Latest Articles about The Caucasus
Town Near Sochi Proposes Holding Celebratory Festival on the Day Circassians Commemorate Their Dead
On February 12, the Circassian website Natpressru.info noted that the administration of the town of Krasnaya Polyana in Krasnodar region moved its town day celebrations, which include concerts, athletic competitions and other events, to May 21. The news outraged many Circassians because May 21 is... MORE
Moscow’s Confrontational Policy Turns Russia From an Ally to a Threat for Armenia
On February 8, a number of units of Russia’s Southern Military District as well as the Black Sea Fleet and the Caspian Flotilla were put on a high alert, and massive snap exercises followed. According to Russian officials, this and similar such snap exercises would... MORE
Are Chechen Special Forces Fighting in Syria?
After the Kremlin denied having ground troops in Syria, the Russian leadership was surprised by Ramzan Kadyrov’s statement that Chechen special forces were fighting in the Middle East against the Islamic State (IS). A trailer for a program produced by the Russian federal TV channel... MORE
Russian Defense Ministry Holds More Exercises in Dagestan
Following the military exercises conducted in Dagestan last month by the snipers of the Southern Military District motorized infantry, during which troops learned speed shooting at the Dalny shooting range near the city of Buinaksk (Arms-expo.ru, January 17), a new round of military exercises was... MORE
Russian Prison System Plans to Increase Pressure on Muslim Inmates
The Russian federal prison authority plans to ramp up the fight against the so-called prison jamaats, according to the newspaper Kommersant. Officials say that Islam is spreading rapidly among inmates and may be a security danger in light of the threat the Islamic State poses... MORE
Restoration of Aziz Mosque in Adjara Reignites Debate Over Ottoman Legacy in Georgia
Hundreds of Muslim Georgians who live in the autonomous republic of Adjara, in southwestern Georgia, held a protest rally, on February 5, in the regional capital of Batumi. The protesters demanded that Georgian authorities give them permission to construct a new, large mosque in the... MORE
Kadyrov Tests Moscow’s Strategy in the North Caucasus
On February 2, Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov convened an unusual gathering of followers of the Naqshbandi and Qadiriyya Sufi orders in Grozny. Apart from the participants from Chechnya, “thousands” of other Sufis arrived from Dagestan, Ingushetia and other republics of the North Caucasus, Kadyrov claimed... MORE
Khasavyurt Protest Shows Growing Power of Salafists in Dagestan
Two months ago (December 2015), authorities in Dagestan attempted to shut down mosques in the capital Makhachkala that they did not control. The attempt ended in an embarrassing defeat for the authorities and the official mufti of the republic. The mufti lost the fight for... MORE
Georgian President, US Ambassador Deny Russian Claim That Terrorists Are in Pankisi Gorge
Speaking at a press conference reviewing the year 2015, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov unexpectedly revived a question thought to have been closed long ago. “We are receiving news that members of ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria—the former name of the Islamic State]... MORE
Moscow Uses Cossacks to Establish Tighter Control Over Kabardino-Balkaria
On January 12, Kabardino-Balkaria’s governor, Yuri Kokov, met with the ataman (head) of the Terek Cossack Force, Aleksandr Zhuravsky. The governor’s official website pithily said that the two discussed issues pertaining to the support of traditional Cossack culture and strengthening neighborly relations between the regions... MORE