By the end of 2010, the Russian government’s policy toward the North Caucasus unexpectedly received perhaps the strongest setback right on the Moscow streets. On December 11, 2010 a crowd of Russian nationalists estimated to be 5,000 people staged riots near the Kremlin, shouting such... MORE

Dagestan made the greatest contribution to the general trend of destabilization in the North Caucasus in 2010. Out of 178 deaths in terror attacks in the North Caucasus and Moscow in 2010, 68 occurred in or originated from Dagestan (38 percent). A total of 112... MORE

An analysis by Kavkavsky Uzel found that the security situation deteriorated significantly last year in Kabardino-Balkaria, where rebels became markedly more active. According to the website, there was a sharp jump in the number of gun attacks, bombings and terrorist acts in the republic during... MORE

Disgruntled al-Shabaab fighters are increasingly deserting the radical Islamist group after years of fighting for the movement in southern Somalia. The deserters are mainly from southern Somalia’s Hawiye clan, while the movement’s current leader, Shaykh Ahmad Abdi Godane “Abu Zubayr,” hails from the Isaaq clan... MORE

The role of Egyptian Islamists in creating al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) can be traced back to the efforts of Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) organization to overthrow the Egyptian regime in the 1990s. Al-Zawahiri played no direct role in... MORE

On January 1, the head of the criminal police department of Untsukul district, Magomedrasul Makachev, was gunned down in his own home. Untsukul is an area in the Dagestani mountains that is known for its strong Islamic traditions and formidable, unending fight against government forces... MORE

On December 29, 2010, a prominent Circassian ethnographer, Arsen Tsipinov, was gunned down at the doorsteps of his home in a suburb of Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria. Tsipinov was known for his active role in promoting Circassian ethnic identity and culture. The ethnographer’s killing... MORE

The chairman of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Kabardino-Balkaria, Anas Pshikhachev, was murdered on December 15 in the republic’s capital, Nalchik. An official with Kabardino-Balkaria’s Investigative Committee was quoted as saying that two unidentified men arrived at the mufti’s home, asked him to come... MORE

On December 11, the largest ever Russian nationalist riots in modern Russia broke out in Moscow. The protesters, consisting of about 5,000 soccer fans and members of several Russian nationalist organizations, gathered at Manezh Square, which is adjacent to the Kremlin and Red Square. They... MORE

Russian Deputy Prosecutor-General, Ivan Sydoruk, said on December 8 that the number of terrorist acts committed in the North Caucasus Federal District rose 100 percent in comparison to last year. According to Sydoruk, 14 terrorist acts have been carried out in the district this year.... MORE