipment in Ingushetia’s Sunzha district. No one was hurt in the incident. On the evening... MORE
Memorial: More Kidnappings in Chechnya, More Killings in Ingushetia
According to research by the Memorial human rights group, the number of kidnappings in Chechnya and people killed in violence in Ingushetia increased between January-April of this year, compared to the same period in 2008. Kavkazky Uzel reported on April 27 that, according to Memorial,... MORE
Ingushetia is Still Burning
Nearly six months after Yunus-Bek Yevkurov was appointed the new president in volatile Ingushetia, the violence in the republic has shown few signs of abating.“During the two days that I stayed in Ingushetia recently, ten attacks took place in the republic, including an attack on... MORE
The Cancellation of Counter-Terrorism Operation in Chechnya: Peace or War?
The Russian authorities have been trying to present the cancellation of the counter-terrorist operation as a victory over unruly Chechnya (Interfax, April 16). Yet, some 18 years have passed since the Chechen people declared independence from Moscow in 1991. This small North Caucasian republic was... MORE
Militant Leaders Reportedly Killed in Kabardino-Balkaria and Dagestan
Citing the public relations center of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Itar-Tass reported on April 24 that the “leader of a local gang” in Kabardino-Balkaria, Zeitun Sultanov, had been killed along with an accomplice during a joint special operation conducted by the FSB and the... MORE
Death Toll in Ingushetia’s Violence Continues to Mount
The press office of the Federal Security Service (FSB) branch in Ingushetia told Itar-Tass on April 21 that an anti-terrorist operation in and around the village of Verkhny Alkun in Ingushetia’s Sunzha district had been completed. According to the office, a base under construction by... MORE
Fighting in Chechnya Continues despite the Counter-Terrorist Operation’s Completion
Just days after the Russian government announced that it had cancelled the ten-year-old counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya (North Caucasus Weekly, April 17), federal military authorities in the republic announced on April 24 that a new counter-terrorist operation had been launched in three districts of the... MORE
Youth Activists Unravel Kremlin Status-Quo in the Circassian Heartland: “The Wind of Freedom is Approaching!”
Is the conflict between youth and elders in the Circassian national movements just a generational dispute or is it the beginning of a revolutionary change in the Circassian regions of the North Caucasus? The generational conflict between these groups is now becoming quite obvious, as... MORE