Putin says attempts to foment ethnic strife in North Caucasus are betrayal

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin denounced attempts to foment ethnic strife in
the North Caucasus as betrayal, ITAR-TASS reports.
He recalled the role played by the Botlikh people of Dagestan in repelling an
international terrorist attack. Putin talked about the civilians, military
personnel, militiamen, Cossacks, clergymen, public figures and
journalists, representatives of different ethnic groups and faiths who lost
their lives in the struggle against terrorism.
 “People in the southern regions of our country have always been populated
by courageous, bold and strong-willed peoples, each having its own language
and culture, but all sharing one country – Russia, and one centuries-old
and very controversial but great and common history,” the prime minister
said, ITAR-TASS reports.