Elizaveta Chukharova

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Elizaveta Chukharova is an independent journalist from the North Caucasus, based in Prague. She covers topics connected to human rights, politics, and social and economic issues.

Beslan School Siege

‘No-one was held accountable’: Beslan, 20 years later

by Elizaveta Chukharova

•9 min read

Twenty years after the Beslan School Siege, many of its victims continue to seek accountability from Russia’s leaders, who appear determined to ignore their calls. Until 2004, few outside of North Ossetia knew of the existence of Beslan, a town of just 35,000 people a stone’s throw from the regional capital, Vladikavkaz. That changed on 1 September 2004, when more than 30 armed men stormed a local school during a ceremony to mark the beginning of the school year. During a three-day siege, t

Feature Stories

Russia’s chief hitman or chief philanthropist?

by Elizaveta Chukharova

•9 min read

Mention Aslan ‘Jacko’ Gagiyev’s name and accounts of the South Ossetian gang leader will vary wildly — a murderer, philanthropist, principled brigand, or secret services assassin. And despite the trail of bodies he left in his wake, some, including Gagiyev himself, insist his crimes were all for the greater good. The man in the ‘aquarium’ — a small cage surrounded by bulletproof glass in which the defendant stands — smiles and jokes. Between court sessions, he talks to those present in the roo

Wager Group founder Yevgeniy Prigozhin. Illustration by Robin Fabbro.

Feature Stories

Wagner’s North Caucasian mercenaries fail to wash away their sins with Ukrainian blood

by Elizaveta Chukharova

•6 min read

The demise of Wagner boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin and the diminishing role of mercenaries in Ukraine has done little to assuage fears inside the North Caucasus of the return of thousands of mercenaries formerly convicted of robbery, rape, and murder. In April, a 38-year-old resident of Tskhinvali (Tskhinval), South Ossetia, was stabbed to death in the streets. Soslan Valiyev, known locally as ‘Tsugri’, was known to have developmental disabilities and was generally loved by his community, with cur

Mourners at the funeral of a soldier in North Ossetia. Image via screengrab from Region15

Daghestan

Coffins from Ukraine in the North Caucasus

by Elizaveta Chukharova

•6 min read

The impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine has been felt keenly in the North Caucasus, despite efforts to hide the number of dead. While some of the thousands were those mobilised last year, others are prisoners who were recruited to fight in exchange for their freedom. On an overcast day in North Ossetia’s capital of Vladikavkaz, 39-year-old Vitaly Urtayev is being buried. Funerals in the region are traditionally large, with several hundred people coming to see the deceased off. Urtayev’s is n

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