On March 13, Alexei Navalny, arguably the most popular Russian opposition figure, weighed in on the crisis surrounding the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. Pointing to the fact that the Russian government does not allow the Russian people to hold referendums inside the country, Navalny asked... MORE

With tensions rising around the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, observers are increasingly drawing parallels to Chechnya. Crimea is an autonomous region within Ukraine—as Chechnya is within Russia—and has peculiarities that are likely to resonate in the future.The Russian Empire carved the Crimean Khanate out of... MORE

The Syrian conflict has created more reasons for the Russian government to be concerned about the North Caucasus. A new category of rebels has been added to the existing rebels of the Caucasus Emirate—Syrian militants whose roots are in the North Caucasus and who total... MORE

On March 5, the Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, called on the regions of the Russian Federation to support the residents of Crimea and the eastern Ukrainian regions adjacent to Russia. The parliamentarians called on the Russian regional officials to provide... MORE

On March 6, the government-funded company Northern Caucasus Resorts reported that the Russian Ministry for Regional Development approved including the Veduchi multi-purpose resort project in Chechnya’s special economic zone. The decision opens the way for investing in this enterprise under preferential conditions. According to the... MORE

It has been obvious for years already that Moscow’s North Caucasus policy has been coordinated by one of the Kremlin’s working groups on the region. It has been unclear, however, whether this Kremlin working group on the North Caucasus was actually pursuing the same policy... MORE

Literally one month ago, this author wrote about how those opposed to the protesters in Kyiv’s Independence Square were saying that Chechens were among the protests and how the Russian side would be interested in spreading that rumor (www.jamestown.org/single/article_id=41938&no_cache=1#.UxLlQPQ4sfk). Chechen involvement in Ukraine would have... MORE

For the first time in recent memory, there was no official commemoration of the deportation of Chechens in 1944. The government’s scandalous refusal to mark the 70th anniversary of Joseph Stalin’s deportation of the Chechens to Kazakhstan was quietly condemned by many people in Chechnya.... MORE

Fifteen Dagestani organizations have asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to fire the head of Dagestan, Ramazan Abdulatipov. The Union of Patriotic Forces of Dagestan and the Assembly of the Indigenous Peoples of Dagestan organized a symposium on February 1. Following the symposium, which was titled... MORE

In the past week, many people in Chechnya saw an anonymous video of clashes at the administrative border between Chechnya and Ingushetia. The video was apparently recorded by a Chechen police officer, but the authorities, trying to conceal the clashes from the public, disliked the... MORE