With the approach of the 15th anniversary of the Islamic militants’ incursion into Dagestan in 1999, it appears that the militants have only grown stronger since then, and their activities have become a daily routine in the republic. August in Dagestan began with a bombing... MORE

Hasan Khalkechev, a Karachay activist and member of the Council of Turkic peoples, criticized the authorities of Karachaevo-Cherkessia for taking over Karachay civil organizations and stalling political and economic progress in the republic. Like neighboring Kabardino-Balkaria, the authorities in Karachaevo-Cherkessia, instead of fighting the opposition,... MORE

On August 1, Chechen and Ingush police clashed on the administrative border between the two republics. A heated argument between the two groups turned violent and one of the Chechen police officers reportedly fired his gun, injuring his own colleague. According to the Ingush side,... MORE

A high level of secrecy was the defining feature of the Chechen militants under the command of Doku Umarov. Even news of the split within the Chechen insurgency’s ranks was transmitted mainly by the neighboring jamaats, rather than by the Chechens. This situation has radically... MORE

Several hundred young people attended the funeral of their friend and colleague Timur Kuashev, who was found dead under strange circumstances on the outskirts of Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, on August 1. Kuashev was only 26 years old, but he was a well-known journalist... MORE

On July 10, Tatyana Golikova, chairperson of the Audit Chamber, Russia’s independent state budgetary watchdog agency, spoke about the country’s highly subsidized regions at a government meeting in Moscow. The Audit Chamber reviewed budget execution in seven highly subsidized regions to determine how well such... MORE

Nikolai Petrov, the well-known economist from Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, has scathingly criticized the glowing reports made by Ingushetia’s Governor Yunus-Bek Yevkurov. In an article, published by the Vzglyad website on July 28, Petrov pointed out that Ingushetia’s economy showed some positive dynamics, but... MORE

The body of Anzor Astemirov, one of the best known leaders of the Kabardino-Balkarian armed resistance, who was killed in 2010, was handed over to his relatives for burial recently, more than four years after his death. Astemirov was one of the founders of the... MORE

One of the favorite activities of the governors of the North Caucasian republics is to frequently count the number of rebels in their respective republics. Every year they lower the figure for the number of rebels in their region and highlight for Moscow their personal... MORE

A series of mass arrests of practicing Muslims was carried out in Dagestan’s capital Makhachkala and other cities in the republic in July. At the time, a Muslim parishioner described to Kavkazsky Uzel what was happening: “When a Muslim exits a mosque, the police are... MORE