Latest Articles about The Caucasus
Kadyrov Defends Honor Killings
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said last week that the bodies of seven young women with gunshots to the head were found dumped by roadsides in Chechnya late last year and early this year (North Caucasus Weekly, December 4, 2008 and February 6, 2009) had “loose... MORE
Kadyrov Faces Fresh Accusations of Ordering Hits Abroad
Kavkaz TV, the video arm of Kavkaz-Center, the radical Islamist Chechen rebel website, this past week posted a video clip in which a young Chechen man, Ruslan Khalidov, claimed that Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov employed him to kill Magomed Ocherhadji, a leader of the large... MORE
Six Policemen Killed in Ingushetia Bombing
Six policemen were killed and two injured in a bomb blast in Ingushetia on March 5. Russian news agencies, citing republican Interior Ministry sources, reported that the blast took place near the entrance to the village of Surkhakhi after law-enforcement officers discovered a roadside bomb... MORE
Turkey’s Stalling on Nabucco Hurts Europe, Azerbaijan, and Itself: Part Two
Ankara's stalling tactics in the negotiations on the Western-backed Nabucco project (see EDM, March 4) are partly inspired by the AKP government's vision of a strategic partnership with Russia. Turkish officials have from time to time mooted the inclusion of Gazprom in the Nabucco project.... MORE
Turkey’s Stalling on Nabucco Hurts Europe, Azerbaijan, and Itself: Part One
During the recent Nabucco summit in Budapest on January 26 and 27 (see EDM, January 29, 30), EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs underscored the importance of signing the intergovernmental agreement on the Nabucco project by the time of the European Union's summit, to be hosted... MORE
Armenian Opposition Backs Away from Further Confrontation with Government
Armenia has marked the first anniversary of its worst political violence ever amid signs of easing tension between its leadership and the main opposition forces. The top opposition leader, former President Levon Ter-Petrosian, has made it clear that he will no longer seek to topple... MORE
Wave of Unrest and Counter-Terrorist Operations Sweep the North Caucasus
Russia’s special services and police this past week resumed anti-terrorist operations against the members of the armed resistance movement across the North Caucasus. A steady stream of news has been pouring in from Dagestan that the law enforcement authorities there have been striking back against... MORE
Rebels Attack Servicemen, Police in Chechnya
A serviceman with a Russian Defense Ministry special unit was severely wounded on February 23 when he stepped on a mine in Chechnya’s Shatoi district. According to Kavkazky Uzel, the incident took place in woods near the village of Kharsenoi during a special operation targeting... MORE
Five Militants Killed in Dagestan Operation
Security forces killed five suspected militants in three separate apartment sieges during a two-day operation in Dagestan, the Associated Press (AP) reported on February 22. The news agency quoted Makhachkala Police Chief Shamil Guseinov as saying that one of the alleged militants was killed on... MORE
Chechen-Ingush Deportation Anniversary Marked
February 23 was the 65th anniversary of Josef Stalin’s deportation of the Chechen and Ingush—accused by the Soviet dictator of collaborating with the Nazis—to Kazakhstan and elsewhere in the Soviet Union. Kavkazky Uzel reported on the day of this year's anniversary that all of Chechnya’s... MORE