The North Caucasus: Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia

[Jedburgh]

CSIS, 18 Sep 07: 49 Steps To Improve Human Rights and Security in the North Caucasus

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, North Ossetia, in September 2004, and an October 2005 assault on police and security forces by local youths and terrorists in Nalchik, 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]

CSRC, 27 Nov 07: North Caucasus: Advent of Mountain Brigades

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.