Latest Articles about North Caucasus
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
BABITSKY’S INFERNO
Radio Liberty's Andrei Babitsky recently traveled to Chechnya for the first time in a year. On January 3, he shared his observations with colleague Andrei Sharyi. According to the veteran Chechnya correspondent, there have been no "significant changes" over the last year. Babitsky quoted a... MORE
2004’S GRIM TALLY
The Memorial human rights group estimates that 384 residents of Chechnya were kidnapped in 2004, Interfax reported on January 3. Memorial spokesman Dmitri Grushkin told the news agency that 182 of these people were freed, 22 found dead, 173 are still listed as missing, and... MORE
ALEXEYEVA: HUMAN RIGHTS CRUCIAL TO REBUILDING
Moscow Helsinki Group head Lyudmila Alexeyeva said that protecting human rights in Chechnya is crucial to accelerating reconstruction in the republic, Interfax reported on January 3. "First of all, it is necessary to ensure that security agencies act in compliance with the law and observe... MORE
BRIEFS
--BODY COUNTS The Federal Security Service claimed that more than 200 separatist fighters were killed and more than 900 people detained on suspicion of "involvement in terrorist activities" in Chechnya during 2004, Gazeta.ru reported on January 3. The rebels, for their part, claimed they killed... MORE
OBSERVERS NOTE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF CHECHEN INTERVENTION
December 11 marked the tenth anniversary of the Russian military intervention that began the first of the two modern Russo-Chechen wars. Russian, Western and Chechen media alike featured commentaries on the start of then President Boris Yeltsin's campaign to "restore constitutional order" in the breakaway... MORE