Judging by the number of trips Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev has made to Chechnya, one might think that Russia consists of only Chechnya and Moscow. Otherwise, these visits, sometimes made as often as twice a month and accompanied by mandatory visits paid to Akhmad... MORE

On March 26, the head of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, unexpectedly lashed out at the republic’s law enforcement agencies, demanding that they be fully in control of the situation in the republic. He called an extraordinary meeting of law enforcement officials and the relatives of Abubakar... MORE

An explosion in the Dagestani city of Buinaksk today (March 23) killed the imam of the city’s central mosque, Gitinomagomed Abdulgapurov, and his bodyguard, Magomedrasul Magomedov. The blast occurred around 6:00 a.m., local time, as the two were walking down the street. The Rosbalt news... MORE

There has recently been a spate of news stories in Russia about the Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami organization (Party of Liberation). This organization is on the Russian Supreme Court’s official list of terrorist organizations and thus its activities in the country are banned (www.rg.ru/2006/07/28/terror-organizacii.html). An international... MORE

On March 18, Russia’s Interior Ministry officially confirmed a massive relocation of ministry troops from Chechnya to Dagestan. The official reason given for the movement of the troops was to “stabilize” the situation in Dagestan. A temporary command was set up in Dagestan to coordinate... MORE

In Kabardino-Balkaria today (March 16), three alleged militants were killed in a shootout with law-enforcement personnel. The incident took place at around 6:40 a.m., local time, on the border between the republic’s Baksansky and Prokhladnensky municipal districts. According to Russia’s Anti-Terrorist Committee (NAK), police tried... MORE

Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported on March 3 that “the head of the Ingush bandit underground, Adam Tsyzdoev, was liquidated in a special operation” (https://lenta.ru/news/2012/03/03/kill/). Akhmetgeri Tsechoev was killed in the same special operation, which was carried out jointly by Ingushetia’s branches of... MORE

On March 9, a Russian military helicopter was hit by rebels in Dagestan’s Karabudakhkent district, in the vicinity of the village of Gubden. The helicopter’s crew managed to land the aircraft and reportedly avoided casualties. Still, the attack was just the latest indicator of the... MORE

Security forces in Dagestan launched a special operation in the village of Novosasitli in the republic’s Khasavyurt district on March 7. According to eyewitnesses, about ten military vehicles, including trucks and armored personnel carriers, entered the village and blocked all roads leading in and out... MORE

The North Caucasus is the only part of Russia where the authorities engage in systematic abductions – a practice that has existed since the first war in Chechnya in the mid-1990s. According to the Center for Civil Assistance to the Search for Missing Persons in... MORE