The North Caucasus is being less and less controlled by Moscow. The Independent Gazette (Russian name «Nezavisimaya Gazeta») writes that Islamic organizations tied to Chechen underground structures and coordinated from one center are claiming the role of power structures in the region more and more persistently. The network of war councils (Jamaats), which has now spread all across the North Caucasus, started to form after the first Russian-Chechen war. Today most of such war councils are in Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia. There are a little less of them in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachaevo-Cherkessia, although their number in these republics is constantly increasing. This is why when Commander Shamil Basayev says that he moves freely across the North Caucasus, he is not being cunning, for he can find like-minded associates everywhere.Large-scale «counterterrorist cleansings» do not have much effect in the fight against underground war councils, the newspaper says. The Independent Gazette also reminds about the recent events in Dagestani capital Makhachkala, in capital of Kabardino-Balkaria Nalchik and in the city of Nazran, Ingushetia. The newspaper reports that there is a war council headquartered in Stavropol Province, Southern Russia, as well. This is the Nogai War Council (AKA Nogai Battalion), which was formed during the first Russian-Chechen war on the order of Commander Basayev to control the prairie towns of Neftekumsk District of Stavropol Territory and neighboring Shelkovo District of Chechnya. However, the Nogai War Council has been operating not only in its home prairies lately. The Resistance Fighters have been carrying out combat raids to neighboring regions on a regular basis, just like their companions from other republics, the Independent Gazette («Nezavisimaya Gazeta») reported.