Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan has tightened his grip on power after municipal elections in Yerevan were controversially won by his Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). The country's main opposition groups have rejected the official results of the May 31 vote as fraudulent. The largest of... MORE

President Dmitry Medvedev traveled to Dagestan on June 9 and vowed to fight extremism in the North Caucasus just four days after the assassination of the republic's interior minister, Adilgerei Magomedtagirov, at a wedding ceremony in the capital Makhachkala (EDM, June 9). However, attacks apparently... MORE

Dagestani Interior Minister Adilgerei Magomedtagirov was killed in broad daylight at the entrance to restaurant in Makhachkala on June 5. Even though Dagestan is known for political murders - and specifically the murders of top law-enforcement officials - it was the first time that an... MORE

For the second time in the last three months, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has forced former leaders of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria to admit the error of their earlier ambitions to build an independent Chechen state during Aslan Maskhadov's presidency in front of... MORE

Human Rights Watch, the Memorial Human Rights Center, and Russian Justice Initiative said in a joint statement on June 4 that the number of European Court of Human Rights judgments holding Russia responsible for serious violations of human rights in Chechnya has surpassed 100, but... MORE

Violence appears to be ratcheting up in yet another region of the North Caucasus - Kabardino-Balkaria. The republic's capital, Nalchik, was the scene of a large-scale rebel attack in October 2005 in which 35 law enforcement officers, 12 civilians and 92 rebels were killed, but... MORE

Electricity cutoffs in the capital of Dagestan, Makhachkala, have become the focal point of social protest actions in the republic. The Dagestani electricity distribution company imposed restrictions on the supply of electricity in Makhachkala on May 21 and extended the restrictions to several other Dagestani... MORE

A month and a half after the President Dmitry Medvedev ordered an official end to the decade-long counter-terrorism operation in Chechnya, bombings and shootings have been reported there and in neighboring Dagestan, Ingushetia, North Ossetia over the past several days.A man was hospitalized with shrapnel... MORE

Russia no longer needs to veto the U.N. Security Council's (UNSC) resolution on the mandate of U.N. observers in Georgia, which expires on June 15. Intimidated by Moscow's veto threats, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and some key UNSC members have bowed to Russian demands and... MORE

A month and a half after the President Dmitry Medvedev ordered an official end to the decade-long counter-terrorism operation in Chechnya, bombings and shootings have been reported there and in neighboring Dagestan, Ingushetia, North Ossetia over the past several days.A man was hospitalized with shrapnel... MORE