The North Caucasus: Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia

[George L. Singleton]

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]

Sniper. The internet trains many...

[bourbon]

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.

[kaur]

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

[kaur]

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/...-on-using.html

[Surferbeetle]

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

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.

[kaur]

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=B5u...picer#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.

[Kevin23]

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]

On the FP link:http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...ias_secret_war

davidbfpo

[bourbon]

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]

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]

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 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!