Putin's challenge: The Circassians and the Winter Olympics

How Putin treats the Circassians and the issue of Sochi will indicate which direction Russia will take.

Washington, DC - In James Fenimore Cooper's famous novel The Last of the Mohicans, the warrior Chingachgook emerges as the final member of his proud tribe. Although we had believed this to be a literary device from a novel, it is today a reality for the little known Circassian people, who are originally from the Caucuses.

Recently, we interviewed some of the leading figures in the Circassian com...

Press Release: European Olympic Committees in Sochi

The 40th Annual General Assembly of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) will be held in Sochi between November 22 and 25. Russia was chosen as the host of the General Assembly in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Russian Olympic Committee. 

Time Magazine: The loudest opposition to the Games comes from Circassians

It would be so easy if it were just about new buildings. Those are doing quite well; the violent face-lift that Russia is giving the Black Sea resort city of Sochi before its 2014 Winter Olympics is well ahead of schedule. Where wetlands once lay along the shore, there are now gleaming shells of stadiums for hockey, skating and curling. In the alpine valley of nearby Krasnaya Polyana, the site of a freestyle-snowboard run has already been leveled and graded; the steel-and-glass biathlon s...

Circassians on World Streets

As a response to MAY21 initiative’s “Call To Action”, demonstrations to protest denial of Circassian Genocide were held in front of the Russian Federation Embassies and Consulates in Turkey, United States, Germany, Israel and Jordan on Saturday May 21, 2011 - the 147^th anniversary of the Circassian Genocide.

Georgia Says Russia Committed Genocide in 19th Century

The Georgian Parliament voted Friday to recognize the 19th-century killings and deportations of ethnic Circassians by czarist Russia as genocide, a move that is likely to inflame tensions between the two countries.

Moscow is extraordinarily sensitive to any anti-Russian movements in the North Caucasus, a region on Russia’s southern border where it has been battling insurgents since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The declaration may also strengthen calls for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olym...