Latest Articles about North Caucasus
North Caucasus Resort Company and Kabardino-Balkarian Leadership in Power Struggle
On November 30, the deputy director of OJSC Northern Caucasus Resorts, Vladimir Yevdokimov, upbraided the Kabardino-Balkarian authorities for obstructing the company’s expansion plans in the republic. Earlier, several members of the republican legislature stated they would veto allocation of land to OJSC Northern Caucasus Resorts.... MORE
United Russia’s Poor Performance Shows Its Precarious Position in the North Caucasus
On November 28, the opposition Patrioty Rossii (Patriots of Russia) party’s faction in the North Ossetian parliament walked out of a parliamentary session to protest United Russia’s unwillingness to cooperate with the opposition. Earlier, the republican parliament had decided that a joint commission would distribute... MORE
Apparently Eying Another Term, Yevkurov Launches PR Campaign
The end of November was packed with events for the head of the small North Caucasusian republic of Ingushetia. On November 22–23, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov visited Kazakhstan, where he met people from the local Ingush diaspora. The Ingush diaspora came to existence in Kazakhstan following the... MORE
Head of World Union of Muslim Scholars Visits Dagestan
Having failed to defeat the armed resistance, the Dagestani authorities decided to look for help by finding favorable interpretations of Sharia law among foreign scholars. The republican authorities certainly received official consent from Moscow for their quest abroad (https://russian.irib.ir/radioislam/2010-08-31-12-33-40/2010-09-09-08-01-11/item/156021-%D0%B2). Their efforts resulted in the condemnation... MORE
Grassroots Activism Among Circassians in Russia Remains on the Rise
On December 2, over 100 people held a rally in downtown Moscow in support of Syria’s Circassians. The participants called on the Russian government to intervene and allow the estimated 100,000 ethnic Circassians who live in Syria to repatriate to the Russian North Caucasus. The... MORE
Kadyrov’s Visit to Baku: What Are Azerbaijan’s Interests in the North Caucasus?
On November 15, Head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov began his two-day visit to Baku. This was the second visit of the Chechen leader to Baku in the last couple of years. Despite the fact that Kadyrov faces heavy criticism in Europe and the United States... MORE
Is Russian Gold Being Used to Support North Caucasus Insurgency?
On November 16, Russia’s Federal Security Service announced it had intercepted a channel that supplied gold from Russia’s north to Ingushetia. The security services confiscated over 17 kilograms of gold from an unnamed individual in the city of Kazan, Tatarstan. The same individual, a resident... MORE
Russians Fleeing Adygea, Threatening Moscow’s Control of Region
Since the end of Soviet times, the percentage of ethnic Russians in the Circassian republic of Adygea has fallen from 78 percent to 52 percent, the result of the dominance of the minority Circassians in republic institutions and the failure of Moscow to address the... MORE
Chechens Are Among Foreigners Fighting to Overthrow Bashar al-Assad
The world press recently began to discuss the fact that some Chechens are involved in the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (see EDM, August 3). The number Chechens fighting in the Syria seems inconsequential. The involvement of Chechens, however, indicates that the Syrian conflict... MORE
Arrests in Turkey May Be Connected to So-Called “Berlin Group” of Russian Killers
On November 22, the Turkish authorities announced that six people had been arrested in Istanbul for involvement in the murder of Chechen refugees in the city in September 2011 (www.mk.ru/social/news/2012/11/22/777469-politsiya-stambula-zaderzhala-ubiyts-chechenskih-bezhentsev.html).On September 16, 2011, three Chechens were shot dead in Zeytinburnu, one of the busiest districts... MORE