Caucasian Knot

Caucasian Knot (Russian: Кавказский узел, Kavkazkii Uzel) is an online news site that covers the Caucasus region in English and Russian. It was established in 2001 and Grigory Shvedov is the editor-in-chief. It has a particular focus on politics and on human rights issues, including freedom of the press.

The site started out as a project related to the human rights organisation Memorial, but developed into a site for independent journalism. It is funded by a number of charitable organisations in the U.S. and Western Europe.

Caucasian Knot does not have any editorial offices, citing security risks. Grigory Shvedov operated from Moscow while many of the other reporters (approximately fifty) are spread around in the Caucasus area, including in Chechnya, Dagestan, and Azerbaijan. The reporters stay in contact via Google programs in a virtual office. Due to safety concerns, a number of the correspondents do not use their names.

Russian human rights activist and journalist Natalya Estemirova contributed to Caucasian Knot before she was kidnapped and killed in Chechnya in 2009. Akhmednabi Akhmednabiev, who was deputy editor of the weekly paper Novoe Delo and also wrote for Caucasian Knot, was shot and killed in Makhachkala in 2013.

In 2009, Caucasian Knot launched a project together with the BBC named "North Caucasus through the eyes of bloggers".

The site had a monthly readership of approximately 1.8 million in 2011.

In 2007, Caucasian Knot was awarded the Free Press of Eastern Europe award, which is given out jointly by the German magazine Zeit and the Norwegian free speech organisation Fritt Ord. The editor received the Dutch Geuzenpenning award in 2012 for his work with Memorial and Caucasian Knot.

Caucasian Knot (Website)

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