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

On November 5, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that police repeatedly “detained, harassed, and threatened to imprison” two Norwegian journalists who were headed for Sochi. The two journalists were with TV2, the Norwegian TV station that will be an official broadcaster of the Sochi Olympics... MORE

On November 2, the First Assembly of Slavs of Russia was held in the city of Stavropol, the capital of Stavropol region. The main focus of the conference was the state of the ethnic Russians in the country as a whole and the Stavropol region... MORE

Militants in Dagestan have been extensively targeting judges in the republic, killing four so far this year. On January 15, Dagestani Supreme Court judge Magomed Magomedov was killed in Makhachkala. On March 9, federal judge Akhmed Rajabov was killed near his home in Izberbash. On... MORE

The recent actions of Dagestan’s new leader, President Ramazan Abdulatipov, raise many questions among local residents. Watching Abdulatipov displace people considered to be the leaders of Dagestan’s clans (https://www.vesti.ru/theme.html?tid=103534), residents of the republic hoped that the president would eschew the influence of the clans and... MORE