Stability in Russia's Chechnya and Other Regions of the North Caucasus: Recent Developments. (April 3, 2009)

摘要

In recent years, major terrorist attacks have abated in Russia's North Caucasus-a border area between the Black and Caspian Seas that includes the formerly breakaway Chechnya and other ethnic-based regions-although small- scale attacks reportedly continue. Previous major terrorist attacks included the June 2004 raid on security offices in the town of Nazran (in Ingushetia), where nearly 100 security personnel and civilians were killed, and the September 2004 attack at the Beslan grade school (in North Ossetia), where 300 or more civilians were killed. The dearth of such attacks might in part be attributed to government tactics, including over a thousand sweep operations ('zachistki') carried out in the North Caucasus. During these operations, security forces surround a village and search all the citizens, ostensibly in a bid to apprehend terrorists. Critics of the operations allege that the security forces frequently engage in pillaging and gratuitous violence and are responsible for kidnapping for ransom and 'disappearances' of civilians. Through these sweeps, as well as through direct clashes, most of the masterminds of major terrorist attacks have been killed. Besides the apparently frequent small-scale attacks against government targets in several regions of the North Caucasus, many ethnic Russian and other non-native civilians have been murdered or have disappeared, which has spurred the migration of most of the non-native population from the North Caucasus. Russian authorities argue that foreign terrorist groups continue to operate in the North Caucasus and to receive outside financial and material assistance. Some observers warn that rising popular discontent might contribute to the re-emergence of major terrorism in the North Caucasus.