Latest Articles about The Caucasus
Kadyrov Courts Akhmed Zakaev
The end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 were marked by yet another flurry of media reports surrounding the key Chechen resistance movement political figure, Akhmed Zakaev.Zakaev is the former commander of the Chechen resistance during the first military campaign of 1994-1996 and subsequently... MORE
Rebels in Ingushetia Target Police and Servicemen
Interfax reported on February 3 that a bomb blast damaged a police car in the village of Surkhakhi in Ingushetia’s Malgobek district. A law-enforcement source told the news agency that the improvised explosive device, which consisted of 400 grams of TNT, a mobile phone and... MORE
Militants and Police Official Killed in Dagestan as Ethnic Tensions Rise
Three militants were killed by security forces during a special operation in the village of Leninkent near Dagestan’s capital Makhachkala on February 5. Itar-Tass quoted Dagestani Deputy Interior Minister Magomed Gazimagomedov as identifying the three slain militants as Arslan Aldaev, Makhach Magomedov and Gadzhimurad Kamalutdinov—the... MORE
Kadyrov’s Spokesman Defends Zakaev
On January 29, the spokesman for the Chechen president and government, Lema Gudaev, responded to press reports quoting the Federal Security Service (FSB) as accusing Akhmed Zakaev, the London-based prime minister of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI), of setting up his own armed... MORE
Kadyrov Calls Budanov a “Schizophrenic” and “Murderer”
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov on January 30 denounced Yuri Budanov, the former Russian army colonel and tank commander who was recently released from prison after serving eight years of a 10-year sentence for the murder of Elza Kungaeva, an 18-year-old Chechen woman. In an interview... MORE
New York Times Provides Fresh Details of Accusations against Kadyrov
The New York Times on February 1 provided fresh details about the accusations made against Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov by Umar Israilov, the ex-rebel fighter that became Kadyrov's bodyguard who was murdered in Vienna on January 13 (North Caucasus Weekly, January 15, 23 and 30).... MORE
How Much Longer Can Azerbaijan Wait For Nabucco to Materialize?
"It's a good question, how long we are going to wait," Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev warned with regard to the Nabucco gas transport project during the World Economic Forum just held in Davos. As a potential large-scale producer with proven reserves of 2 trillion cubic... MORE
Yerevan Again Avoids Council of Europe Sanctions
In a major boost to the administration of President Serzh Sarkisian, the Council of Europe has once again refrained from punishing Armenia for a government crackdown on the opposition sparked by the disputed presidential election of February 2008. The Strasbourg-based organization's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) has... MORE
Ingushetia’s New President Faces an Uphill Battle
The appointment of Yunus-bek Yevkurov, the career military intelligence officer with experience in the Kosovo (1999) and Chechnya (2000) wars, as the president of Ingushetia, the smallest North Caucasian republic, in late October 2008 was perceived by its people as opening up the possibility of... MORE