Latest Articles about North Caucasus
DAGESTAN SECURITY OFFICIALS SEARCH FOR TRAITORS IN THEIR RANKS
A recent police search of insurgents in Dagestan turned up a list of the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of more than 100 security officials in the North Caucasus republic. The discovery has sent chills through the republic's leadership and indicate the rebel's increasing pressure... MORE
NEW REMAINS DISCOVERED IN BESLAN: INCOMPETENCE OR CRIME?
On February 25, residents of Beslan, North Ossetia, found clothing and physical remains of several child hostages killed during the rescue operation on September 3, 2004. Jeremy Page, a reporter for the London Times, was with the residents when they made the discovery. In his... MORE
BESLAN MOTHERS TRUST PUTIN, DEMAND DZASOKHOV’S HEAD
On February 17, the "Mothers of Beslan," a group of women who lost their children in the hostage crisis in Beslan last September, petitioned Russian President Vladimir Putin to dismiss the president of North Ossetia, Alexander Dzasokhov. The Beslan families told journalists that they had... MORE
MOSCOW’S CRACKDOWN ON “ISLAMIC” MILITANTS FUELS FEARS OF PROLONGED CHECHEN CONFLICT
The long-awaited Russian crackdown against Islamic militants in the North Caucasus has begun. For now the emerging law enforcement and military campaign seems more sporadic in its nature than first mooted. President Vladimir Putin, promising to get tough with "terrorists" following the Beslan hostage crisis... MORE
KREMLIN APPOINTS NEW GOVERNMENT IN KARACHAEVO-CHERKESSIA
On February 3, a new government was announced in the republic of Karachaevo- Cherkessia. Following months of unrest, Moscow sought to stabilize the situation. With the republic's president rapidly losing his credibility, the Kremlin has turned to familiar faces to lead the republic. Last October,... MORE
RIGHTS GROUPS ASK PUTIN TO TALK TO “MODERATE” REBELS
A group of leading human rights activists, including Soviet-era dissidents Lyudmila Alexeyeva, Sergei Kovalev, and Father Gleb Yakunin, have sent an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin calling on him to accept Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov's call for peace talks. "For more than... MORE
MASKHADOV’S CEASEFIRE OBEYED IN CHECHNYA, NOT IN DAGESTAN
On January 15, the Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov issued a special order to stop all military operations both inside and outside Chechnya until the end of February (EDM, February 4; Caucasus Times, February 4). According to an officer at the commandant's headquarters in Chechnya,... MORE
CHECHEN REBELS START A TEMPORARY CEASEFIRE
On February 3, the Kavkazcenter website reported that Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov had ordered rebel fighters to lay down their weapons for one month. It also published a statement from warlord Shamil Basaev ordering fighters to obey Maskhadov's decree and halt all offensive military... MORE
WHO IS BEHIND YARMUK JAMAAT: BALKARS OR KABARDINS?
On January 27, Russian troops and local police forces surrounded an apartment building where members of an underground Islamist organization known as "Yarmuk Jamaat" were hiding in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria. The troops stormed the building, and seven rebels, three men and four women,... MORE
DAGESTAN ‘S INSURGENTS REGROUP AS NEW “SHARIA JAMAAT” ORGANIZATION
Fighting between insurgents and Russian special forces erupted on January 15 in Dagestan . Two battles broke out almost simultaneously in Makhachkala , the capital of the North Caucasus republic, and in the town of Kaspyisk . Federal troops stormed private houses believed to be... MORE