Dear readers,

This year, Caucasian Knot marks its 25th anniversary. In October 2001, we published our first original report, on the situation in Chechnya during the Second Chechen War. Since then, we have covered events across Southern Russia, the North Caucasus and the South Caucasus, always trying to look beyond the big events and see the people at their center.

Over the past quarter-century, Caucasian Knot has published more than 400,000 pieces — news reports, features, interviews, backgrounders, biographies, reports and research. Today, we have more than half a million followers across different platforms. But behind these numbers are thousands of stories about real people: people who were persecuted, whose rights were violated, whose relatives were abducted or who spent years searching for their loved ones, and those who tried to seek justice.

This work has come at a high price more than once.

On October 7, 2006, Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who wrote extensively about Chechnya and the North Caucasus, was murdered. Just an hour and a half before her death, she gave her final interview to a Caucasian Knot correspondent.

On July 15, 2009, Natalya Estemirova was murdered. She worked with Caucasian Knot, providing information about abductions, disappearances, torture and other human rights violations in Chechnya. On the eve of her death, Estemirova spoke twice with a Caucasian Knot correspondent about the situation in the republic.

On July 25, 2010, our correspondent in Karachay-Cherkessia, Bella Ksalova, died. For three years, she reported on life in the republic — politics, social issues, young people, culture and the people who lived there.

On July 9, 2013, Caucasian Knot correspondent in Dagestan Akhmednabi Akhmednabiev was shot dead. He reported on human rights violations, the activities of law enforcement agencies and the lives of people in the republic.

In 2016, Caucasian Knot correspondent Dzhaludi Geriev was abducted in Chechnya. He was subsequently sentenced to three years in prison in what Caucasian Knot considers a fabricated case, and he served the entire sentence.

In 2017, Caucasian Knot correspondent Vladislav Ryazantsev was attacked in Rostov-on-Don. He linked the attack to his journalistic work.

And these are far from the only cases. Our journalists have faced threats, pressure and interference with their work in Krasnodar Krai, Astrakhan and Volgograd, as well as in Georgia and Azerbaijan.

But it is important not only to remember why journalists were targeted. It is equally important to remember whom they continued to work for.

Throughout these 25 years, Caucasian Knot has often written about people whose names are known only to their relatives and friends. People left alone to confront the system; people who lost loved ones, faced violence or injustice, or tried to protect their homes, their work or their dignity.

That is why, for us, openness and public scrutiny are not ends in themselves. They matter when they help people. When a publication draws attention to a person’s problem, helps them get an answer, find witnesses or defend their rights. Over these 25 years, we have seen many cases in which publicity genuinely helped people.

We have never worked in the interests of political parties, clans, elites or other groups of influence. Our focus has always been the ordinary person — the “little person” whose story can so easily go unnoticed. That person’s story is what matters to us.

We remain committed to this work today. Our journalists continue to tell the stories of people, report on events and human rights violations, and show what life is like across the Caucasus — and how major events affect the lives of individuals.

Thank you to everyone who has stayed with Caucasian Knot throughout these 25 years: those who read us, send us information, share their stories and help us preserve the living memory of the people and events of the Caucasus.

For 25 years, we have stayed connected. And we remain connected.

Read Caucasian Knot on our website, in our Android and iOS apps, and on Facebook*, Instagram*, Telegram, VK, Odnoklassniki and X. Watch Caucasian Knot videos on YouTube.

If you are in Russia, use the Russian platforms available to you; if you are abroad, use our international platforms.

Stay with us.