The proclamation of the Islamic State on the territory under the control of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s armed groups in Syria and Iraq illuminates the degree of radicalization of young Muslims who live in Russia and European countries. Since the Islamic State was proclaimed (ng.ru, July... MORE

On August 24, the Russian-occupied Georgian region of Abkhazia held early presidential elections. Opposition leader Raul Khajimba, who helped to unseat the former “president,” Alexander Ankvab, following the May–June 2014 popular protests (see EDM, June 12), narrowly won with 50.57 percent of the total votes... MORE

On August 16, Rasul Gamzatov, the deputy mufti of North Ossetia and the imam of the Vladikavkaz mosque, was shot dead at the entrance of his apartment building. The murder, which took place shortly before midnight, was carried out by two unidentified young men who... MORE

On August 18, the Ekho Kavkaza news service published an interview with two Ossetian militants who are fighting on the Russian side in Ukraine. The militants preferred to be identified by their nicknames—Mamai and Volk (Wolf). They were interviewed at a café on the mountain... MORE

Since the start of this year, Vladimir Putin’s Russia has invaded Ukraine, annexed Crimea and pushed for Ukraine’s “federalization.” The severe international concern caused by these actions was further compounded last month (August 2014) by Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s statement in Yalta that after Moscow subdues Ukraine,... MORE

Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov, who is also chairman of the Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAK) and has chaired the Council of Heads of Security Agencies of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries since 2008, has made another triumphant statement. He declared... MORE

With the approach of the 15th anniversary of the Islamic militants’ incursion into Dagestan in 1999, it appears that the militants have only grown stronger since then, and their activities have become a daily routine in the republic. August in Dagestan began with a bombing... MORE

Hasan Khalkechev, a Karachay activist and member of the Council of Turkic peoples, criticized the authorities of Karachaevo-Cherkessia for taking over Karachay civil organizations and stalling political and economic progress in the republic. Like neighboring Kabardino-Balkaria, the authorities in Karachaevo-Cherkessia, instead of fighting the opposition,... MORE

On August 1, Chechen and Ingush police clashed on the administrative border between the two republics. A heated argument between the two groups turned violent and one of the Chechen police officers reportedly fired his gun, injuring his own colleague. According to the Ingush side,... MORE

The Ukrainian events have demonstrated that when religious passions enter into a conflict between two nations, those passions can divide closely related peoples as well as transform the conflicts from ones amenable to a negotiated compromise into absolutist struggles where a non-violent settlement is far... MORE