Latest Articles about North Caucasus
KBR Authorities Again Vow to Catch Anzor Astemirov
Authorities in the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic (KBR) announced on December 5 that they are searching for the militants who murdered the head of the republic’s anti-organized crime directorate (UBOP), Anatoly Kyarov, back in January (North Caucasus Weekly, January 17). “The murder of Kyarov was unequivocally carried... MORE
Sharia Jamaat Threatens Dagestani Police, Officials, Clergy
The Associated Press reported on December 6 that police in Dagestan stormed a two-story 10-room hotel near the republic’s capital Makhachkala where armed militants were blockaded and that two rebels and a policeman died during the operation. The news agency quoted Dagestan’s Interior Ministry as... MORE
Kadyrov Performs the Hajj Pilgrimage
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Muzdalifah, near Mecca, in Saudi Arabia on December 9. Ziyad Sabsabi, the Russian Federation Council member representing Chechnya, also took part in the meeting and told Interfax that Kadyrov and Abbas “unanimously noted... MORE
Ingush President Makes Opposition Lawyer His Adviser
Ingush President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov this week appointed Musa Pliyev, the lawyer for the family of the slain opposition website founder, Magomed Yevloyev, as an adviser on law-enforcement issues. Pliyev told the Moscow Times that Yevkurov signed the decree appointing him to the position on December... MORE
Kadyrov Claims Demise of Insurgency: Rebels Respond with Wave of New Attacks
Right after Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov’s sensational statement that he was unable to find a single militant in Chechnya (Radio Ekho Moskvy, November 15)—which he attributed to the fact that none were left—the militants carried out several actions in the republic.For example on November 17,... MORE
Assassination of Vladikavkaz Mayor: Business or Politics?
Russia’s state run Vesti-24 television channel reported on December 2 that police in North Ossetia had detained five people in connection with the November 26 assassination of Vladikavkaz Mayor Vitaly Karayev. According to Bloomberg News, Vesti-24 reported that police in North Ossetia had carried out... MORE
Aushev: Moscow Should Talk to Rebels in the North Caucasus
RIA Novosti reported on December 3 that a police colonel, Isa Yevloyev, was wounded when unidentified attackers opened fire on the car he was driving in Nazran, Ingushetia. The news agency quoted an unnamed officer in the Investigations Committee of the Prosecutor General’s Office for... MORE
Women Found Murdered in Chechnya
The federal Investigative Committee said November 26 that they had launched an investigation into the murder of six women whose bodies were found that morning in and around the Chechen capital Grozny. Interfax reported that three of the bodies were found in Grozny’s Staropromyslovsky district,... MORE
Circassian Congress Calls for Unification of Circassian Republics in North Caucasus
An extraordinary congress of Circassian people took place on Sunday, November 23, in Cherkessk, the capital of the North Caucasus republic of Karachaevo-Cherkessia. The congress date had been announced and rescheduled several times. Several days before the event, the leader of the republic’s Circassians, Mukhamed... MORE
Dagestan’s Sharia Jamaat Expands and Reorganizes
It is possible even with a cursory glance at militant activities in the North Caucasus to see clearly that their main zones of action remain—for the second year in a row— Dagestan and Ingushetia. While Ingushetia’s Sharia Jamaat (led by Emir Magas) is well ahead... MORE