Kabarda–Balkaria

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Ramzan Kadyrov with his family at the polling station. Screengrab from Telegram.

Chechnya

Little change after regional elections across North Caucasus

by Luiza Mchedlishvili

•2 min read

The United Russia party of President Vladimir Putin has won parliamentary majorities in two North Caucasus republics following elections which saw all current regional MPs keep their seats. Voting began on 6 September for local elections throughout Russia, including in several parts of the North Caucasus. These included the election of MPs to the parliaments of Kabarda-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia. Separately, the heads of Kabarda-Balkaria and Ingushetia were elected by the local

Russian President Vladimir Putin visiting the No. 1 School in Beslan, North Ossetia. Image via social media.

Beslan School Siege

Putin visits the North Caucasus

by Luiza Mchedlishvili

•2 min read

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday visited Kabarda–Balkaria, North Ossetia, and Chechnya, reportedly for the first time in over a decade. Putin visited Beslan in the run-up to the 20th anniversary of the Beslan School Siege on 1 September, and the Russian University of Special Forces in Grozny. The Russian president had last visited North Ossetia in 2008, four years after the siege of the No. 1 School in Beslan by a group of armed North Caucasian militants led by Chechen guerrilla

Martin Kochesoko against the background of the poster of the Khabze movement. Photo via Novaya Gazeta.

Kabarda–Balkaria

Russian police question parents of second Circassian activist in a month

by Luiza Mchedlishvili

•1 min read

Russian police have questioned the parents of an exiled Circassian activist from Kabarda–Balkaria. On 6 August, RFE/RL reported that police visited the home of Circassian activist Martin Kochesoko’s parents. Kochesoko is the head of the Circassian organisation Khabze, and is currently based in Turkey. ‘According to them, they came formally to look around and ask questions, that they are obliged to do this, that this is an order from above’, Kochesoko told OC Media. While Kochesoko st

Secondary school No. 33 in Nalchik. Image: Gazeta-nalchik

Kabarda–Balkaria

Recrimination after parents refuse to stand for Russian anthem in Kabarda–Balkaria

by Luiza Mchedlishvili

•1 min read

A member of the Russian State Duma has demanded that several people who did not stand for the national anthem in Kabarda–Balkaria be punished. On Friday, Andrei Kartapalov, who chairs the Duma Defence Committee, published footage purportedly at a graduation ceremony in the Russian republic. It showed several attendees, including children, remaining seated during the Russian national anthem. Kartapalov later cited media as saying that some of them ‘covered their ears with their hands’ as t

Zalina Marshenkulova. Photo via Yeltsin Centre

Kabarda–Balkaria

Feminist blogger from Kabarda–Balkaria charged with justification of terrorism

by Luiza Mchedlishvili

•1 min read

Russia has charged a feminist activist from Kabarda–Balkaria with ‘justifying terrorism’ over comments she made on social media. Russia’s Investigative Committee pressed charges against journalist and feminist activist Zalina Marshenkulova on 10 April. Baza, a Telegram news channel, reported that Marshenkulova was charged after commenting on the murder of Vladlen Tatarsky, a Russian pro-war blogger who was assassinated in Saint Petersburg earlier this month in an explosion that injured more

A memorial dedicated to the victims of the Soviet Union’s deportation of the Balkars in Nalchik. Image via TASS.

Joseph Stalin

Balkar man seeks to hold Stalin criminally responsible for Soviet deportations

by Luiza Mchedlishvili

•1 min read

A resident of Kabardino-Balkaria has requested that the Russian authorities investigate Joseph Stalin’s deportation of North Caucasians in the 1940s as a crime. Oleg Kelemetov, a Balkar man from Kabardino-Balkaria, requested that Russia’s Investigative Committee investigate the Soviet Union’s Defence Committee’s deportations of populations as a crime and a violation of the country’s constitution. Kommersant reported that Kelemetov seeks to hold specific senior Soviet officials criminally res

Hazrataliy Dzaseshev, the head of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims in Kabardino-Balkaria, chastising a boy for mocking the Quran. Screengrab via Telegram.

Islam

Teenager ‘beaten’ and publicly chastised in Kabardino-Balkaria after mocking Quran

by Luiza Mchedlishvili

•1 min read

A teenager in Kabardino-Balkaria was reportedly beaten and was forced to publicly apologise for appearing in a video in which he mocked the Quran. In the video, the teenager is seen holding a tissue and saying, ‘look, I’m wiping my ass with the Quran’, while two others record him and laugh. In a separate video, reportedly filmed at a school in Nartkala, several teenagers are seen gathered around a boy, presumably the one seen mocking the Quran. The teenagers are seen pushing the boy around.