The Upsurge of Islamist Violence in the North Caucasus: Exploring the Case Studies of Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria

Abstract

Recent years have seen an increase in subversive activities emanating from the North Caucasus-based Islamist insurgents who seek to establish an independent Islamic theocracy on the southwestern-most fringe of Russia, a volatile region predominantly inhabited by Muslim ethnic subgroups. In fact, according to official Russian sources, the frequency of terrorist attacks in the region increased by 60 percent from 2008 to 2009—that is, the very same year that president Dmitry Medvedev announced the formal end of the virtually decade-long anti-terrorist operation in the breakaway province of Chechnya. In 2010, this virulent trend continued further, with attacks resulting in the deaths of 151 people and injuries to 656 others, nearly doubling the previous year‘s account of 92 killed and 332 wounded. While there has been a recent decline in the levels of violence in Chechnya and Ingushetia, the situation has been further deteriorating in Kabardino-Balkaria and Dagestan, Russia‘s autonomous ethnic areas in the North Caucasus region. Indeed, according to recent estimates, the rate of violent acts carried out by members of the Caucasus Emirate or groups of militants associating themselves with the ongoing