Russian pollsters say that the Russian public has changed its attitude toward the North Caucasus over the years. The authoritative Moscow-based polling organization, the Levada-Center, polled Russians about the North Caucasus throughout the 1990s and 2000s. “When the war was still ongoing in the North... MORE

The October 21 suicide bombing of a Volgograd passenger bus was carried out, apparently, by a woman originally from the North Caucasian republic of Dagestan (see EDM, October 25). Nevertheless, a Russian website has recently asserted that the country’s Islamist groups would like to recruit... MORE

On October 22, government forces deployed in Dagestan’s mountains were significantly reinforced when at least 500 servicemen arrived in the district of Untsukul. Government forces will reportedly also be sent to other districts in Dagestan’s mountainous region to improve the deteriorating security situation in the... MORE

Suicide bomber attacks in the North Caucasus rarely make headlines in the rest of the Russian Federation. Yet, any violent attack in Russia outside the North Caucasus, in ethnic Russian regions, is alarming to Russians, since they realize it could have affected them personally.The latest... MORE

It appears that Moscow views appointing people in the regions who constantly declare loyalty to the Kremlin the best strategy to combat extremism, separatism and terrorism. At the same time, the region’s problems are regarded as a matter of secondary importance compared to the declarations... MORE

On October 18, an explosion shook the village of Dugulubgei in the Baksan district of Kabardino-Balkaria. An improvised explosive device (IED) with an estimated force of 10 kilograms of TNT exploded at a local cemetery located next to a mosque. The remains of two people... MORE

Dagestani leader Ramazan Abdulatipov last week (October 14) directed the district and city anti-terrorist commissions in his North Caucasus republic to launch a campaign to recall all Dagestani young people now studying abroad, especially in “crisis countries” where “various kinds of “terrorist actions, revolutions and... MORE

On October 13, massive riots started in the Moscow district of Biryulyovo, which is located in the southern part of the city (see EDM, October 17). Many observers dubbed the events a traditional Russian pogrom against ethnic non-Russians. The participants of the riots stormed a... MORE

On October 15, the trial of the former military emir of the Caucasus Emirate and emir of the Ingush jamaat, Magas (a.k.a. Ali Taziev, Magomed Yevloev) concluded. Magas was the emir of Ingushetia from 2001 to 2010 and the military emir of the entire North... MORE

In a search for solutions to the problem of the North Caucasus, the Russian government is returning to the practices of Russia’s Tsarist rulers. It is unclear who in the Kremlin is advocating and directing this approach, claiming that things were better under the tsars,... MORE