Latest Articles about North Caucasus
Moscow Launches Operations Against Suspected Pro-IS forces in Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria
The militant underground movement in the North Caucasus suffered large losses in Chechnya and Kabardino-Balkaria at the start of August 2015. On August 2, special forces of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the military and the police clashed with a group of militants in the... MORE
Islamic State Threat Forces Caucasus Emirate to Undergo Major Restructuring
Events at the end of 2014 appeared to indicate that the end of the Caucasus Emirate (CE) was near. That was when the leaders of the CE regional branches in Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia switched sides by taking an oath of allegiance to Islamic State... MORE
Police Questioning of Circassian Children Angers Circassian Activists
Circassian villagers in Krasnodar region have come under pressure from the authorities for campaigning for the Circassian cause. Even school age children have reportedly been harassed by the authorities, sparking an uproar among Circassian activists. The first reports about the questioning of children by the... MORE
Investigative Report Suggests Russian Security Services Pushing North Caucasus Militants to Flee to Middle East
Russia’s policy toward the Islamic State (IS) group in the Middle East is controversial. On the one hand, involvement in IS activities officially became a crime in Russia in February 2015 (Rossiyskaya Gazeta, February 27). On the other hand, Russia does not seem to have... MORE
Moscow Paves the Way to Replace Dagestani Leader
Dagestan has not seen potentially destabilizing arrests of top officials since the arrest of the mayor of Makhachkala on June 1, 2013 (RIA Novosti, June 1, 2013). That is why the news about a police search of the home of one of the most influential... MORE
Russia Does Not Know How to Fight Islamic State Loyalists
Russia continues to surprise observers by its actions to counter the threat of the Islamic State (IS). Notably, Russian authorities recently updated the list of Islamic organizations that could harm the Russian Federation. The list is interesting because it includes organizations that disappeared more than... MORE
North Caucasians Have Reportedly Been Called Back From Eastern Ukraine Battlefield
New reports are surfacing about another influx of North Caucasian fighters arriving in eastern Ukraine, which began in 2014. In particular, Chechens fighting on the side of the pro-Russia separatists have received substantial media attention. In 2015, however, the Moscow-backed separatist leadership in eastern Ukraine... MORE
Six Suspected Rebels Killed in Kabardino-Balkaria
On July 23, government forces declared a counterterrorist operation regime and launched a special operation in the center of Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria. According to the Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAK), the authorities learned about the presence of six suspected members of a terrorist group in a... MORE
Moscow Uses Kadyrov in Kremlin Push for Rapprochement with Saudi Arabia
Chechnya, formally a Russian province, has found a place for itself in relations between Moscow and Riyadh. Indeed, in general, subnational units of the Russian Federation, in particular the Muslim regions, have become much more active in the Middle East. Chechnya’s governor, Ramzan Kadyrov, has... MORE
Southern Russia Mobilizes Against Islamic State
Russian news agencies reported that both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chechnya’s governor, Ramzan Kadyrov, expressed their condolences to the leadership of Iraq for the terrorist attack in Khan Bani Saad, Diyala Governorate. Terrorists detonated a car laden with explosives in the city, killing more... MORE