Search

Begin New Search Topic Ethnic Conflict Political Geography Europe

91. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 28

Publication Date:
07-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:
The Chechen rebels on July 19 capped an upsurge in activity with an attack in the village of Znameskoe in Chechnya's Nadterechny district that killed 14 people, eleven of them police and security personnel. According to the Associated Press, the attackers opened fire on a UAZ minibus and then detonated a bomb when a second vehicle came to help. Vremya novostei reported on July 20 that ten policemen and a Federal Security Service (FSB) officer died in the attack. On July 19, Interfax quoted Akhmed Dakaev of the Chechen Interior Ministry as saying that three civilians, including teenagers aged 13 and 14, were among those killed, and that 19 civilians and five policemen were wounded. One of the youths was reportedly killed while riding a bicycle past the scene of the attack. The head of Grozny's Center for Disaster Medicine, Umar Akhyadov, later told Interfax that 34 people had been injured in the attack, 20 of them seriously, with shrapnel wounds in vital organs and severed limbs. Kommersant on July 20 quoted an official with Nadterechny district Interior Ministry directorate as saying that the head of directorate's criminal investigation department, Aslanbek Elmurzaev, and the head of its passport office Khazir Meitsaev, were killed in the bombing.
Topic:
Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Asia, and Chechnya

92. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 27

Publication Date:
07-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:
The Sharia Jamaat on July 12 officially confirmed the death of its leader Rasul Makasharipov. “Praise Allah, on July 6 in the city of Shamilkal (formerly Makhachkala), during the defense of a mujahideen base in the course of a violent battle, the Emir of the Islamic Jamaat of Dagestan 'Sharia' Rasul Makasharipov (call sign 'Muslim'), Shamil Korodinsky (call sign 'Vakkas') and Zeid Korodinsky became shahids [martyrs-CW],” the group said in a statement posted on the separatist Kavkazcenter website. “The two remaining mujahideen broke the encirclement by the infidels and are alive and unharmed and are safely located at an operational base. No one was taken prisoner. During the course of the battle four infidels were annihilated and three wounded. Allahu Akbar!”
Topic:
Security, Ethnic Conflict, and Islam
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Asia, and Chechnya

93. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 26

Publication Date:
07-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:
The level of terrorist violence in Dagestan, which was already high, increased precipitously over the last week with a series of large-scale bombings and assassinations. The authorities, however, scored an apparent success on July 6, when security forces reportedly killed the leader of the republic's armed Islamist insurgency.
Topic:
Security, Ethnic Conflict, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Asia, and Chechnya

94. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 21

Author:
John B. Dunlop
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:
Kavkazky Uzel reported on May 30 that six people had been kidnapped or otherwise disappeared in Chechnya over the previous several days. The website quoted a Chechen law-enforcement source as saying that a local resident of the town of Samashki was abducted by an armed group the previous day and that a young man had been taken from his home in the northern Chechen town of Shelkovskaya on May 28. The Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (ORChD) on May 31 identified the kidnapped Samashki resident as Aslan Said Aldamov. According to the society's website (friendly.narod.ru), a group of armed men in camouflage uniforms and masks stopped the car that Aldamov and three other local residents were driving through Samaskhi on May 29, forcing them out of the vehicle and severely beating them before driving off with Aldamov.
Topic:
Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

95. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 19

Author:
Emil Pain
Publication Date:
05-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:
The American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC) issued a statement on May 10 calling on the leadership of the separatist Chechen government “to take steps toward peace, even in the absence of a reciprocal effort by the Russian Federation, and reaffirm its commitment to a political solution.” The group stated that the murder of former Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov confirmed that Moscow “is unwilling to change the status quo in Chechnya, but rather unequivocally committed to forestalling a peace process, particularly that initiated by the Russian Soldiers' Mothers Committee earlier this year.” Still, the statement quoted ACPC Co-Chairman Zbigniew Brzezinski as saying that Maskhadov's successor, Abdul- Khalim Sadulaev, “has been offered the opportunity to continue his predecessor's work of constructively seeking a negotiated settlement to the war” and that despite Russia's rejection of Maskhadov's overtures, the new leadership should “explicitly and demonstratively follow in his footsteps in the hope that the international community will intensify its efforts to mediate an end to this ongoing tragedy.
Topic:
Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

96. Chechnya Weekly:Putin Paints Rosy Picture Of Chechnya

Author:
Mayrbek Vachagaev and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:
04-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:
President Putin touched on the North Caucasus generally and Chechnya specifically in his annual State of the Nation address, which he delivered to the Russian parliament on April 25. “I hope for energetic work to strengthen security in the southern part of Russia and firmly establish the values of freedom and justice there,” Putin said in the speech, a transcript of which was posted on the Kremlin's website, kremlin.ru. “Developing the economy, creating new jobs and building social and production infrastructure are prerequisites for this work. I support the idea of holding parliamentary elections in the Republic of Chechnya this year. These elections should lay the foundation for stability and for developing democracy in this region. I want to note that the North Caucasus region already has good conditions for achieving rapid economic growth. The region has one of Russia's best-developed transport infrastructures, a qualified labor force, and surveys show that the number of people in this region wanting to start up their own business is higher than the national average. At the same time, however, the shadow economy accounts for a bigger share in this region and there is criminalization of economic relations in general. In this respect, the authorities should not only work on strengthening the law enforcement and court systems in the region, but should also help develop business activity among the population.”
Topic:
Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

97. Chechnya Weekly: Rebels And Spetsnaz Shoot It Out

Author:
John B. Dunlop and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:
04-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:
Russian special forces carried out an operation on April 15 against rebels holed up in an apartment building in Grozny. While six militants were killed in the ensuing battle – which lasted between seven and nine hours, depending on the press report – five Federal Security Service (FSB) commandos also died. According to unconfirmed reports, another two commandos were seriously wounded. It was the largest loss of life for FSB commandos in a shootout with insurgents since last September's school siege in Beslan, North Ossetia, during which ten FSB spetsnaz commandos were killed and 26 were left wounded. Kommersant reported on April 20 that the rebels killed in the battle had been identified as Muslim Gakaev (a.k.a. Dungo), a rebel commander from the village of Elistanzhi in the Chechnya's Vedeno district, along with five of his bodyguards.
Topic:
Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

98. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 13

Publication Date:
03-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:
Chechen President Alu Alkhanov on March 28 praised a roundtable on Chechnya held in Strasbourg on March 21 under the auspices of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). Alkhanov called the meeting “constructive and productive” and said that the European community now understands that the political situation in Chechnya has entered a new stage, Itar-Tass reported. “We did not stand on totally different positions, as it used to be before; indeed, we had a dialogue,” said Alkhanov, who was attending a meeting of the council of the heads of the Southern Federal District's constituent republics in Kislovodsk. The people of Chechnya, Alkhanov said, have unambiguously declared their wish to build a peaceful future as part of the Russian Federation, adding that the “doors are open for those who want to take part in this peaceful, constructive process.” He also said that former members of the pro-separatist parliament of the mid-1990s will participate in the Chechen parliamentary elections scheduled for this autumn. “The fact that so many of the former members of [the late separatist leader Aslan] Maskhadov's government are working in the Chechen government shows that we are adherents of peaceful policies, which have been decided by the people,” Alkhanov said. “If we agree that the people's wish is the determining factor, one has to take this into account. We are ready to accept anybody who adheres to this policy.”
Topic:
Security, Ethnic Conflict, and Government
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Chechnya

99. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 12

Publication Date:
03-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:
A roundtable on Chechnya was held in Strasbourg under the auspices of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on March 21. The meeting, which was organized by Swiss parliamentarian Andreas Gross—with, according to Kommersant, “active help” from Russia's State Duma and presidential administration—went off “according to the Russian scenario,” Kommersant correspondent Alla Barakhova reported in the newspaper's March 22 edition.
Topic:
Security, Ethnic Conflict, Human Rights, Islam, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Asia, and Chechnya

100. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 11

Author:
Mayrbek Vachagaev, Paul Tumelty, and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:
03-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:
Press reports and official statements concerning the circumstances of Aslan Maskhadov's death, far from clearing things up, made them even murkier. In his May 8, Ilya Shabalkin, spokesman for the federal forces in the North Caucasus, said the rebel leader had been killed when security forces used explosives to penetrate the bunker beneath a house in the village of Tolstoi-Yurt in which Maskhadov was hiding with three associates. Chechen First Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, meanwhile, claimed that Maskhadov was killed when a bodyguard who was next to him in the cramped bunker “carelessly handled his gun.” Kadyrov also claimed that those who took part in the operation against Maskhadov had planned to take him prisoner, not to kill him. The following day, however, Kommersant quoted Chechen Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov as saying that Maskahdov was killed when commandos tossed grenades into the bunker after Maskhadov refused to surrender. On March 10, Izvestia quoted Kadyrov as saying that he had been “joking” when he said that Maskhadov was accidentally shot and killed by his own bodyguard. Kadyrov, however, refused to discuss exactly how Maskhadov was killed. Meanwhile, the Rossia state television on March 13 broadcast an interview with a Federal Security Service (FSB) commando who participated in the operation against Maskhadov, who said that commandos did not negotiate with the rebel leader before blowing up his bunker because he was wearing a suicide bomber's belt and they assumed he would not surrender.
Topic:
Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Asia, Chechnya, Georgia, and North Caucasus