View Full Version : The North Caucasus: Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia
SWJED
05-12-2006, 05:40 PM
Back in 1998 - 1999 I was the manager of a Marine Corps project supporting the Corps' Urban Warrior program - our goal was to gain the perspective of those who had planned and conducted an urban insurgency against a modern conventional force. Ms. Marie Bennigsen Broxup (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2006-17,GGLG:en&q=Marie+Broxup) conducted interviews of 20 Chechen commanders and staff officers in Chechnya. We also conducted an 8-hour seminar with another commander who was visiting the U.S. in 1999.
Three articles / papers were produced based on the interviews:
View From the Wolves' Den - The Chechens and Urban Operations (http://www.smallwarsjournal.com/documents/wolvesden.htm) by Dave Dilegge
David Slays Goliath: A Chechen Perspective on the War in Chechnya (1994 - 1996) (http://www.smallwarsjournal.com/documents/davidgoliath.pdf) by LtCol Tim Jackson, USMC
General-Major Tourpal-Ali Kaimov - On Urban Warfare in Chechnya (http://www.smallwarsjournal.com/documents/kaimov.pdf) by Dave Dilegge
That said, I was looking through my old files and ran across the original raw / unedited interviews and thought they might be of some interest and maybe useful. Here is the first, will post the others soonest...
Interview: Aslan Maskhadov (http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/maskhadovinterview.pdf) - Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aslan_Maskhadov): Leader of the separatist movement in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya. He was credited by many with the Chechen victory in the First Chechen War, which allowed for the de facto establishment of an independent Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Maskhadov became President of the nation in January of 1997 with heavy backup from Moscow. Following the start of the Second Chechen War, he returned to leading the guerrilla movement against the Russian army. He was reported killed in a village in southern Chechnya in March 2005.
SWJED
05-12-2006, 06:06 PM
Including the Kaimov article above I have located interviews of 16 Chechens - here are the remainder:
Suleiman Bustaev (http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/bustaevinterview.pdf) - Commander, took part in the operations against Gudermes (December 1995), Pervomaiskaia, and Grozny.
Dalkhan Khozhev (http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/khozhevinterview.pdf) - Chief of Ahmad Zakaev’s HQ in the South-West.
Ahmad Zakaev (http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/zakaevinterview.pdf) - South-West Commander.
Aydemir Abalaev (http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/abalaevinterview.pdf) - Commander of the Zandak Regiment.
Ali Demaev (http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/demaevinterview.pdf) - Head of communications for the South-East Commander-in-Chief.
Ruslan Alikhadzhiev (http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/alikhadzhievinterview.pdf) - Commander Southern Front.
Ali Atgireyev (http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/atgireyevinterview.pdf) - Commanded units in all battles of Grozny, took part in the Pervomaiskaia expedition, was commander of the Shelkovski raion during the 1995-6 cease-fire, previously took part in military operations in Abkhazia.
Apty Batalov (http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/batalovinterview.pdf) - Commander of Naursky and Nadtechny raions.
Husein Iskhanov (http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/iskhanovinterview.pdf) - Aslan Maskhadov’s ADC.
Hamid Iangulbaev (http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/iangulbaevinterview.pdf) - Village Commander.
Ilyas Akhmadov (http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/akhmadovinterview.pdf) - ADC to Shamil Basaev and later to Aslan Maskhadov.
Magomed Khambiev (http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/khambievinterview.pdf) - Commander of the Chechen National Guard.
Payzullah Nutsulkhanov (http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/nutsulkhanovinterview.pdf) - Aslan Maskhadov’s Chief of Staff, in charge of logistics.
Said Iskhanov (http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/iskhanovinterview2.pdf) - Intelligence on Grozny.
Said Iskhanov (http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/iskhanovinterview3.pdf) - Part II - on weapons employment.
Tom Odom
05-12-2006, 06:39 PM
It was then that we decided, against all military logic, to counter-attack. It was a first in terms of military tactics and we forced tank units to retreat. How was it done? Our soldiers did not know how to dig trenches, they considered it humiliating, but there was no choice – the houses were too small and fragile, they could not withstand a tank attack. So we made a line between the Sunzha and Minutka, dug trenches, and with approximately 40 / 50 men facing the tanks we advanced meter by meter, digging more trenches as we crawled forward until we reached the tanks and burned them. We pressed them until the tanks retreated, then we build more trenches and advanced further. It was highly unconventional trench warfare!
That's from Mashkadov's interview! It reminds me of how the original "sappers" used trenches and tunnels to undermine castles and forts in siege warfare. Sounds like the tank crews saw their tracks as mini-forts.
Thanks, Dave!
Best
Tom
SWJED
05-13-2006, 12:16 AM
On the Chechnya Page (http://www.smallwarsjournal.com/ref/chechnya.htm) in the SWJ Reference Library (http://www.smallwarsjournal.com/reference.htm). Includes articles by two old friends who did a lot of great work in support of our urban operations efforts - Les Grau and Tim Thomas.
Jedburgh
09-27-2006, 03:22 PM
Military Jama’ats in the North Caucasus: A Continuing Threat (http://www.jamestown.org/fileadmin/Recent_Reports/Trans_amd_Speaker_NCC09142006/McGregor-14Sep06.pdf)
The Russian Military Campaign in the North Caucasus: Is a Victory in Sight? (http://www.circassianworld.com/pdf/Baev-14Sep06.pdf)
The Rise and Fall of Arab Fighters in Chechnya (http://www.jamestown.org/programs/gta/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=658&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=181&no_cache=1)
For those with a continued interest, there is the Jamestown Foundation's North Caucasus Analysis (http://www.jamestown.org/programs/nca/).
Strickland
09-27-2006, 10:29 PM
Both the Jamestown Foundation and CSIS have held events on the North Caucasus situation over the past several weeks. Each has reports on their websites.
Jedburgh
06-10-2007, 01:08 PM
Russian Analytical Digest, 5 Jun 07: The North Caucasus (http://www.res.ethz.ch/analysis/rad/details.cfm?lng=en&id=31618)
ANALYSIS
The Russian-Chechen Conflict and the Putin-Kadyrov Connection
Mark Kramer, Cambridge, MA
ANALYSIS
Separatism and Islamic Extremism in the Ethnic Republics of the North Caucasus
Akhmet A. Yarlykapov, Moscow
MAPS
Administrative Map of the North Caucasus
Physical Map of the North Caucasus
DOCUMENTATION
Table: The Southern Federal District. An Overview of Main Statistical Indicators
Timeline: Terror Related Incidents in the North Caucasus Since the Death of Shamil Basayev
OPINION SURVEY
Why Did War Begin Again in Chechnya in 1999? (Levada)
Chechnya After the Death of Basayev (VTsIOM)
Ramzan Kadyrov, President of Chechnya (FOM)
Russian-Georgian Relations (VTsIOM)
Interethnic Tensions November 2005 – April 2007 (Levada)
Jedburgh
06-13-2007, 06:17 PM
The Economist, 2 Jun 07: The Warlord and the Spook (http://www.emmabonino.it/news/5164)
...War with Russia has deformed Chechnya. But perhaps more than anything else in Russia's post-Soviet history, the forgotten Chechen wars have shaped the angry and authoritarian country Russia has become.
Mr Putin made Mr Kadyrov president; but Chechnya helped to make Mr Putin himself president of Russia. Were it not for the air of emergency engendered by the second Chechen war, which began when Mr Putin was prime minister, the lightening rise of this obscure ex-KGB officer would have met more resistance. The war, and the string of mysterious apartment bombings that preceded it, brought the FSB (the renamed security service that Mr Putin briefly led) back to the centre of Russian politics. And it has been the cause, or the pretext, for many of the hard-line policies of the Putin presidency.
Russia's gathering suspicion towards the West can be traced in part to the autumn of 2004, and Beslan....
Jedburgh
08-22-2007, 10:32 PM
CSRC, 22 Aug 07: North Caucasus: Problems of Helicopter Support in Mountains (http://www.defac.ac.uk/colleges/csrc/document-listings/caucasus/07%2824%29CWB.pdf)
Key Points
* The Mi-8 helicopter accident on 27 April 2007 in south Chechnya emphasised the appalling state of Russian military helicopter aviation.
* By 1999 the average age of Mi-8 helicopters was 15-20 years old and that of Mi-24 helicopters was 20 years or older. On average 70% of the helicopter park required repair with one third needing major components.
* Since then, 13 years of conflict have passed without replacement helicopters and new modern designs, even before the first conflict (1994-1996) almost 100% of the attack Mi-24 helicopters were worn out. Transport helicopters have been worked to the limit.
* At least 10 of the 18 helicopter crashes in Chechnya in the last five years can be attributed to pilot error or equipment malfunction; 205 servicemen died.
* MOD chose to buy Mi-28 (Night Hunter) on grounds of cost in preference to Ka-50 (Black Shark) and Ka-52 (Alligator) regarded by military experts as better aircraft. All three will now be bought in small numbers until 2015.
Jedburgh
08-27-2007, 06:57 PM
The Jamestown Foundation, 27 Aug 07: The Ingush Jamaat: Identity and Resistance in the North Caucasus (http://www.jamestown.org/uploads/media/Jamestown-VachagaevJamaat.pdf)
....The current situation in Ingushetia is similar to that in Chechnya on the eve of the second military campaign of 1999. The local authorities are unable to control the situation within the republic, the resistance is unable to overthrow the government, and numerous internal problems (of refugees, inter-clan and inter-party conflicts) remain unresolved, with the Ingush government only too happy to write them off as a consequence of the situation in the Prigorodnyi district.
Slowly, and largely due to the policies of the Russian government, the Ingush are getting used to the idea that they are living in a war zone. This invariably leads to a growth in the idolization of the armed resistance among the youth, with many willing to participate in the activities of such groups. The psychological outlook of those living through war is always different from those living in peacetime. Such individuals inherently start to see everything in terms of casualties and military victories. In tragedy, they no longer pay attention to the victims, but view what goes on as a simple consequence of the environment. This grim worldview makes people less willing to sacrifice themselves for the abstract ideas offered by “Yedinaia Rossia” and the unified state. The intelligentsia begins emphasizing the positive aspects of the military conflict, making the youth more nationalistically inclined and aggressive toward other ethnic groups. This comes in addition to the normally higher level of nationalistic and patriotic attitudes found among those living in a wartime situation....
Jedburgh
09-18-2007, 01:12 PM
CSIS, 18 Sep 07: 49 Steps To Improve Human Rights and Security in the North Caucasus (http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/070918_49steps_english.pdf)
For well over a decade, the North Caucasus has been the site and source of rising levels of violence, instability, and terrorism. After a cease-fire ended the first Chechen war in late 1996, terrorist bombings and incursions in Dagestan provoked the Russian government to send federal troops back into Chechnya in October 1999. The ensuing military conflict produced massive military and civilian casualties, streams of refugees, shocking brutality against civilians, and a surge in terrorist actions in the south and elsewhere in Russia. The most dramatic events included the seizure of a Moscow theater by terrorists in October 2002, the downing of two airplanes and a metro bombing in downtown Moscow in August 2004, the vicious raid on a school in Beslan (http://www.defac.ac.uk/colleges/csrc/document-listings/russian/04(28)-MAS.pdf), North Ossetia, in September 2004, and an October 2005 assault on police and security forces by local youths and terrorists in Nalchik (http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/10/2478a0b5-1e24-4879-bfab-2d99b2671126.html), the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria. Though seldom reported in the Western press, less spectacular explosions, targeting civilians and officials, have occurred on an almost daily basis for several years now in southern Russia. Apart from such overt acts of violence, longer-term tensions among the many different ethnic groups that reside in the region, reportedly rampant police brutality, and sustained poverty have led some observers to portray the area as a powder keg for extremism and Islamic radicalization.....
Jedburgh
11-28-2007, 01:28 PM
CSRC, 27 Nov 07: North Caucasus: Advent of Mountain Brigades (http://www.da.mod.uk/colleges/arag/document-listings/caucasus/07(35)CWB.pdf)
Key Points
* President Putin conceived the concept of mountain brigades in August 2004 to improve security along the southern Russian border and counter cross-border violations.
* President Putin also stipulated that the infrastructure envisaged for the mountain brigades: roads, electricity, water and gas must also serve the inhabitants of Botlikh (Daghestan) and Zelenchukskaya (Karachayevo-Cherkessia).
* Whilst construction of new barracks is almost complete, the recruitment, manning and training of personnel is more difficult. It is unlikely that the brigades will be fully operational until the end of 2008.
Complete 23 page paper at the link.
Jesse9252
12-08-2007, 08:35 PM
I'm currently writing a paper for my Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics class on Chechnya and the confluence of political/military circumstances that led to the fragile peace we are seeing today. A few years ago, analysts and experts almost universally predicted continued violence and instability in the region; today flights to Grozny have resumed and Ramzan Kadyrov is talking about building a tourism industry. My paper will examine why.
I've got a preliminary outline and a working thesis but am having trouble finding material on developments in the last few years. Even the more recently published books are of very limited utility (unless I missed a big one or my school library doesn't have it). Got some stuff from CSIS, the Carnegie Moscow Center, and a few others but I'm hoping the folks here might be able to offer advice and direction. The Chechnya section of this site's research page offers excellent background but doesn't seem to have anything recent enough to help with the meat of my paper.
Thanks in advance for any help I get!
Jedburgh
12-09-2007, 01:22 AM
....I've got a preliminary outline and a working thesis but am having trouble finding material on developments in the last few years. Even the more recently published books are of very limited utility (unless I missed a big one or my school library doesn't have it). Got some stuff from CSIS, the Carnegie Moscow Center, and a few others but I'm hoping the folks here might be able to offer advice and direction. The Chechnya section of this site's research page offers excellent background but doesn't seem to have anything recent enough to help with the meat of my paper.....
Have you looked at the Jamestown Foundation's Chechnya Weekly (http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/)? For a no-fee, open-source site they do a decent job of reporting current events (with a bit of analysis thrown in) and their archives (http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/archives.php) go back to October 2000.
RFE/RL (http://www.rferl.org/featuresarchive/subregion/northcaucasus.html) reports a bit on the area, although you have to dig for it on the site.
Also, if you haven't read through it already, the North Caucasus (http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/showthread.php?t=1271) thread also has a number of links you may find of use.
Finally, you can view the other perspective at the Kavkaz Center (http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/index1.shtml)
The Caucasus Times portal, which was taken offline on December 22 by a denial of service attack, is not only planning to restart its coverage of human rights violations and other developments in the region but also to take the Russian officials the site’s editors believe are responsible for trying to destroy it.
Initially, Islam Tekushev, the portal’s lead editor, said yesterday, those connected with the Prague-based site feared that the attack had destroyed virtually all of its files, thus making it difficult if not impossible to serve as a media outlet of record and to continue operations. But now, they believe that they will be able to recover 80 percent of them.
http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/2007/12/window-on-eurasia-caucasus-site-hit-by.html
Jedburgh
01-09-2008, 02:35 PM
A two-part piece from the Jamestown Foundation's Chechnya Weekly:
The Dagestani Jamaat (Part 1) (http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2373854)
The Dagestani Jamaat "Shariat" is the direct successor of the Dagestani Jamaat supposedly destroyed on the orders of Vladimir Putin in August and September of 1999. As such, it is one more example of how inefficient a military response is for suppressing an ideological opponent. It is possible to destroy bases, to destroy active participants, but it is quite impossible to destroy an underlying ideology using tanks and planes. Since the large-scale military operation carried out in Dagestan in August-September 1999, Salafi teachings have spread throughout the whole of Dagestan, especially enjoying popularity among the youth of the republic. Thus, Salafi ideology has become a form of protest against Russian policies in Dagestan. It is worth noting that while not all the members of the Dagestani Jamaat are dedicated Salafi adherents, all of them stand united in the anti-Russian struggle, making this ideology a unifying force. There are also small groups in the armed resistance movement in Dagestan that are not controlled by the Jamaat, but they still identify themselves with the resistance movement forces.....
The Dagestani Jamaat (Part 2) (http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2373873)
....Jamaat structures are uniform across the North Caucasus and do not vary due to ethnic or regional differences, perhaps in rare exceptions. For nearly eight years, one of the best-known leaders of the Dagestani Jamaat was Rappani Khalilov, a native of the city of Buinaksk and an ethnic Laks. He was replaced as commander of the Dagestani sector of the Caucasus Front by Amir Abdul-Madzhid, who also began as a member of the “Shariat” Jamaat at the start of the second military campaign in Chechnya in 1999 and was one of Khalilov’s closest associates. The “Shariat” Jamaat has units across the entire republic. The republic is divided into zones, such as the Buinaksk, Gubden, Makhachkala, Kizliar, Khasavyurt, Botlikh and others. Amir Abdul-Madzhid himself and others in the sector’s command are members of the Military Council of the Shura under Dokka Umarov and, since Umarov’s recent proclamation of a “Caucasian Emirate,” Amir Abdul Madzhid has been made “Vali of the Vilyat of Dagestan”–that is, the resistance’s de facto ruler in Dagestan. All of the vilayets are united under the leadership of Dokka Umarov, who is considered the personal ruler of this “virtual” emirate, but in fact, each vali is autonomous not by virtue of the formation of an emirate, but strictly due to the absence of authority of Dokka Umarov among those fighting under the flag of the resistance movement......
Penta
01-10-2008, 07:20 PM
Insofar as there's a "native" form of Islam in the Caucasus, what is it? Sunni? Shiite? Salafi? Sufi? Some other variety?
And on the other, it means that Cyber-Muslims can use the Internet to expand their ties with the worldwide umma, something that guarantees they will be exposed to ideas and approaches that the leaders of the Muslim Spiritual Directorates have tried to prevent.
Such international linkages perhaps an even greater concern for the Russian government, which over the last decade has worked hard to limit both the number of Muslims studying abroad and the number of Muslim missionaries coming in from abroad and bringing with them versions of the faith very different from those Moscow prefers.
http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/2008/01/window-on-eurasia-russias-cyber-muslims.html
Jedburgh
02-22-2008, 02:04 PM
The Jamestown Foundation's Chechnya Weekly, 21 Feb 08:
Dagestan's Expanding Insurgency (http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2373986)
....Now that Putin’s presidency is ending it is important for him to remind the public of his political achievements. During his February 4 trip to Botlikh (http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2008/02/05/011.html), Putin talked a lot about the events of August 1999, especially about the Dagestani local militia's support for the Russian troops that fought the Basaev/Khattab-led insurgents. “There were many wounded and killed among the local population,” Putin said at the meeting in Botlikh. “Please do not forget about these people and their families”.
Apart from other aims, Putin’s visit to Botlikh was meant to highlight the success of his Caucasus policy and show that the residents of Dagestan support the federal government, just as they did in August 1999. Nevertheless, current events in Dagestan demonstrate the opposite: the area of hostilities in the republic is expanding. War reports from the region mention more and more districts of Dagestan that have never before appeared in the news as scenes of battles between the rebels and police forces.....
zenpundit
03-02-2008, 04:13 AM
I generally like Jamestown stuff but this struck me as really weird.
Isn't a "Vilyat" a corruption of an Ottoman Turk administrative division? When did the Ottomans rule Daghestan ? Golden Horde, sure. Persians, definitely. Why would Wahabbist neo-salafi loons use antique Turkish terminology when a good Wahabbist would see Ottoman sanjaks as corrupt former oppressors of "true Islam" ?
Maybe I have missed something somewhere ?
Jedburgh
03-02-2008, 04:34 AM
I generally like Jamestown stuff but this struck me as really weird.
Isn't a "Vilyat" a corruption of an Ottoman Turk administrative division? When did the Ottomans rule Daghestan ? Golden Horde, sure. Persians, definitely. Why would Wahabbist neo-salafi loons use antique Turkish terminology when a good Wahabbist would see Ottoman sanjaks as corrupt former oppressors of "true Islam" ?
Maybe I have missed something somewhere ?
It is a term that is used in many Central Asian states: Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - none of which were ever under Ottoman rule. In Dagestan, they can also be referred to as rayons, but wilayat is a common usage.
zenpundit
03-02-2008, 03:08 PM
It is a term that is used in many Central Asian states: Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - none of which were ever under Ottoman rule. In Dagestan, they can also be referred to as rayons, but wilayat is a common usage.
Thank you Jed, that clarifies -and makes linguistic sense for some of the CA examples.
bourbon
04-26-2008, 01:12 AM
Channel One "Uncovers" a Turkish-U.S. Plot in the Caucasus (http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2374121), The Jamestown Foundation: Chechnya Weekly, April 24, 2008.
Russian state television’s Channel One on the evening of April 22 broadcast a putative documentary film made by Kremlin correspondent Anton Vernitsky called “Plan 'Kavkaz'” (The Caucasus Plan). The film purports to show how Turkey, the United States and Great Britain attempted at the start of the 1990s to divide Russia into small parts not controlled by the federal center. The film featured Berkan Merrikh Yashar, born Abubakar—a Turkish-born ethnic Chechen who claims to be a journalist who once worked for Radio Liberty in Munich and a politician with close connections to the Turkish leadership.
Yashar states in the film that at the start of the 1990s he prepared a political platform for separating Chechnya from Russia and that there were several sources financing this project. He claims, among other things, that passports for the unrecognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria were printed in France while "many tons" of Ichkerian banknotes, which resembled U.S. currency, were printed in Germany. Yashar says that Western special services did not really care about the independence of the peoples of Caucasus but were acting only in the interest of their "personal profit." He also claims that Western special services tried to convince Muslim muftis in Russia—not only in Chechnya, but also in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan—to break away from Russia because of religious differences. He also refers to the self-exiled Russian tycoon and his former partner, the late Badri Patarkastishvili, stating that they were involved in questionable deals in the Caucasus.
Sarajevo071
04-27-2008, 11:41 PM
Insofar as there's a "native" form of Islam in the Caucasus, what is it? Sunni? Shiite? Salafi? Sufi? Some other variety?
The Sufism of the Naqshbandi tariqa (or brotherhood).
Caucasus embraces Islam
http://www.kafkas.org.tr/english/kultur/din.html
Jedburgh
06-04-2008, 11:19 PM
ICG, 3 Jun 08: Russia’s Dagestan: Conflict Causes (http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/getfile.cfm?id=3448&tid=5466&type=pdf&l=1)
....Large-scale war is unlikely to develop in Dagestan, but violence can be expected to continue to be caused by competition over lands and jobs, spillover from Chechnya and the rise of local jihadi groups. The origins of the present jihadi-inspired violence are in the “hunt for the Wahhabis” carried out by the Dagestani authorities after the 1999 Chechen incursion and the arbitrary persecution of pious youth by local law enforcement officers. The violence in Dagestan’s streets is also fed by the movement of rebels and Islamist militants across the porous border with Chechnya, as well as by the republic’s omnipresent corruption and criminality. Rival clans, led by President Aliyev and Makhachkala’s mayor, Said Amirov, duelled for control of economic and political assets in 2007, as the street troubles intensified.
Reprisals by local and federal security forces have failed to curb the violence; instead they seem to be escalating it. The troubled March 2007 electoral campaign and the growing number of attacks on local officials and assassinations carried out by Islamic militants suggest Dagestan faces a violent future.
Jedburgh
06-26-2008, 08:45 PM
HRW, 25 Jun 08: Counterinsurgency, Rights Violations, and Rampant Impunity in Ingushetia (http://hrw.org/reports/2008/russia0608/russia0608webwcover.pdf)
The Chechnya armed conflict affected stability and the security of communities across the North Caucasus region of Russia, and continues to do so. In Ingushetia, the republic into which Chechnya’s conflict overflowed, the grave conflict dynamics of its larger neighbor have arisen. For the past four years Russia has been fighting several militant groups in Ingushetia, which have a loose agenda to unseat the Ingush government, evict federal security and military forces based in the region, and promote Islamic rule in the North Caucasus. Beginning in summer 2007, insurgents’ attacks on public officials, law enforcement and security personnel, and civilians rose sharply.
Human Rights Watch condemns attacks on civilians and recognizes that the Russian government has a duty to pursue the perpetrators, prevent attacks, and bring those responsible to account. Attacks on civilians, public officials, and police and security forces are serious crimes. Russia, like any government, has a legitimate interest in investigating and prosecuting such crimes and an obligation to do so while respecting Russian and international human rights law. Regrettably, Russia is failing to respect or to adhere to these laws. Law enforcement and security forces involved in counterinsurgency have committed dozens of extrajudicial executions, summary and arbitrary detentions, and acts of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment....
Complete 112 page report at the link.
Jedburgh
07-23-2008, 06:45 PM
Russia Profile, 22 Jul 08: Similar, But Different: Radical Islam is the universal challenge in Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan (http://www.russiaprofile.org/page.php?pageid=Politics&articleid=a1216751276)
The Northern Caucasus today has diverse problems that are impossible to solve “using the same measure.” However, as this region “awakens” and bears witness to an increase of protesting attitudes, the Caucasus, more than ever before, needs a comprehensive Russian strategy of development.
Despite multiple reports about the stabilization of the situation in the Russian Caucasus, the number of problems in this region does not decrease on a daily basis......
Jedburgh
08-08-2008, 06:01 PM
NCW, 7 Aug 08: Rebels Move Closer to Seizing Control of Ingushetia (http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2374364)
.....According to guerrilla warfare theory, war has several stages. The first stage is when government forces try to destroy rebel squads in remote areas of a country, such as mountains or forests. Failing that, the war enters a second stage, in which the guerrillas initiate regular sabotage operations, coming closer to the main centers of the country (large settlements). If the rebels are successful and the security forces cannot disrupt them, the guerrillas begin offensive operations near or inside major populated areas. At the same time, the police and the army lock themselves inside their garrisons. The next stage—the collapse of the government— usually quickly follows.
One can see the way that guerrilla warfare followed this pattern during the American campaign in Vietnam, the Soviet war in Afghanistan and the first Russian military campaign in Chechnya. It appears that the same scenario is now unfolding in Ingushetia. The Ingush police and Russian armed forces in the republic now care more about their own safety than about the general security situation in the republic. Zyazikov (http://www.ciaonet.org/pbei/cw/cw10473/cw10473f.pdf) and his government are located in the capital Magas, a fortress city heavily guarded by Russian military units. Kidnappings, a problem in Ingushetia that human rights activists like to talk about, have almost stopped now, a fact allowing one to reach the paradoxical conclusion that the more police officers get killed by the rebels, the fewer civilians are detained or kidnapped in the republic.
If we do not soon see any radical changes in Russian policy towards Ingushetia, the republic may in the near future become the first real province of the insurgents’ Caucasian Emirate.
Танки в боях за Грозный. Часть 1, 2
The blog promises that you can download those materials.
http://botter.livejournal.com/133244.html
Jedburgh
09-03-2008, 08:07 PM
Window on Eurasia, 2 Sep 08: Russia Losing Ingushetia Before Absorbing South Ossetia (http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/2008/09/window-on-eurasia-russia-losing.html)
The death of Magomed Yevloyev (http://www.rferl.org/content/Website_Owners_Death_Could_Prove_Point_Of_No_Retur n_For_Ingushetia/1195419.html), which most Ingush and rights groups blame on the government of Murat Zyazikov, his officials say was an accident, and a few writers suggest was a provocation by the West, has radicalized opinion there to the point that, in the words of one analyst, Russia risks “losing Ingushetia before it can absorb South Ossetia.” Yevloyev, the owner of the independent news portal Ingushetiya.ru which Zyazikov has long sought to shut down (http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2374377) and a major opposition figure in his own right, died of bullet wounds to the head while in the custody of Zyazikov’s militia on Sunday. And his funeral yesterday grew into a mass protest, leading to a meeting today that the authorities dispersed.....
1 "older" article.
Moscow Faces a Sea of Troubles in the Caucasus
By Mairbek Vatchagaev
The developments in the small enclave of Ingushetia continue to be a concern for Moscow. Anti-government opposition leaders have circulated a petition calling for the return of the former president, Ruslan Aushev, who left his post early under pressure from the Kremlin, which considered Aushev too independent when it came to making decisions concerning Ingushetia. The petition committee has gathered 80,000 signatures demanding that Ingushetia’s current president, Murat Zyazikov, step down and Ruslan Aushev be appointed in his place (http://ingushetiya.ru/news/15067.html). While during Putin’s term no one dared to bring up the possibility of dismissing Zyazikov, a Federal Security Service (FSB) major general, this now appears more likely in the wake of Medvedev’s accession as president and may end the long-standing confrontation between the public and Zyazikov. This is further confirmed by a recent interview with Ruslan Aushev, who for years has refused to criticize the current Ingush president, but is now making it clear that he will stand with his people (Novaya Gazeta, August 7; see also North Caucasus Weekly, August 7).
http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2374380
By its actions in Georgia, the Russian government has increased its control over the governments of the republics in the North Caucasus but has created a situation in which, as a result, those regimes and as a result Moscow too are losing control over the people there, according to a leading specialist at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
And the reason for this, Enver Kisriyev, the head of the Caucasus Section of the Academy’s Center for Civilization and Regional Research, told Kreml.org, is that Moscow has ignored the egalitarian and pluralist nature of the societies there and instead sought to create a narrow pyramid of power with a single head
http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/2008/10/window-on-eurasia-moscows-control-of.html
MOSCOW (AFP) — An opposition website in southern Russia said more than 50 soldiers were killed by militias on Saturday in clashes that officials told Russian news agencies had killed only two soldiers.
The Ingushetia.org website cited a local official from the interior ministry giving the casualty figure, which would represent one of the worst losses for Russian forces since the end of major combat operations in Chechnya
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j2hnplZmqaVpEPS2POn_HWXZ2iEw
bourbon
11-10-2008, 05:39 PM
The Jihadi Insurgency and the Russian Counterinsurgency in the North Caucasus (http://bourbonandlawndarts.googlepages.com/hahncoin.pdf), by Gordon M. Hahn. Post-Soviet Affairs, Volume 24, Number 1 / January-March 2008.
Abstract
A political scientist reviews the vicissitudes of the Caucasus jihadi insurgency and Russia's counterinsurgency efforts since 2005, drawing on the press, jihadist websites, and scholarship on insurgencies and counterinsurgencies. The development of jihadi-oriented fighting units, the rise and decline of Maskhadov's supremacy, the rise of Islamist elements, the Chechen separatist movement and the expansion of the jihad, Moscow's counter-jihadi successes, the jihadi network after the death of Basayev, and the rise and career of Ramzan Kadyrov are examined. These events are analyzed in terms of the dynamics of insurgency and counterinsurgency conflict.
39 Page pdf at the link.
I've been looking for examinations of Russian counterinsurgency in the Kadyrov era. Came across this and thought I would share it.
Jedburgh
11-23-2008, 04:32 AM
CSIS, 18 Nov 08: Violence in the North Caucasus: Trends Since 2004 (http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/081118_violence_in_the_north_caucasus.pdf)
Since January 2004, CSIS staff have been compiling, almost daily, a database that tracks violent incidents occurring in the North Caucasus. The following figures draw on this database, through August 31, 2008.
Due to the nature of these incidents and the difficulty in finding trusted reporting, we are not in a position to verify all of them. We will, however, continue to update our database as information is made available to us......
Jedburgh
12-11-2008, 04:30 AM
Russian Analytical Digest, 4 Dec 08: Chechnya and the North Caucasus (http://se1.isn.ch/serviceengine/FileContent?serviceID=47&fileid=FACB9EA6-ECE0-5428-C8DB-C30936F5A675&lng=en)
■ Analysis
The North Caucasus after the Georgia-Russia Conflict
■ Opinion Poll
Russian Public Opinion on the Conflict in the North Caucasus
Views of Inhabitants of Dagestan on the State of Affairs in Their Republic
■ Analysis
War and Peace in Chechnya: The Role of Ramzan Kadyrov
■ Opinion Poll
Russian Views of Kadyrov
12.02 there was OMON raid in Nazran. During the attack terrorists initiated explosion (equivalent to 70 kg TNT). Take a look at photos.
http://www.rg.ru/2009/02/13/utro.html
http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=1117654&NodesID=6
www.google.com/translate
Judging by the statistics given, the troops in the past month, daily engaged in at least two special operation. This is a great deal, considering that officially it is estimated that more than three years, the military phase is over in Chechnya. Almost a year ago, Deputy Interior Minister Arkady Edelev reported that in Chechnya «operate up to 500 militants and their accomplices». Note that these figures, but throughout the North Caucasus in March 2008 promulgated the chief internal troops of ministry of interior affairs of Russia Army General Nikolai Rogozhkin. He stressed that at that time in the North Caucasus operated from 400 to 500 fighters. After that, only in Chechnya, according to official data, have been cleared more than 540 militants.
So fighters neutralize, destroy, but they re-appear. Military, let us not once argued that the ranks of militants are fueled by young people going into the mountains, as well as acting in the underground. This increase in participants illegal armed formations is fixed, not only in Chechnya but also in other republics of the region. Thus, the same Arkadij Edelev notes that in Chechnya today there are about 500 fighters, at least 120 fighting in Ingushetia. «Thus, - concludes Edelev - support base in Ingushetia is estimated at 1237 people». However, where in general these figures are accurate supporters, remains unclear.
http://www.ng.ru/politics/2009-02-16/1_boeviki.html?mthree=3
via google translate.
New tactics in Ingushetia - insurgency snipers at work?
Less than one day in several towns in Ingushetia wounded two policemen and one soldier. In all cases, shot by snipers, noted in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Note that similar incidents can be described as unusual for Ingushetia. There, indeed, almost every day of attacks on law enforcement, but with the use of automatic weapons and grenade launchers.
http://newsru.com/russia/18feb2009/snipers.html
via http://translate.google.com/
George L. Singleton
02-19-2009, 06:59 PM
automatic weapons and grenade launchers vs. snipers.
Can you explain your interpretation of an "inferred" new style of combat with snipers now being noted by you?
bourbon
02-19-2009, 10:12 PM
Sniper attacks are a rarity in Ingushetia. Running a check in World News Connection, there are no reports of sniper attacks in Ingushetia prior to May 2008. Three policemen are wounded in three different shootings in May. Several events occur from October to December, with at least 2 killed. On January 11 there are two sniper incidents, with one wounded and an MVD squadron commander killed. For February, on the 10th one highway patrolman shot at a checkpoint, February 16 one MVD engineer wounded, Kaur's article notes 3 events on the 18th.
This info is just what I could pull of the newswire, so it is far from accurate. But most attacks in Ingushetia have been of the bombing and automatic weapon/grenade variety. I imagine the fog is pretty bad this time of year in Ingushetia, that can't help much. I don't recall seeing many recent reports of snipers elsewhere in the North Caucasus. One notable incident is the assassination of the mayor of Vladikavkaz (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1089598/Russian-mayor-shot-killed-professional-sniper.html) in North Ossetia last fall. Ossetian Jamaat claimed responsibility, but you never know.
George L. Singleton
02-20-2009, 01:05 AM
A "trained or schooled" sniper is a cut above a suicidal or non-suicidal terrorist.
Who do you think is training these snipers?
Ken White
02-20-2009, 01:17 AM
Sniper. The internet trains many...
bourbon
02-20-2009, 04:59 AM
According to the Russian’s, foreigners - Arabs and Turks mostly - travel from cell to cell in the North Caucasus in an advisory role. Could be Chechen’s who can no longer operate at home. It also could just be one specialist who travels from republic to republic, the Caucasus Emirate likes to shift the locus of the insurgency. The Russian’s will likely try to blame the Georgian’s somehow, which could true. As Ken notes, it could also be the internet.
The assassination in Vladikavkaz could have been related to business, politics, organized crime, or a combination thereof. I don’t know much about the incident, other than that it was a good shot.
Here are three artcles in Russian about assassinations in Nort Ossetia. Use Google translator. First one is about mayor of Vladikavkaz.
http://newsru.com/russia/10feb2009/zaderzh.html
http://newsru.com/russia/17dec2008/vladkill.html
http://newsru.com/russia/31dec2008/pagiev.html
Ludmila Alekseyeva, the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, said yesterday that she was surprised various media outlets on Friday had reported that the Russian interior ministry directive allowing militia units to use lethal force against anti-government demonstrators was something new.
In fact, she said in an interview carried on Radio Liberty, this order was issued by Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov in December 2002, and the dean of Russia’s human rights community said that she was grateful that the militia had not acted on this order during the intervening period, at least outside of the North Caucasus (www.ingushetia.org/news/18452.html).
http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/2009/03/window-on-eurasia-mvd-order-on-using.html
Surferbeetle
03-02-2009, 04:17 PM
Kaur,
Thanks for the links.
Regards,
Steve
From the Jamestown Foundation by Mairbek Vatchagaev: Wave of Unrest and Counter-Terrorist Operations Sweep the North Caucasus (http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=34564&tx_ttnews[backPid]=7&cHash=457a9e86d9)
Russia’s special services and police this past week resumed anti-terrorist operations against the members of the armed resistance movement across the North Caucasus. A steady stream of news has been pouring in from Dagestan that the law enforcement authorities there have been striking back against the republic’s Sharia Jamaat.
Surferbeetle, you are welcome.
About snipers. I do like the definition by Mark Spicer.
Sniping is the employment of individual shooters from concealed positions with no warning, from any distance, depending on the range of the weapon. This is not to say, of course , that to maximize the chances of sniper surviving to fight again, the longer the distance between him and the victim the better. Conversely, if the sniper is able to conceal himself and endage successfully at close range, then that is also sniping.
from this book, page 18.
http://books.google.com/books?id=B5u5UI6NzbcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=mark+spicer#PPA18,M1
This definition saysnothing about high-end LRP's, communication equipment, .338 rifles, Zeiss optics etc. February number of British Combat and Survival covers topic "Insurgency sniper vs Western sniper"
PS Finnish II WW sniper Häyhä shot his shots using rifle without optics.
A major terrorist attack, the victims of which were four EOD guys from FSB and police, as well as deputy chief of police department Nazranovskogo area took place yesterday in Ingushetia.
http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=1130649&NodesID=6
Addition to my last post.
Six policemen were killed and two injured in a bomb blast in Ingushetia on March 5. Russian news agencies, citing republican Interior Ministry sources, reported that the blast took place near the entrance to the village of Surkhakhi after law-enforcement officers discovered a roadside bomb consisting of an artillery shell and a detonator near a cemetery and bomb disposal experts were sent in. Itar-Tass reported that the device was detonated by remote control and went off as the bomb disposal experts began working to defuse it.
http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=34672&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=7&cHash=d17d621723
bourbon
03-09-2009, 09:16 PM
Ingush Authorities Blame Insurgency on Arabs and U.S. Intelligence. (http://www.jamestown.org/programs/ncw/single/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=34540&tx_ttnews[backPid]=423&no_cache=1) By Mairbek Vatchagaev. North Caucasus Weekly Volume: 10 Issue: 7, February 20, 2009.
In an interview with the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta published on February 9, Yevkurov laid the blame for the violence squarely with the “newly arrived Arabs,” stating that they were responsible for destabilizing the situation in the region in general and in Ingushetia in particular. Moreover, Yevkurov also blamed the “American and English special services.”
They are blaming Arabs, the UK and US. Not surprising, what is interesting is that they do not name Turkey - which they often do. Relations between Turkey and Russia have been strengthening lately.
Good article kaur. The physical assault on head of the Hajj Committee of Ingushetia’s Muftiate is interesting, I imagine he represents 'Official' or 'State' Islam in the eyes of the Jamaat, and as such is target of an intimidation campaign. They could have just killed him, but beatings are coercive.
I wonder if the EOD team was from local police, or from a unit in another republic doing a tour in Ingushetia. The Jamaat likes to hit the units from out of town.
bourbon, "Kommersant" article says that EOD people were from local FSB.
Snipers at work continues. Last week there was killed minister of interior affairs of Dagestan in Makhachkala . Bullet is 9mm AP. This means that weapon is Vintorez, Val or VSK-94.
This is article in Russian :(
http://www.gzt.ru/incident/2009/06/08/091548.html
A top judge has been shot dead in the latest act of violence to shake the Russian republic of Ingushetia.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8093354.stm
President Medvedjev in FSB centre in Dagestan. Behind the backs of Caucasus kings are standing Ivanov (Russia's narco szar) and Patruchev (ex head of FSB).
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/3567/gunmanm.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/6430/medvedjevsmg.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
President Dmitry Medvedev’s statement in Daghestan last week that foreign forces are behind anti-Russian movements there is leading some Russian commentators to overstate the role of such forces there and thus to misunderstand the nature of the conflicts in that region, according to a leading Russian expert.
In his July 9 comments, Medvedev attempted not only to “sum up the threats to Russian statehood” in the region but also “to explain their causes,” the Moscow analyst says. The Russian president pointed to unemployment and poverty as among the most important, but he listed others as well.
Among these, the Russian leader said, are massive and widespread corruption, “systemic deformations of government administration,” and the “extremely low” quality of regional officials, charges that while true raise questions such as “who formed these power structures” if not the current tandem at the head of the much ballyhooed power vertical.
http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/2009/06/window-on-eurasia-foreign-role-in-north.html
If anyone is interested about more general situation in Northern Caucasus, then you can dowload paper "Kreml and Northern Caucasus" here. This paper is in Russian :(
http://www.politcom.ru/tables/docl.doc
bourbon
06-23-2009, 09:25 PM
Bomber Strikes Kremlin's Chief of Restive Province (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124564883436636393.html), by Allan Cullison. The Wall Street Journal, June 23, 2009.
The attack on Mr. Yevkurov was more sophisticated than other recent strikes on government officials, who have been mostly lower-level functionaries with little protection. Mr. Yevkurov's motorcade was struck Monday as the Ingush president was being driven to work near the regional capital of Nazran. The bomber maneuvered an explosives-laden Toyota sedan past a police escort before detonating it near Mr. Yevkurov's armored Mercedes. The blast killed two of his bodyguards. It left Mr. Yevkurov in "serious condition" with a concussion and broken ribs, said his spokesman, Kaloi Akhilgov.
The attack, he said, was apparently timed to coincide with the five-year anniversary Monday of a daring rebel raid on the Ingush capital of Nazran, when Chechen and Ingush gunmen briefly seized the city and killed nearly 100 police and security officials.
The Kremlin has been using Ramzan Kadyrov, the President of nextdoor Chechnya, for its regional dirty work. Kadyrov has a pet tiger, reportedly keeps a dungeon in his basement, and hangs out with Mike Tyson; he's a real sweetheart. And it looks like the Kremlin is going to set him loose on the insurgents (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8115904.stm):
On Tuesday Mr Kadyrov said he had been ordered by Russia's Dmitry Medvedev to run operations in both countries.
He told Reuters: "He told me to intensify actions... including in Ingushetia. I will personally control the operations... and I am sure in the near future there will be good results."
Last night Kadyrov accused in Vesti channel international terrorism and West that they are responsible for Yevkurov's assassination attempt. That happened during on-line interview. Moments later Vesti published this video on their website. "West" is cut out and interview ends very abruptly. It seems that Russians are waiting Obama's visti :)
This is the cut video (in Russian of course) http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=295611
bourbon
06-24-2009, 04:11 PM
Kadyrov’s relationship with Moscow is very interesting. They seem very dependent on him, and it is interesting when they do pull his reigns. The military it seems don’t trust him, and GRU had maintained the Yamadayev clan and Vostok battalion as a hedge. Kadyrov neutralized them last year and has consolidated his power, making Moscow’s dependency on him even greater.
bourbon, isn't this called balance of power?
I'd like to add to this sad thread beautiful notes. Following pictures are form Kadyrov's garage.
http://users.livejournal.com/_patrick_/3577190.html
bourbon
06-25-2009, 02:06 AM
Yes, I should have used that phrase. It has been reported that Chechen oil is very lucrative for Russian Army Generals, so I can imagine there is some economic self interest in making sure Kadyrov does not get too powerful.
I think there is not only talk about oil. Generals deal with oli, lower ranks have their own business. For example couple weeks ago 1 OMON unit commander was arrested in Russia. His unit soldiers worked as super market security guards in Chechnya. They did this during their official working time.
Here is article in Russian - http://www.gzt.ru/print/241379.html
During couple summer months there have been several serious incidents. To keep this thread going I should mention:
1. assassination attempt of Jevkurov.
http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/8743/
2. killing of construction minister.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090812/155789698.html
3. bomb in police HQ.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8204670.stm
Here is the video from the explosion site in Nazran. Click on the picture in the right hand box.
www.1tv.ru/news/n149886
Yesterday Russian premier Putin visited Ramzan Kadyrov's father's grave (formere Chechen president) in Checnya. It seems that VIP protection is on the highest level. Choppers are flying really close. Push on the picture on the right hand column.
www.1tv.ru/news/n150375
bourbon
08-30-2009, 08:48 PM
Chechnya and Its Neighbors Suffer a Relapse (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/world/europe/30chechnya.html), By Ellen Barry. The New York Times, August 30, 2009.
That case is difficult to make after the summer of 2009. Explosions and shootings have been a daily occurrence in the region all summer. Between June and August, 436 people have been killed, compared with 150 during the same months in 2008. And the number of attacks jumped to 452 from 265, according to statistics compiled by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a private research group based in Washington.
The numbers do not fully capture what has happened. High-ranking officials have been strafed with machine-gun fire, targeted by snipers as they strolled out of restaurants or rammed with cars packed with explosives. A prominent human rights worker was snatched outside her apartment, killed and left on a roadside.
And suicide bombings, ominously, have returned to Chechnya after a pause of several years. Two militants blew themselves up Friday morning to escape capture, making it a total of three suicide bombings in the region in just the past week.
Interesting the speculation that Kadyrov might be replaced, and someone from Moscow brought in. That would unite the Chechen's against the external influence, and Moscow will have an even bigger problem.
President Medvedev gathered North Caucasus leaders to his office 28.08. Kadyrov accused in the situation again Western special services. This is already xxx time. Could someone confirm this?
News in Russian. Click on the picture on the right hand column. 04:00
www.1tv.ru/news/n150685
Jedburgh
10-05-2009, 02:27 PM
Defence Academy of the UK, Sep 09: North Caucasus: Negative Trends (http://www.da.mod.uk/colleges/arag/document-listings/caucasus/09%2812%29%20CWB%203.pdf)
Key Findings
• Shortfalls in financial subsidies to North Caucasus republics will intensify and widen the cycle of violence which will affect the South Caucasus.
• A widened cycle of violence would be harmful to Western interests in Georgia and Azerbaijan.
• Reduced scale of subsidies contrasts sharply with the vast sums being spent by Russia on 2014 Olympics and financial aid to South Ossetia and Abkhazia and will intensify discontent.
• Need for radical political reform: continuation of forceful measures alone will not improve the situation. Need for republics to elect their own leaders.
• Greater investment in education, technical training, job creation and health care are needed for the young and the population in general.
• Effective intelligence is needed to stop the flow of illegal funds into the North Caucasus.
• Operations against illegal bandit formations must be conducted within the law: punishment of offenders must be effected openly through the courts.
davidbfpo
10-05-2009, 03:22 PM
The London-based IISS runs a series of seminars on Eurasian security that cover the region from different angles, for e.g. human rights: http://www.iiss.org/programmes/russia-and-eurasia/eurasia-strategy-seminars-/
Alas the seminars do not have podcasts, unlike the main meetings, but may give an indicator of who is an expert on the region and then search again.
(I am an IISS member, but do not attend these meetings. Can't think why but it is usually South Asia that I attend).
davidbfpo
Moscow’s “latest and most significant concession” to Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov – giving him control over counter-terrorist actions there – was made behind “a smoke screen” put up by the Kremlin in which Moscow said it was unhappy with the effort of the siloviki there and had decided to return control of operations there to the FSB.
http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/2009/10/window-on-eurasia-moscow-cedes-control.html
October 2009.
Georgia is training and lending safe passage to Al-Qaeda agents planning terrorist acts in the Russian Caucasus, the head of Russia's FSB secret service charged Tuesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091013/wl_afp/russiageorgiaconflictspyterrorism_20091013073756
August 2002.
Fighting flared on Russia's border with Georgia today, as Georgian forces moved to drive out Chechen fighters from a lawless region near Chechnya that has become a flash point between the countries.
The gorge, a wide valley north of the capital, Tbilisi, is reported to serve as a base for several dozen Islamic extremists possibly linked to Al Qaeda, as well as several hundred Chechen fighters living among some 4,000 refugees who fled after Russia started its second war in Chechnya in 1999.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/24/world/georgia-moves-against-rebels-and-accuses-russia-of-airstrikes.html
Ingushetia President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov has announced plans to revive there the role of “taips” – the traditional extended family organizations – in order to fight corruption and stop the continuing flow of young people into the bands of anti-government militants.
... he continues, because of another “Daghestani reality”: the dominance of older people in government institutions. In the republic’s Popular Assembly,” he points out, “there are 72 deputies. Of them only one – Gaziat Abuchov – is under 30, and only five are under 40.
In short, “older people are deciding the problems of the young.” The same pattern holds across the North Caucasus. As a result, for young people, “the path to power is practically closed.” But those who go into the forests do so because there, “it is possible to stand up now,” something the tilt toward traditional structures dominated by the old will make things worse.
http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/2009/10/window-on-eurasia-relying-on.html
Kevin23
11-02-2009, 12:43 AM
According to the Russian’s, foreigners - Arabs and Turks mostly - travel from cell to cell in the North Caucasus in an advisory role. Could be Chechen’s who can no longer operate at home. It also could just be one specialist who travels from republic to republic, the Caucasus Emirate likes to shift the locus of the insurgency. The Russian’s will likely try to blame the Georgian’s somehow, which could true. As Ken notes, it could also be the internet.
The assassination in Vladikavkaz could have been related to business, politics, organized crime, or a combination thereof. I don’t know much about the incident, other than that it was a good shot.
Bourbon just curious,
Weren't snipers pretty active in the fighting in Chechnya? If so wouldn't this most likely corralate with the incidents regarding snipers in Ingushetia?
davidbfpo
11-02-2009, 09:25 PM
On the FP link:http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/30/another_murder_in_russias_secret_war
davidbfpo
bourbon
11-03-2009, 02:15 AM
Weren't snipers pretty active in the fighting in Chechnya? If so wouldn't this most likely corralate with the incidents regarding snipers in Ingushetia?
Have there been sniper attacks in Chechnya lately, is that what you are asking? I don't know. The insurgency has been more active in Ingushetia and Dagestan the last few years, when Chechnya cooled down a bit.
Kevin23
11-04-2009, 04:33 PM
Have there been sniper attacks in Chechnya lately, is that what you are asking? I don't know. The insurgency has been more active in Ingushetia and Dagestan the last few years, when Chechnya cooled down a bit.
No, I mean throughout the whole conflict in Chechnya weren't the use of sinpers by the rebels quite prominent, espeically when the fighting in the republic was quite intense?
Because I'm thinking that perhaps like you said earlier that perhaps Chechen's are the one's training these sniper's in Ingushetia?
bourbon
11-04-2009, 11:49 PM
No, I mean throughout the whole conflict in Chechnya weren't the use of sinpers by the rebels quite prominent, espeically when the fighting in the republic was quite intense?
Because I'm thinking that perhaps like you said earlier that perhaps Chechen's are the one's training these sniper's in Ingushetia?
Yes, snipers and designated marksmen were used by rebels in the first and second Chechen wars.
Russian Army lore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Tights) has it that there was a particularly deadly cadre of female biathletes turned mercenary snipers from Baltic states that wore white tights. These Amazon snipers or actually rumors of them manage to show wherever and whenever Russian forces are fighting. Surprised they have shown up in Ingushetia yet…..or maybe they are one training the snipers!
bourbon
11-16-2009, 01:47 AM
Kadyrov says Doku Umarov (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8089996.stm), the emir of the Caucasus Emirate, may have been killed in a recent raid (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h9OHz4nVWKKUjgrraAGSlhUXSaNQD9BV5CC01). Wait till the DNA test gets back, they have had a couple close calls with Umarov before.
bourbon
11-30-2009, 04:08 PM
An IED attack (http://www.rferl.org/content/Death_Toll_Rises_In_Russian_Train_Bombing/1891411.html)200 miles northwest of Moscow killed 26 people and injured 100 last Friday, when it derailed three cars on a high-speed train running from Moscow to St Petersburg. There are reportedly no credible claims of responsibility so far.
The same rail line was targeted by bombers in 2007 in an attack that injured 30. Two men from Ingushetia were charged in connection to the attack. The Russians allege the attack was masterminded by Pavel Kosolapov, an ex-Russian soldier turned Islamic extremist and associate of Shamil Basayev.
News reports state that authorities suspect (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/former-soldier-suspected-of-train-bombing-1831118.html) Kosolapov and associates may be responsible for the recent attack.
It is notable that militants have not struck the Russian heartland since 2004-2005, confining their attacks to the North Caucasus; this attack is leading some to ask if this is a harbinger of things to come (http://features.csmonitor.com/globalnews/2009/11/30/russia-train-bombing-sign-of-new-terror-tactics/).
Kadyrov says Doku Umarov (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8089996.stm), the emir of the Caucasus Emirate, may have been killed in a recent raid (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h9OHz4nVWKKUjgrraAGSlhUXSaNQD9BV5CC01). Wait till the DNA test gets back, they have had a couple close calls with Umarov before.
False alarm.
bourbon
12-02-2009, 04:46 PM
BBC reports (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8390258.stm) that Caucasian Mujahadeen via Kavkazcenter.com are claiming they carried out the Nevsky Express attack on the orders of Doku Umarov. Statement claims the attack is part of a broader campaign of sabotage operations targeting strategic sites in Russia, to include electricity transmission lines and oil & gas pipelines.
A report from Ria Novosti (http://en.rian.ru/russia/20091202/157067306.html)citing St. Petersburg Emergency Control Ministry, says the attack was intended to strike two trains as they passed by each other in opposite directions. The Nevsky Express was reportedly one minute off schedule, averting greater disaster. The charge was reportedly equivalent to 7kg of TNT; I don’t know what that would do to the other train, but given the high speeds involved - it is reasonable to suggest this attack could have been much worse.
There was also reportedly an RCIED attack that targeted responders and investigators; no one died in that bomb.
Jedburgh
01-15-2010, 03:41 PM
CSIS, 14 Jan 09: Violence in the North Caucasus 2009: A Bloody Year (http://csis.org/files/publication/100114_Violence_NorthCaucasus_2009optmize.pdf)
Main Findings
In 2009:
• There were more than 1100 incidents of violence compared to 795 the previous year;
• Many of these incidents were deadly, with over 900 fatalities compared to 586 in 2008;
• One third of all incidents in the North Caucasus occurred in the Nazranovskii and Sunzhenskii districts of Ingushetia;
• The number of suicide bombings in the North Caucasus nearly quadrupled from 2008, with the majority occurring in Chechnya.
bourbon
03-08-2010, 02:21 AM
Russian 'Bin Laden' killed by Moscow's special forces (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/7393272/Russian-Bin-Laden-killed-by-Moscows-special-forces.html), by Andrew Osborn. Telegraph, 07 Mar 2010.
The FSB intelligence service said a special forces operation had resulted in the death of Sheikh Said Buryatsky, an Islamist convert whose real name was Alexander Tikhomirov.
Militant Website Confirms Buryatsky's Death (http://www.rferl.org/content/Militant_Website_Confirms_Buryatskys_Death/1976923.html), RFERL: Caucasus Report, March 07, 2010.
Hunafa.com, the website of the Ingushetian front of the North Caucasus insurgency, today confirmed official claims that one of the six militants killed during a special operation on March 2 in the village of Ekazhevo, south-east of Nazran, was Said Buryatsky, who over the past two years gained a reputation as ideologue of the Islamic militancy headed by former Chechen President Dokka Umarov.
Sheikh Said Buryatsky was a very effective Jihadi ideologue, and was in-part responsible for the return of suicide bombings to the North Caucasus. It is notable that he was a convert to Islam and was from Buryatia in southern Siberia, and not from the North Caucasus; his mother is Russian and his father was a Buddhist.
Couple weeks old news. Last summer there was killed head of Dagestan's ministry of interior affairs. Today there is version that killer weapon was "loaned" to killers by Russian military personnel in Dagestan.
Couple articles in Russian :)
http://www.novayagazeta.ru/data/2010/021/15.html
http://newsru.com/russia/26feb2010/brigada.html
http://www.gzt.ru/Gazeta/proisshestviya-v-gazete/-ubiistvo-glavy-mvd-dagestana-raskryli-vtaine-ot-/292192.html
bourbon
03-20-2010, 07:03 PM
In Russia’s Dagestan Region, Police Live in Fear (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/world/europe/21dagestan.html), by Ellen Barry. The New York Times, March 20, 2010.
It is all a measure of how thoroughly order has broken down in the Russian region of Dagestan, in the North Caucasus. Fifty-eight police officers were killed in attacks here last year, according to the republic’s Interior Ministry, many of them while running errands or standing at their posts. Last month alone, according to press reports, 13 officers were killed in bombings and gangland-style shootings.
Jedburgh
04-17-2010, 03:06 PM
Centre for Eastern Studies, 14 Apr 10: The Tribal Areas of the Caucasus: The North Caucasus – an enclave of ‘alien civilisation’ within the Russian Federation (http://www.osw.waw.pl/sites/default/files/PRACE_34.pdf)
The purpose of this paper is to examine the phenomenon of the militant Islamic movement in the North Caucasus, specify its origins, and assess its actual potential. The author will attempt to place this phenomenon in the context of the wider social and political processes ongoing in the region since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and will try to forecast developments in the North Caucasus in the near future.
Note: Polish and English. English content begins on page 41 of the linked pdf.
bourbon
04-27-2010, 07:43 PM
Investigation Links Critic’s Death to Top Chechens (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/world/europe/26chechen.html), by C.J. Chivers. The New York Times, April 25, 2010.
The president of the Russian republic of Chechnya, Ramzan A. Kadyrov, who has suppressed a separatist insurgency with harsh methods and unwavering Kremlin backing, vigorously denied any knowledge of Mr. Israilov, one of his former bodyguards, or of his death.
But a 15-month Austrian investigation into the crime has uncovered links between the suspected killers and one of Mr. Kadyrov’s close advisers, a one-legged former rebel who has been described, in unrelated allegations in Russia, as an organizer of Mr. Kadyrov’s dirty work.
Kadyrov urged to hold back (http://www.mn.ru/news/20100426/55435686.html), by Anna Arutunyan. Moscow News, 26 April 2010.
Two seemingly unrelated court cases involving Chechen bodyguards - one in Moscow, the other in Vienna, but both with a link to an adviser to Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov - could indicate that the Kremlin is urging the strongman leader to rein in his security forces and pay more attention to human rights.
Jedburgh
05-11-2010, 03:32 PM
JFQ, 2nd Qtr 2010: Unintended Strategic Consequences of Security Assistance in the South Caucasus (http://www.ndu.edu/press/lib/images/jfq-57/Mihalka-Wilcox.pdf)
....This article examines the trends in liberal democracy in the South Caucasus in light of economic development. It relates these trends to regional changes in civil-military relations and the prospects for violence in the region. It then assesses the extent to which security assistance has contributed to stability in the region. Finally, recommendations are made about how future security assistance should be structured....
Russian Ka-50 in Chechnya.
http://pilot.strizhi.info/videos/smotr/Ka-50_Chechnya.wmv
Jedburgh
05-19-2010, 12:23 PM
CSIS, 13 May 10: Violence in the North Caucasus, Spring 2010: On the rise, again? (http://csis.org/files/publication/100513_Violence_in_the_North_Caucasus_Spring_2010. pdf)
Since 2008, CSIS staff have tracked, on a daily basis, incidents of violence occurring in the North Caucasus......In this report, we present our data for Spring 2010 (January 1– April 30), with special attention given to the disturbing frequency of suicide bombings.....
bourbon
06-11-2010, 03:06 PM
The FSB captured Ali Taziyev aka Magas on June 9 in Ingushetia. Magas is the Amir of the Madzhlisul Shura’s Military Committee, a position in which he replaced Shamil Basayev. He planned and led the raid on the city of Nazran in June 2004, was linked to the Beslan atrocity (believed by some to have been a participant and escaped), and in addition to other significant terrorist events oversaw the SVBIED attack on the Ingush president this time last year.
It is notable that the Russian’s attempted to take him alive, let alone were successful in doing so. Senior insurgent commanders are never captured alive. News reports say (http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/06/10/9539394.html) the FSB had planned the op for two months, and flew in Spetsnaz from Moscow for the take down – which indicates Alfa Group was involved.
If they get him to talk, Magas will yield considerable intelligence. However, North Caucasus insurgent commanders are easily replaced, and previous elimination of senior commanders has done little to weaken the insurgency overall.
Magas is a storied figure. He was an Interior Ministry policeman who was kidnapped in 1998 along another officer and the wife of a senior government official they body guarding. They were brought to Chechnya and the wife was held for ransom. The other policeman was found dead in 1999, and the wife was released or escaped; but Magas joined up with the insurgency, though it is also very possible he was in on it all along.
Presumed kidnapped and murdered, an Ingush court officially declared him dead in 2001. So imagine the surprise his mother gets during the Beslan hostage crisis in 2004 when the FSB shows up at her door and tells her that not only is her son not dead, but he is actively involved and responsible for this horrific event. Oh, and by the way they have to take her away for her “protection”.
Via Goolge Translate.
Western intelligence agencies are trying to undermine the situation in the North Caucasus. About it as transmits RIA Novosti news agency said on Tuesday the Russian president's envoy in the region Khloponin during the "straight line" with the residents of the district, when asked about the leading security issues.
"Obviously, on the eve of the Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014 Caucasian subjects, heating or reheating of inter-ethnic or inter-ethnic conflict - this is a very serious challenge, now the secret services of Western countries and simply provocateurs" - said Khloponin
http://newsru.com/russia/26oct2010/chlopo.html
davidbfpo
11-04-2010, 03:58 PM
Book review on the region's history:
The Caucasus is often depicted as a region of peoples locked in enduring and invariant nationalist enmity. The reality is more complex and therefore more hopeful, says Thomas de Waal.
Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/thomas-de-waal/lightness-of-history-in-caucasus
High ranking FSB officer killed in Dagestan.
http://nv-daily.livejournal.com/401530.html
bourbon
12-06-2010, 05:02 AM
Chechnya: The Once and Future War (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/65802), by Ambassador William J. Burns. 30 May 2006.
1. (C) Introduction: Chechnya has been less in the glare of constant international attention in recent years. However, the Chechnya conflict remains unresolved, and the suffering of the Chechen people and the threat of instability throughout the region remain. This message reinterprets the history of the Chechen wars as a means of better understanding the current dynamics, the challenges facing Russia, the way in which the Kremlin perceives those challenges, and the factors limiting the Kremlin's ability to respond. It draws on close observation on the ground and conversations with many participants in and observers of the conflict from the moment of Chechnya's declaration of independence in 1991. We intend this message to spur thinking on new approaches to a tragedy that persists as an issue within Russia and between Russia and the U.S., Europe and the Islamic world.
It is in the open now, and the piece is too good not to share with those who have an interest in Chechnya.
Cliff
02-10-2011, 03:11 AM
An interesting Op-ed article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/08/vladimir-putin-caucasian-domodedevo-bombing) on the Guardian's web site, by way of World Politics Review's Media Roundup (http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/media-roundup).
Basic gist of the article is that Putin's heavy-handed approach has caused the Chechen insurgency to metastize and spread. Definitely seems like they are not using classic counterinsurgency tactics.
I'm curious to hear what our learned folks here think.
V/R,
Cliff
Dayuhan
02-10-2011, 04:04 AM
They seem to be using classic Russian counterinsurgency tactics.
Leo Tolstoy's short novel The Raid is well worth a read when seeking perspective on Chechnya. Plus c'est la change...
kotkinjs1
02-10-2011, 04:52 AM
yeah - he should obviously learn from us in Afghanistan. Our use of "classic counterinsurgency techniques" is winning the war over here, didn't he realize? There's no metastisizing or spreading here.
bourbon
02-11-2011, 02:48 AM
In the eyes of Putin and the Siloviki, Chechen nationalism was a concrete threat to Russia and the Jihadis were an abstract threat and a useful tool.
The nationalists defeated the Russian Army in the First Chechen War achieving de facto independence, and had legitimacy in the eyes of the international world. The Siloviki were convinced of foreign meddling in the conflict, and viewed the issue in the context of a greater process of the fracture and disintegration of the Russian Federation.
You let one tribe go free and soon all the others will want independence. As go the Chechens, so go the Ingush…the Dagestanis…the Karachays…etc. Then goes the North Caucasus, and much of Russia’s access to the Caspian.
To Putin and company it is about keeping and maintaining control. The Jihadis are the cost of defeating the Chechen nationalist movement and maintaining control. The loss of innocent life - both ethnic Russian and Caucasian, does not factor into their decision making.
bourbon
02-11-2011, 02:53 AM
They seem to be using classic Russian counterinsurgency tactics.
Or as I call it: The Gimme Shelter Doctrine.
"Rape, murder! It's just a shot away, It's just a shot away…"
davidbfpo
04-06-2011, 10:19 AM
Maybe of value, an eight part series as a US reporter moves through the region, which I'd missed. Link:http://www.foreignpolicy.com/category/section/sword_or_samovar
bourbon
06-12-2011, 04:42 PM
Russia's only war criminal Yury Budanov assassinated in Moscow (http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2011/0610/Russia-s-only-war-criminal-Yury-Budanov-assassinated-in-Moscow), by Fred Weir. The Christian Science Monitor, June 10, 2011.
Russia's only convicted war criminal, former army Col. Yury Budanov, was fatally shot in downtown Moscow Friday in what police called a contract killing, possibly motivated by vengeance on the part of Chechens or a "provocation" aiming to stir up ethnic strife in Moscow.
The former artillery officer, who had asked for police protection after receiving threats but had been refused, was shot several times by a gunman who escaped by car with an accomplice, police said.
Most Russians appear to have forgotten about Budanov, whose case caused a bitter split in Russian society after he was arrested a decade ago and charged with kidnapping, raping, and murdering an 18-year-old Chechen girl, Elza Kungayeva, near the Chechen village of Tangi-Chu, where he was stationed during the second Chechen war.
Fuchs
06-26-2011, 01:35 PM
The Economist: Film in Georgia
Hollywood's take on the Russia-Georgia war
Jun 21st 2011, 14:34 by G.E. | TBILISI
http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2011/06/film-georgia
bourbon
01-25-2012, 03:37 PM
Author Q&A: ‘The Insurgency in Chechnya and the North Caucasus’ (http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/author-qa-the-insurgency-in-chechnya-and-the-north-caucasus/), by C. J. Chivers. NYT.com, January 20, 2012.
Today, for those who follow the North Caucasus or who keep up with books on conflict, we have a treat: a guest appearance on the blog from Lt. Col. Robert W. Schaefer, a Green Beret specializing in the Russian-speaking world.
Colonel Schaefer gave himself a task when he set out to research and write his first book, a deep dive on a long-running and inadequately covered war. It was this: He wanted to lift the latest Chechen war above the common descriptions that have defined it — as Exhibit A of an upstart population seeking independence from post-Soviet Russia, or as Exhibit B of a separatist struggle made toxic by a latter-day brand of militant Islam, or as Exhibit C in a war that had smoldered into dormancy. It is not that these descriptions do not contain elements of fact; it is that they are incomplete. They misapprehend the war by looking back only a few decades. Colonel Schaefer’s book, “The Insurgency in Chechnya and the North Caucasus: From Gazavat to Jihad,” (Praeger, 2011) places the war within the broader cyclical history of Chechen-Russian conflict, a history that goes back 400 years. In this, his book succeeds.
This book (http://ncinsurgency.com) has gotten great reviews (http://www.marshallcenter.org/mcpublicweb/en/component/content/article/4-cat-mc-news/956-book-by-marshall-center-alum-rates-big.html); looking forward to reading it.
jkhutson
04-24-2012, 02:48 AM
About a dozen years ago, Robert D. Kaplan wrote Eastward to Tartary about his travels from, if I recall correctly, Bulgaria to Turkmenistan. He wrote some about Armenia and a good deal about Azerbaijan. The book's theme was mostly about different parts of the former Ottoman and Russian empires, and how they are developing (socially, economically, politically, etc.). As usual, Kaplan mixed in good deal of history with his current impressions.
82redleg
04-24-2012, 04:19 AM
About a dozen years ago, Robert D. Kaplan wrote Eastward to Tartary about his travels from, if I recall correctly, Bulgaria to Turkmenistan. He wrote some about Armenia and a good deal about Azerbaijan. The book's theme was mostly about different parts of the former Ottoman and Russian empires, and how they are developing (socially, economically, politically, etc.). As usual, Kaplan mixed in good deal of history with his current impressions.
I'll second "Eastward to Tartary"- its a mid-90s book, but pretty good.
The Central Asia and Caucasus Institute have some good analysis on the AO.(Added links:http://www.sais-jhu.edu/centers/caci/ and this offshoot or independent Sweden-based place:http://www.ca-c.org/infoe.shtml )
SWJ Blog
06-28-2012, 09:40 AM
The Russian COIN campaign in North Caucasus (http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/the-russian-coin-campaign-in-north-caucasus)
Entry Excerpt:
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davidbfpo
08-23-2012, 01:08 PM
The sub-title or opening reads:
As violence in the north Caucasus hits the headlines again, Alexander Cherkasov sees the roots of the problem in the Russian government’s wilful misunderstanding of local issues and lack of strategy for dealing with them.
The first paragraph:
In the course of the armed conflict that has been alternately flaring up and smouldering in the north Caucasus over the last two decades, the two sides have not only infringed human rights, but denied their existence as a basic human value. The methods used by the Russian government in its war with an armed underground – ‘terror against terror’ – are not only unlawful and criminal by definition: they are also counterproductive, since they simply encourage a constant renewal of these guerrilla forces. The use of ‘death squadrons’, who abduct people, hold them in secret prisons, torture and execute them without trial, certainly produces an effect, but is ultimately useless.
Some of the examples cited are staggering.
Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/alexander-cherkasov/government-%E2%80%94-main-source-of-instability-in-northern-caucasus
davidbfpo
10-23-2012, 01:26 PM
Thanks to Cerwyn Moore, the author of this article, which is on-line for a limited period:). From the opening:
This essay analyses Chechen-related suicide attacks, locating them within the historical and political context of the anti-Russian insurgency in the North Caucasus and the different factions of the anti-Russian armed resistance movement in the period between the first and second Russo-Chechen wars. The core of the essay is an analysis of the different character of two waves of suicide operations, (2000–2002) and (2002–2004). The first wave was linked to nominally Islamist groups, whereas the second set of attacks were linked to Operation Boomerang devised by Shamil Basaev. Finally, the essay considers other attacks that do not fit into either of these two waves of terrorism.
(It ends with) the analysis in this essay serves to debunk many of the myths, often repeated in popular studies, associated with Chechen-related suicide attacks.
Link:http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09668136.2012.718421
Jedburgh
10-27-2012, 06:09 PM
ICG, 19 Oct 12: The North Caucasus: The Challenges of Integration
Part I: Ethnicity and Conflict (http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/europe/caucasus/220-the-north-caucasus-the-challenges-of-integration-i-ethnicity-and-conflict.pdf)
Europe’s deadliest conflicts are in Russia’s North Caucasus region, and the killing is unlikely to end soon. The state has fought back against attacks, first claimed by Chechen separatists, now the work of jihad-inspired insurgents, that have hit Moscow, other major cities and many Caucasus communities. But its security-focused counter-in#sur#gen#cy strategy is insufficient to address the multiple causes of a conflict fed by ethnic, religious, political and economic grievances that need comprehensive, flexible policy responses. Moscow is increasingly aware of the challenge and is testing new approaches to better integrate a region finally brought into the Russian Empire only in the nineteenth century and that has historically been a problem for the Russian state. Diversity in religion, ethnicity, historical experience and political allegiances and aspirations complicate efforts to alleviate local tensions and integrate it more with the rest of the country. Understanding this pluralism is essential for designing and implementing policies and laws that advance conflict resolution rather than make differences more irreconcilable.
Part II: Islam, The Insurgency, and Counter-Insurgency (http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/europe/caucasus/221-the-north-caucasus-the-challenges-of-integration-ii-islam-the-insurgency-and-counter-insurgency)
Armed conflict in the North Caucasus is the most violent in Europe today. Insurgents seeking a regional political unit founded on Sharia (Islamic law) attack Russian officials and security forces, whose main response till recently has been a tough focus on eradicating the insurgency with a massive security presence, leaving little room for dialogue. While this policy has had successes, some 574 insurgents, security forces and civilians have died through September 2012, and there are almost daily attacks in the region and, occasionally, as far afield as Moscow. A dialogue with moderate Salafis and efforts to reintegrate insurgents who surrender has started, especially in Dagestan, but is challenged by opponents of soft power measures among security services and the insurgency. The root causes of violence are as much about ethnicity, state capacity and the region’s poor integration into Russia as about religion. To succeed in conflict resolution, Russia needs to design and implement a long-term comprehensive approach joining ethnic policies, intra-confessional dialogue, institution building and reintegration of ex-fighters.
SWJ Blog
10-30-2012, 10:02 AM
The Russian Counterinsurgency Operation in Chechnya Part 1: Winning the Battle, Losing the War, 1994 – 1996 (http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/the-russian-counterinsurgency-operation-in-chechnya-part-1-winning-the-battle-losing-the-wa)
Entry Excerpt:
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SWJ Blog
11-02-2012, 10:06 AM
The Russian Counterinsurgency Operation in Chechnya Part 2: Success, But at What Cost? 1999 – 2004 (http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/the-russian-counterinsurgency-operation-in-chechnya-part-2-success-but-at-what-cost-1999-%E2%80%93-)
Entry Excerpt:
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This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.
davidbfpo
12-04-2012, 09:18 PM
A useful reminder by IISS on what is happening in the region; where the insurgents have caused everyone a few surprises in the past:http://www.iiss.org/publications/strategic-comments/past-issues/volume-18-2012/december/jihad-in-russia-the-caucasus-emirate/
Russia's counter-terrorism effort has assumed greater urgency since the 2014 Winter Olympic Games were awarded to Sochi, a popular resort city in the North Caucasus......(much later)...the Olympic Games have in the past proven to be a highly valued terrorist target, and the 2014 Sochi venue is probably seen by the CE as an opportunity to make its mark on the global stage.
Useful to see where the insurgents have spread and launched attacks, some pre-empted.
Personally I think there has been much hype around the terrorist threat to the Olympics Games.
In due course I will merge this into the main thread on the region and Chechnya.
Photo serie about Russian troops raid against insurgents.
http://hardingush.livejournal.com/14425.html
bourbon
12-24-2012, 11:17 PM
I am not convinced that the CE wants to “make its mark on the global stage”.
At the very least, Russia greatly benefits from conflating the CE with the Global Salafi Jihad; and frankly I would not be surprised if they have cynically used jihadis to subvert and undermine the Chechen Independence movement, trading the occasional mass atrocity attack in Russia for territorial integrity in the North Caucasus.
davidbfpo
05-17-2013, 03:26 PM
Almost a month ago Dr Cerwyn Moore, an expert on the regional conflict, in response to the Boston bombings, wrote an article 'Analysis: Chechnya Casts a Long Shadow Over the Boston Marathon Bombings'. It is a quick summary and worth a read:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/10008084/Analysis-Chechnya-Casts-a-Long-Shadow-Over-the-Boston-Marathon-Bombings.html
davidbfpo
06-24-2013, 09:55 PM
A long - for the BBC - article on this often forgotten country, until the Boston bombings. The opening:
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the younger Boston marathon bombing suspect, will appear in court in just over two weeks. In Dagestan, the Russian republic where the brothers lived before emigrating to the US, few believe he is guilty. But an Islamist insurgency has been under way for years here - and it's all too easy for young men to become radicalised.
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23004244
davidbfpo
10-09-2013, 09:33 PM
A pre-publication alert for 'Fangs of the Lone Wolf. Chechen Tactics in the Russian-Chechen Wars 1994-2009' by Dodge Billingsley & Lester Grau. From the publishers summary:
Books on guerrilla war are seldom written from the tactical perspective and even less seldom from the guerrilla's perspective....These are the stories of low-level guerrilla combat as told by the survivors. They cover fighting from the cities of Grozny and Argun to the villages of Bamut and Serzhen-yurt, and finally the hills, river valleys and mountains that make up so much of Chechnya. The author embedded with Chechen guerrilla forces and knows the conflict, country and culture. Yet, as a Western outsider, he is able to maintain perspective and objectivity
Link to Amazon (US): http://www.amazon.com/FANGS-LONE-WOLF-Russian-Chechen-1994-2009/dp/1909384771/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1381351044&sr=1-1&keywords=Fangs+of+the+Lone+Wolf.+Chechen+Tactics+i n+the+Russian-Chechen+Wars+1994-2009 and Amazon (UK):http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fangs-Chechen-Tactics-Russian-Chechen-1994-2009/dp/1909384771/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1381349837&sr=1-1&keywords=fangs+of+the+lone+wolf
davidbfpo
01-19-2014, 10:53 PM
As the Winter Olympics loom closer in Sochi, a Black Sea city in the Russian Federation, rather close to the Caucasus, has long been expected to be a target for Islamist groups based in the Caucasus.
There is an older thread, with no updates since late 2011 'Terrorism in Russia' at:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/showthread.php?t=10058
Dr Cerywn Moore, University of Birmingham (UK), is one of the few here who watches the region through the terrorism prism and following recent attacks has a backgrounder via RUSI:http://www.rusi.org/analysis/commentary/ref:C52C6F0A75426B/#.UtxHn9LFJkh
In summary:
The latest bombings in Russia is part of an ongoing war between Putin and Islamist rebels who feed upon a anti-federal, pan-Turkic and pan-Islamist narrative.There is another RUSI commentary 'The Volgograd Bombings and the Winter Olympics' at:http://www.rusi.org/go.php?structureID=commentary&ref=C52C6F2B741F18#.UtxLItLFJkg
The regional Islamist leader, Doku Umarov, was again IIRC declared as killed in action this week, going on some Twitter traffic. The BBC has nothing to support this.
davidbfpo
03-09-2014, 02:59 PM
An Open Democracy article on this little known Russian republic by a local reporter (also works for Radio Liberty:
Asked to name Russia’s most troublesome region, most people would plump for Chechnya. But its neighbour Dagestan is now officially the most dangerous part of the Federation. In this republic of three million people there are sixty different ethnic groups, and not a week goes by without clashes between the police and insurgents, anti-terrorist special forces raids and explosions. It is also one of its least developed regions, with most of its financial needs met by subsidies from the centre. And its level of corruption is one of the highest in Russia as well.
Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/zakir-magomedov/dagestan-russia%E2%80%99s-hottest-spot
Jedburgh
03-14-2014, 04:36 AM
….Dagestan is now officially the most dangerous part of the Federation…
For those that follow the region, this is old news. Dagestan has accounted for more than half of all casualties of violence in the North Caucasus for a few years now, with a spike in the second quarter of 2012 that saw it account for just over two-thirds of such casualties. For those who like metrics, the Caucasian Knot (http://eng.kavkaz-uzel.ru/rubric/601) offers victim stats; it also serves (the unabridged Russian version of the site (http://www.kavkaz-uzel.ru)) as one of the primary sources for the Open Source Center's tracking of incidents in the region.
davidbfpo
08-28-2014, 06:00 PM
A new book on the Chechen wars has been reviewed on WoTR, it starts with:
Anyone who thinks “western values” are an arrogant fiction created to perpetuate the dominance of market democracies or whitewash their crimes should read A Constellation of Vital Phenomena (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0770436420/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0770436420&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwaronthec-20&linkId=KAJEFUW4T6RAI5TY), a heartbreakingly poignant novel about the wars in Chechnya. Based on the reporting of amazingly brave — and murdered — Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Politkovskaya), and the memoir of Chechen doctor Khassan Baiev (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khassan_Baiev), it chillingly recounts Russia’s arbitrary and brutal reign of terror during several attempts to subdue rebellion in one of its constituent republics.
Link:http://warontherocks.com/2014/08/a-constellation-of-vital-phenomena-a-literary-window-into-russias-chechnya-wars/
AdamG
12-08-2014, 05:23 PM
Initially posted as it's own thread for visibility, a nice writeup on our old buddies the Chechen Muj.
Fighters from Chechnya are one of the forces behind IS’s meteoric rise in Syria. The attraction to jihad is not only ideological but practical.
“The Syrian ‘jihad’ began as a sort of proxy conflict for fighters who could not go home to fight in Chechnya or Dagestan,” says Joanna Paraszczuk, a journalist and blogger who has lived and worked in the Middle East and Russia and has a special interest in researching Russian-speaking foreign fighters in Syria. Many of them, she says, are wanted by security authorities.
http://syriadirect.org/main/36-interviews/1733-chechen-militants-more-prestigious-to-fight-for-islamic-state
Moderator at work: this post was in a stand alone, with 2.4k views then merged into a 2015 thread andf now merged to here (ends).
davidbfpo
01-16-2015, 04:37 PM
At the end of a blog article which explains the strange suicide bombing in Istanbul, ostensibly by a Russian national, from Dagestan, on behalf of a local Turksih leftist group is this passage:
It bears repeating that within the last two months, six North Caucasus commanders switched allegiance from Caucasus Emirate leader Ali Abu Mukhammed to ISIL leader Abu-Bakr al Baghdadi, possibly signaling a schism in the CE.
Link:https://misscherryjones.wordpress.com/2015/01/08/a-black-widow-comes-to-istanbul/
craigdouglasalbert
05-26-2015, 09:56 AM
Why aren't more people paying attention to Chechnya?
Here is a commentary I wrote concerning it: I would love some feedback.
http://chronicle.augusta.com/opinion/opinion-columns/2015-05-24/new-developments-underscore-rising-threat-chechen-extremism
Bill Moore
05-26-2015, 11:22 AM
Craig,
Welcome to SWJ. I encourage you to use the search function on SWJ, and I'm believe you'll find considerable information on Chechnya. Not just a regional issue, we fought their extremists in Afghanistan, and they play a role in the Islamic State. If you look at the Ukraine thread, there are reports of Chechens fighting there also, allegedly at the invite of the Russians.
http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/showthread.php?t=1271&page=6&highlight=chechnya
http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/showthread.php?t=21512&highlight=chechnya
http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/chechnya-resources-at-swj
craigdouglasalbert
05-26-2015, 11:44 AM
Yes, thank you. I am writing a larger manuscript using these resources; I am looking at the CE as well as what I call the looming ethnic civil war in Chechnya; the factions there are ready to war with one another.
Thanks,
davidbfpo
05-26-2015, 01:21 PM
Cited in part:
Why aren't more people paying attention to Chechnya?
Craig,
For many reasons most regular SWJ posters watches other places than the Caucasus region and those places can change. Secondly for a long time I suspect many people thought the Chechen fighters threat was exaggerated, so tended to dismiss Chechens and Chechnya. Add in the difficulty for most media to report within the region - which is very rare - so one is left with accepting state or insurgent views or locating a reliable distant observer.
Many readers I suspect think Chechnya is "In Russia's backyard" so leave it to them. Then when Chechens appear in the Ukraine, on both sides, it gets confusing.
So you are welcome to present your viewpoint and readers.
AdamG
05-27-2015, 01:36 AM
Some of us wrote about Chechnya twenty years ago. Your turn now.
davidbfpo
06-09-2015, 11:34 PM
Showing @ the Frontline Club, London on Friday 12 June 2015, 7 PM an Al-Jazeera documentary:
In the space of just a few years, Chechnya has undergone a remarkable transformation. Gone are the minefields and piles of rubble, which have now been replaced by broad avenues, luxury boutiques and glass-fronted skyscrapers. It’s virtually impossible to see that there was ever a war.Award-winning journalist Manon Loizeau has spent the past 20 years covering the Chechen conflict. In Chechnya, War Without Trace she returns to the places she knew well, filming undercover, to examine the lasting effects of conflict with Russia.
Behind the gleaming facade of the new Grozny, Loizeau discovers women and men seemingly more terrified now than during all the years of war and occupation. Although a fifth of the population vanished during the war, a fear of persecution has led to a collective forgetting of history.
Loizeau mixes the moving stories of those who search in vain for their loved ones with footage capturing the newly-polished surface of Chechnya, a country that remains internally traumatised and restless.
Chechnya, War Without Trace won the Grand Prize of the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) at 2015 FIFDH (Human Rights Forum and Film Festival) in Geneva.
Shortly after the showing it will appear on the club's YouTube channel, plus the Q&A:http://www.frontlineclub.com/screening-chechnya-war-without-trace-qa/
davidbfpo
08-25-2015, 01:36 PM
A long article 'Russia’s Playing a Double Game With Islamic Terror' in The Daily Beast by Michael Weiss; the sub-title is:
Even as America touts its counterterrorism partnerships with Russia, evidence points to the FSB directly feeding Dagestanis to ISISLink:http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/23/russia-s-playing-a-double-game-with-islamic-terror.html?
I have placed the thread here as whilst Moscow features, the Caucasus is the focal point. IRRC allegations have been made before that supposedly legendary Chechen fighters are in the Middle East, Weiss assembles a good case that they are in effect being exported. Note he relies on one study of a village as a test case.
A couple of choice passages:
It may sound paradoxical—helping the enemy of your friend—but the logic is actually straightforward: Better the terrorists go abroad and fight in Syria than blow things up in Russia. Penetrating and co-opting terrorism also has a long, well-attested history in the annals of Chekist tradecraft.Hence a reported 50% drop in violence in the region.
Not that exporting Islamist fighters, many then aspiring and without extensive experience, is unprecedented - remember Afghanistan? Weiss cites the head of the Jamestown Foundation:
What’s the most significant policy decision we made to bring down the Soviet Union? Us sending foreign fighters into Afghanistan. This is the perfect form of payback. Create a quagmire in Syria, get us bogged down—all the while, offer your cooperation in helping to root out terrorism.One wonders how the Assad regime and their Iranian allies view this export drive. I expect the Syrians know all too well what is going on and of course Russia still supplies ample ammunition and weapons.
Moderator at work: this post was in a stand alone thread, with 5k views now merged to here (ends).
davidbfpo
08-26-2015, 09:30 PM
The Chechens were reported to be going to Afghanistan in this 2007 thread:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/showthread.php?t=3754
A cautionary note and wise words from Tom Odom.
davidbfpo
10-06-2015, 10:45 AM
An Open Democracy article; that starts with:
t’s no secret that young men and women from the North Caucasus are fighting in Iraq and Syria for Islamic State. From Europe, where they lived as refugees, and Egypt and Syria, where they studied in religious institutes, men and women originally from Russia’s North Caucasus have been travelling to join Islamic State (IS) over the past 18 months. But there are also young men and women who have travelled to Iraq and Syria from Chechnya itself. And now these fighters are appearing on YouTube, declaring they will return to their homeland and ‘put things right’. Chechnya’s security services, however, are trying to limit the influence of IS ideology on the republic’s youth, which continues to emigrate under various guises.
Link:https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/beslan-uspanov/how-to-fight-islamic-state-in-chechnya
davidbfpo
11-07-2015, 11:10 AM
A rare report on a village in Dagestan, in summary:
This village used to house one of the North Caucasus’ most dangerous Islamist paramilitary units. With the Russian state nowhere to be seen, Gubden has started policing—and developing—itself.
Link:https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/badma-biurchiev/gubden-dagestan-where-radicals-police-themselves
OUTLAW 09
11-08-2015, 01:04 PM
AND Putin does not already have a jihadi problem.............so what is he doing in Syria......?
875 Russian law enforcement officers were killed in Northern Caucasus since 2010
https://slon.ru/posts/59270
OUTLAW 09
01-02-2016, 05:22 PM
Official Repression of Salafis in North Caucasus Seen Radicalizing Other Muslims There
http://www.interpretermag.com/official-repression-of-salafis-in-north-caucasus-seen-radicalizing-other-muslims-there/ …
davidbfpo
01-11-2016, 08:34 AM
The focus of this long article is Istanbul's Chechen community, but refers to events back home:http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/10/murder-istanbul-chechen-kremlin-russia-abdulvakhid-edelgireyev
I was intrigued by this passage and the highlighted remark:
By 2012, he was ready to fight again, but conditions in Chechnya had become almost impossible. The Chechen source now living in Ukraine explained how things got progressively harder from 2004, when mobile phones began to be widespread in Chechnya.
“Before, we would go to the villages, stock up and spend the night, and then go back to the forest, but that’s impossible now. Everyone has a mobile phone; the minute you show yourself you’re dead.
OUTLAW 09
03-30-2016, 11:13 AM
…
via @zvezdanews
Well IS did promise Russia a response to their being in Syria......
Explosion at checkpoint in Dagestan
http://isis.liveuamap.com/en/2016/30-march-explosion-at-checkpoint-in-dagestan …
pic.twitter.com/8QEYb2ggOe
via @tombreadley
davidbfpo
05-13-2016, 04:40 PM
New thread for visibility and this is an intriguing matter, by an Indian author who "lurks" here. A Russian woman spy for 4-5yrs within, my emphasis:
It is therefore very surprising that ISIS had, on its own, admitted a Russian intelligence agency’s penetration for 4-5 years into their group in the May issue of their “Istok” magazine. This was picked up by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) who published it on 9 May 2016 quoting long excerpts from their statement that they had executed a woman named Elvira Karaeva belonging to its Caucasus affiliate.Rightly the author points out:
Terrorist groups do not normally give details how they frustrate intelligence penetration into their ranks unless it is for propaganda advantage.....We should remember that the ISIS intelligence is manned by Saddam era specialists (Mukhabarat) who had close contacts with Soviet intelligence.Link:http://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/NewsDetail/index/1/7692/Russian-Spy-Karavas-Execution-by-ISIS-Is-There-More-Than-Meets-the-Eye
davidbfpo
05-13-2016, 04:58 PM
A long Reuters report, sub=titled:
For years Islamic militants in Russia were hunted by police. But then the authorities changed tack and allowed some to travel to the Middle East, sources say.
Link:http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/russia-militants/
Hat tip to Outlaw09 for spotting this and posting a link elsewhere.
OUTLAW 09
06-17-2016, 10:50 AM
While Russian bombs anti Assad opposition they seem to have their own jihadi problems at home.....
Big shoot-out in Dagestan, apparently
https://twitter.com/lifenews_ru/status/743747888665157637 …
Russian counter-terror operation in Dagestan: 4 spetsnaz KIA; 6 wounded in the district of Derbenthttps://tvrain.ru/news/dagestan-411537/ …
Entire Spetsnaz team taken out it appears....
3 districts in #Dagestan, south #Russia, experienced #fighting between the police & Islamist militants last night:
https://lenta.ru/news/2016/06/17/dagestan/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter …
OUTLAW 09
06-22-2016, 11:57 AM
Protest in #Makhachkala, #Dagestan, about imam's appointment to a local #mosque turned violent: see video
https://youtu.be/3qsLMWfnCWA?list=PL-trOzkdvi8epsCzLIcx6SB6RSEsdzmN_ …
OUTLAW 09
06-22-2016, 12:15 PM
Rights group says Suleimanov, listed as shot in recent Dagestan CTO, may actually have been kidnapped and killed
https://eng.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/35977/
davidbfpo
07-05-2016, 06:32 PM
At a recent conference @ Oxford University, hosted by Pembroke College, entitled 'The Lure of Jihad: Propaganda & the Construction of Jihadist Identities' amidst the presentations was one talk that fits here: 'Emirate or Caliphate? Competing Calls to Jihad in the North Caucasus Insurgency' by Mark Youngman, of Birmingham University.
In the potted history given he pointed out that:
The 2007 proclamation of a Caucasus Emirate was a victory of the jihadists over the nationalists;
The split in Syria of the JMA, a Chechen group, in late 2013, was quickly replicated in the North Caucasus. This was followed by the Emirate being significantly weakened and then in July 2015 an ISIS Wilayah was proclaimed;
This declaration was very dubious, with virtually no media explanation and no explanation how this would affect the domestic situation.
In a discussion it was suggested that the "split" was inspired by the FSB. This was supported by the first IS statement appearing on a website the FSB ran! It suits the FSB's purpose that all their opponents are IS.
At a recent conference @ Oxford University, hosted by Pembroke College, entitled 'The Lure of Jihad: Propaganda & the Construction of Jihadist Identities' amidst the presentations was one talk that fits here: 'Emirate or Caliphate? Competing Calls to Jihad in the North Caucasus Insurgency' by Mark Youngman, of Birmingham University.
In the potted history given he pointed out that:
The 2007 proclamation of a Caucasus Emirate was a victory of the jihadists over the nationalists;
The split in Syria of the JMA, a Chechen group, in late 2013, was quickly replicated in the North Caucasus. This was followed by the Emirate being significantly weakened and then in July 2015 an ISIS Wilayah was proclaimed;
This declaration was very dubious, with virtually no media explanation and no explanation how this would affect the domestic situation.
In a discussion it was suggested that the "split" was inspired by the FSB. This was supported by the first IS statement appearing on a website the FSB ran! It suits the FSB's purpose that all their opponents are IS.
Putin's approach in Chechnya worked because he was able to co-opt a major rebel faction and enable it to subdue the restive republic, not unlike how the US-led coalition worked with the Northern Alliance in 2001 against the Taliban. Of course victory is never complete and the Kadyrovtsi and Russian security forces will be playing whack-a-mole in that rugged country until the end days.
The dual Syrian and Iraqi Civil Wars provided the perfect safety valve for the build up of Islamist tension in the Caucasus, and the Russian are rumored to have facilitated the jihadi trail to Nusra and Daesh where these fighters could be bombed by the Syrians, Iraqis, Russians and Americans, turn on each other or be taken out of the game by other rebel factions. This tactic was tried by Bashar Al-Assad during the Iraq War, although it only deferred the problem...
See here from Jamestown on Caucasian Radicalization:
http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=45575&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=7&cHash=1b508932942123d8036e9d535a3d8c99
OUTLAW 09
07-08-2016, 05:29 AM
Militants Killed In Daghestan Clashes
http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-daghestan-militants-killed-operation/27844768.html …
davidbfpo
10-26-2016, 07:58 PM
A classic account from a place I've never heard of and where Russian COIN / CT is very different:
...the police officer can no longer revert to cruel methods of investigation against a person who prays next to him.
(Later) The example of Kabardino-Balkaria indicates that the authorities normally prefer to strike preemptively to antagonize, alienate and radicalize the Muslim community in order to justify the government terror that follows. The full title is 'Why Is Karachaevo-Cherkessia Quiet When Its Neighbors Suffer From Violence?'. Link:https://jamestown.org/program/karachaevo-cherkessia-quiet-neighbors-suffer-violence/
OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 07:14 PM
DFR Lab @DFRLab
"Dear friends! ...we have neutralized a very dangerous militant group" #Kadyrov’s Hunt for an #ISIS Sleeper Cell:
https://medium.com/p/4d38cbbe3f11/
OUTLAW 09
01-19-2017, 10:45 AM
The antiterrorist op conducted in Vremenny (Dagestan), in which a whole village was destroyed, now in the ECHR:
http://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/296209/#
OUTLAW 09
03-31-2017, 05:51 PM
Chechen militants emerging from the forests as winter ends - both IS-linked cadres, and small unknown groups
http://www.kavkazr.com/a/v-lesakh-chechni-zamechany-boeviki/28401895.html#
Chechnya has seen 4 major militant attacks in last 4 months - marked shift from prevailing calm in 2015 - late 2016
http://www.kavkazr.com/a/v-chechne-net-terrorizma-no-esty-terakty/28400863.html#
OUTLAW 09
04-01-2017, 11:36 AM
Social media calls to murder gays in Chechnya; many fleeing republic; victims include clergy and TV anchors
https://www.novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/04/01/71983-ubiystvo-chesti?utm_source=push#
Chechnya doing everything today to avoid a large scale gay pride march....
Mass crackdown on LGBT in Chechnya; more than 100 men detained; a few released; at least 3 confirmed killed;
https://www.novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/04/01/71983-ubiystvo-chesti?utm_source=push#
OUTLAW 09
04-01-2017, 07:44 PM
Kadyrov spox: Gays not persecuted in Chechnya b/c any gays there would be sent somewhere "they wouldn't return" from
http://www.interfax.ru/russia/556385
OUTLAW 09
04-14-2017, 07:55 AM
.@novaya_gazeta fears for safety of reporters after Chechen Islamic leaders swear vengeance over gay abuse reports:
https://www.novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/04/13/72146-zayavlenie-novoy-gazety-v-svyazi-s-otkrytymi-ugrozami-prozvuchavshimi-v-adres-redaktsii#
Chechnya has created a single prison now for gays...many have been arrested/tortured...then killed and or have simply "disappeared" leading to claims gays do not exist in Chechnya....
Unbelievably sad, grim, important story by @shaunwalker7 on persecution of men suspected of being gay in Chechnya:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/13/they-called-us-animals-chechens-prison-beatings-electric-shocks-anti-gay-purge#
Russia urged to investigate alleged killings of gay people in Chechnya
http://ti.me/2odEpUU
OUTLAW 09
04-15-2017, 01:00 PM
First hand accounts of the purge of gay men going on in Chechnya right now. Grim but necessary reading.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/13/they-called-us-animals-chechens-prison-beatings-electric-shocks-anti-gay-purge?CMP=share_btn_tw#
OUTLAW 09
04-15-2017, 01:34 PM
First hand accounts of the purge of gay men going on in Chechnya right now. Grim but necessary reading.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/13/they-called-us-animals-chechens-prison-beatings-electric-shocks-anti-gay-purge?CMP=share_btn_tw#
Important:
There's open hunt for Russian journalists behind gay murders expos in Chechnya
https://en.hromadske.ua/posts/journalists-at-novaya-gazeta-are-threatened
A promise of “retribution without statute of limitations” for those risking their safety to report on the atrocities happening in #Chechnya.
OUTLAW 09
04-17-2017, 05:37 PM
Chechen minister says divine retribution threats against Novaya Gazeta journos are just "ordinary local rhetoric."
https://meduza.io/news/2017/04/17/chechenskiy-ministr-nazval-ugrozy-zhurnalistam-normalnoy-kavkazskoy-ritorikoy …
OUTLAW 09
04-17-2017, 06:15 PM
Moscow-backed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has said that the Islamic State group (ISIS) is sending Nato-trained assassins to kill him.
davidbfpo
11-21-2017, 11:49 AM
A short article via CREST, which points to a longer, free report and starts with:
Despite its early and spectacular successes in Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State (IS) has, over the last year, suffered repeated setbacks that have weakened its ability to control captured territory and implement its state-building agenda. A key aspect of IS’s strategy has been the mobilisation of supporters across Russia and the former Soviet Union. Other rebel groups in Syria have also attracted support from these areas, illustrating the need for a proper understanding of the Russian-speaking militant milieu, beyond IS’s territorial claims.Link:https://crestresearch.ac.uk/comment/russian-speaking-foreign-fighters/
davidbfpo
03-05-2018, 11:33 AM
A resource to watch by Mark Youngman, a PhD student @ Birmingham University, on the region; it assembles his previous work and now adds a pointer to others recent research.
Link:https://mark-youngman.com/ and the recent research:https://mark-youngman.com/2018/03/04/recent-research-on-the-north-caucasus-march-2018/
davidbfpo
05-03-2018, 06:54 PM
Not the first ISIS inspired attack in Russia:
The terrorist organization "Islamic State" (IS) banned in Russia claimed responsibility for a man's attack on policemen in the Stavropol Territory.
Link:http://www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/43086/? (http://www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/43086/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter)
davidbfpo
08-29-2018, 07:36 AM
Two background articles via Open Democracy on the regional conflict and linked I noted by an act of revenge.
The first is about the Second Chechen War and is summarised as:
Chechen journalist Abdul Itslayev lived out the Second Chechen War in his native village. Against a backdrop of rocket attacks, murder and robbery, he tried to piece together what, in fact, was happening
Link:https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/abdul-itslaev/the-second-chechen-war?
The second is more historical 'Will the war in Russia’s North Caucasus ever end?' and aims to explain:
Over the past 200 years, war and colonisation has defined Russia’s North Caucasus. But in a period of relative calm, significant changes are still underway.
Link:https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/denis-sokolov/will-the-war-in-russias-north-caucasus-ever-end?
The link:
On 4 August 2018, tens of thousands of mourners gathered in the Chechen village of Geldagen (https://www.rferl.org/a/caucasus-temerkhanov-convicted-killing-budyanov-russian-colonel-buried-chechnya/29412668.html) to bury Yusup Temerkhanov. Thousands more sent their condolences via WhatsApp. Temerkhanov died in a Siberian prison hospital during a 15-year sentence for the murder of Yuri Budanov. A Russian army colonel, Budanov had been convicted in 2003 for the kidnapping and murder of Elza Kungayeva, a Chechen woman, during the Second Chechen War. He was released on parole in 2009 – and shot dead in Moscow two years later. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who was present at the funeral, said in his eulogy that Temerkhanov’s guilt hadn’t been proven and that he had been unjustly convicted. But the crowd of people in Geldagen had gathered to honour the memory of the man who had become the embodiment of a nation’s revenge for the rape and murder of a young Chechen woman by a Russian war criminal.
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