The North Caucasus is at risk of going dark

Finding out what is happening in the North Caucasus has long been a challenge. Western interest in the region has declined sharply since the Chechen wars of the 1990s and 2000s. As a result, English-language media coverage is typically limited outside of major events, like a major terrorist attack.

The Russian-language domain is better, but not by much. Most federal media outlets no longer employ correspondents devoted to the region, and they tend to rely on a combination of the security services, officials, or social media for their content. Some of this is undoubtedly the result of increasing censorship, but factors that shape the global media environment also play a role. Yet, whatever the cause, the result is the same: in-depth, original investigations are few and far between.

Now, amidst the global political delights that are 2025, the situation is at risk of deteriorating even further. Many of the outlets that have bravely kept the lights on in the region are under threat. If they were to close or curtail their coverage of the region, the potential impact for our understanding of the region will be enormous.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Voice of America are the institutions that appear to be at the most immediate risk. The unelected and unaccountable institutional arsonist that is Elon Musk has threatened to pull funding for both. RFE/RL is behind the Kavkaz Realii project, one of the most reliable outlets to report regularly on the North Caucasus. Both organisations are involved in Nastoyashcheye Vremya, which occasionally produces original material but also serves a valuable role as an aggregator of reporting about the region.

Then there is Riddle Russia, which has produced some excellent in-depth analyses on the North Caucasus — and has spoken publicly about the intense funding crisis that it now faces.

I suspect we can also add Caucasian Knot — arguably the best news source on the region — to the endangered species list too. I haven’t seen them publicly comment on funding difficulties but, given that they are reliant on external funding, it would be surprising if they weren’t facing challenges.

If any of these sources were to shut up shop, we would lose an important source of information on what is happening in the North Caucasus and — given that the region is modern Russia’s canary in the coal mine — by extension the rest of Russia. If more than one were to close, the impact would be devastating.

It should be recognised, too, that the US is not the only problem — although the man-child and his pet tech bro represent a clear and present danger to just about everyone. There is also a wider global problem of growing authoritarianism, reduced interest in soft power, and drastic budget cuts by short-sighted Western governments. The cumulative effect is declining support for all manner of projects required to foster democracy and civil society.

So far, so bleak. Is there any good news? Not really. But there are things you can do. If you live in the US and you’re not already practicing it, you should start learning about civil resistance. If Russians get to own Putin, irrespective of whether they personally voted for him, then I’m sorry to say, but you get to own Trump (don’t worry, I get to carry on munching on the shit sandwich that is Brexit)! And, to be honest, if the current political situation is not enough to move you from the balcony to the barricades, it’s worth asking what will.

If you live outside the US and you are (or know people) in a position to influence project funding, then help decision-makers understand the importance of independent media for our ability to understand Russia, and by extension the North Caucasus. And, if you have the funds yourself, donate to the likes of Riddle Russia to help them keep going.

In the meantime, while the lights are still on, there are good tools you can use to archive information as you go. Some of it, after all, could disappear very quickly. Joplin and Evernote allow you to capture pages as you go. Fireshot Pro is pretty good if you want the pages to be available as PDFs. The Wayback Machine will allow you to save a page for everyone to access. And Wget is a command-line tool that allows you to download entire websites.

But all of these will be nothing more than sticking plasters for capturing information that already exists. They won’t help create new knowledge — so get acting!