The North Caucasus: Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia

[kaur]

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_we...icleid=2374380

[Jedburgh]

JFQ, 2nd Qtr 2010: Unintended Strategic Consequences of Security Assistance in the South Caucasus

....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....

[kaur]

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

[Cliff]

An interesting Op-ed article on the Guardian's web site, by way of World Politics Review's 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]

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]

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]

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]

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…"

[Jesse9252]

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]

....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? 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 go back to October 2000.

RFE/RL 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 thread also has a number of links you may find of use.

Finally, you can view the other perspective at the Kavkaz Center

[kaur]

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/...te-hit-by.html

[kaur]

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/...r-muslims.html

[kaur]

Танки в боях за Грозный. Часть 1, 2

The blog promises that you can download those materials.

http://botter.livejournal.com/133244.html

[jkhutson]

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]

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]

The Russian COIN campaign in North Caucasus

Entry Excerpt:



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Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

[davidbfpo]

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-russ...thern-caucasus

[Jedburgh]

ICG, 19 Oct 12: The North Caucasus: The Challenges of Integration

Part I: Ethnicity and Conflict

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

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.

[kaur]

Photo serie about Russian troops raid against insurgents.

http://hardingush.livejournal.com/14425.html

[davidbfpo]

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/worl...-Bombings.html