Podcast | Ukraine recognises Chechnya's independence and Nagorno-Karabakh's new State Minister

November 9, 2022 7:07 PM

In this week’s episode of the Caucasus Digest, Tor, a fighter from the Chechen Dzhokhar Dudayev Battalion fighting in Ukraine phones in to talk about the significance of Ukraine’s recognition of Ichkeria as an independent state temporarily occupied by Russia.

Ukrainian Parliament recognises independence of Chechnya

Yerevan-based political analyst Tigran Grigoryan talks about Nagorno-Karabakh’s internal politics and the appointment of Russian–Armenian billionaire Ruben Vardanyan as State Minister of the region.

Billionaire Ruben Vardanyan to serve as Nagorno-Karabakh’s State Minister

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Ramzan Kadyrov. Screengrab from the official 9 October meeting footage.

Chechnya

Kadyrov threatens blood feud against three Russian lawmakers

Shota Kincha

••2 min read

The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has publicly accused three Russian lawmakers — Daghestani Federation Council Senator Suleiman Kerimov, as well as State Duma MPs Bekkhan Barakhoev and Rizvan Kurbanov — of plotting to assassinate him and threatened to declare a blood feud against them. At a meeting with Chechnya’s commanders and security forces leaders on 9 October, Kadyrov, speaking in Chechen, reportedly claimed to have information about a contract on his life. He warned that if the thre

adam kadyrov

Quran burner beaten by Adam Kadyrov charged with treason

Luiza Mchedlishvili

••2 min read

A man who set fire to a Quran and was subsequently beaten up by Adam Kadyrov while in detention in Chechnya has been charged with high treason for allegedly sharing information with Ukrainian security services. The Volgograd Prosecutor’s Office approved the charges against 20-year-old Nikita Zhuravel on Thursday. He faces up to life in prison if convicted. Zhuravel gained public attention after footage purportedly of him burning a Quran appeared on social media. He was arrested and later

Chechnya

Mufti of Chechnya elected leader of North Caucasian Muslims

Luiza Mchedlishvili

••2 min read

The Mufti of Chechnya and known advisor to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, Salakh Mezhiev, has been elected chair of the Coordination Centre of Muslims of the North Caucasus. On 28 September, the Council of Muftis unanimously elected Mezhiyev during a meeting in Cherkessk, the capital city of Karachay–Cherkessia. ‘I congratulate the respected Sheikh Salakh-Khadzhi Mezhiev on his election to this post. I am confident that he will justify the high trust placed in him by religious leaders o

The author, and a Ukrainian-Chechen protest in Sheffield.

Chechnya

Opinion | Fighting on two fronts: Chechen activists in the West

Ayman Eckford

••10 min read

Exiled from their republic due to threats to their lives, Chechen activists in the West navigate a difficult balance between visibility and caution, facing erasure by both Russian and Western society. However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine might offer Chechnya and its activists a shift in the tides. ‘Ukraine’s incredible incursion into the Kursk region made me finally believe that Russia could soon be defeated’. This is what Ali Bakaev, a Chechen online activist who now lives in London tells m