Inter-ethnic tensions unexpectedly flared up in Kabardino-Balkaria at the end of November. Residents of the ethnic Balkar–majority town of Belaya Rechka blocked the roads into the town and seized surrounding land to build homes. The republican government, made up mainly of ethnic Kabardinians (a.k.a. Circassians)... MORE

The Russian government is unable to restrain the nationalist trends spreading in the country. On December 11, 2010, Russian nationalists demonstrated just 20 meters away from the walls of the Kremlin in response to the killing of soccer fan Yegor Sviridov in an altercation with... MORE

Russian efforts to discredit Circassian arguments that that nation was subjected to an act of “genocide” by Tsarist forces in 1864 in Sochi, the site of next February’s Winter Olympiad, have backfired on Moscow. Not only have Russian books and articles provided additional evidence that... MORE

On November 21, Dagestan’s President Ramazan Abdulatipov made a surprising statement about possible administrative changes in the republic. Speaking at a government meeting in Makhachkala, Abdulatipov said that Dagestan would be subdivided into four areas, each with its own plenipotentiary representative reporting to the head... MORE

Six people were wounded by knives during large-scale clashes near a mosque in the town of Leninkent (formerly the village of Atly Buyun) near Makhachkala, Dagestan, on November 15. Two of those injured were hospitalized in critical condition (https://lifenews.ru/#!news/122767). The clash would not have been... MORE

The town of Semender—a suburb of Dagestan’s capital Makhachkala—has been notorious to those who follow the situation in the mountainous North Caucasus republic. In March, clashes between government forces and a group of militants who were holed up in a government official’s home lasted several... MORE

On November 12, Russia’s NTV television channel broadcast a program called “Who Wants to Divide Russia?” which listed people who supposedly want to divide up the Russian Federation. The list included Yevgenia Albats, the liberal editor of the popular Russian magazine The New Times, whom... MORE

On November 16, the Russian security services reported the killing in Dagestan of Dmitry Sokolov, an ethnic Russian convert to Islam who was suspected of masterminding the female suicide bombing in the Russian city of Volgograd in October. According to Russian media reports, the security... MORE

As a comprehensive assault on the jihadist movement in the North Caucasus gains momentum in Russia, Russian authorities are creating an additional superficial hurdle for themselves that is becoming more acute every day—the attitude toward the hijab. The issue of Islamic dress for women would... MORE

The conflict between the Russian Investigative Committee and the Chechen authorities has come to forefront of late. News of this conflict started to circulate in connection to the unexpected resignation of one of the best known Chechens in the Russian government, Vladislav Surkov, from the... MORE