Musa Musayev, Makhachkala. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
Considering the information space of Russia, a calm period took place in the North Caucasus last month, even though recently explosions and fire-fights were numerous in the region. Has the violence been stopped? No, the region simply fell out of the information space. An illusion of stability appeared. The reality was different. Special operations took place, but the mass media didn’t report about them. According to journalists, the mass media got an unvoiced order to close its eyes to crimes during the Olympic Games. At the same time, there really were no terrorist attacks and armed attacks on the police in the period.
Jihad as extreme tourism
The apparently calmer period is a result of frequent special operations held in the last year. More than 150 militants were killed, including more than a dozen odious leaders. Yesterday, the leader of the Khasavyurt gang was killed, as well as four other militants. Recently, the leader of the Dagestani criminal underground and his militant supporters were killed in Makhachkala. Moreover, sabotage terrorist groups operating in troublesome regions of Dagestan were eliminated. As a result, “recruits” who decided to become militants had no opportunity to join a gang.
However, an international net of allies who recruit young people into militant groups is operating in Dagestan. Not only local residents, but young people from other regions of Russia and even from abroad have joined the militants. A year ago a Russian emigree from Canada was found among killed militants in the Sergokalinsk region of Dagestan. He returned to Russia, but not to his home, the Urals. He came to Dagestan for jihad.
In 2008-2011 a separate group of militants in forests could reach 40 people. Foreigners were numerous among them. Militants attacked policemen, blew up and fired on their cars. But the militant groups which hid in the forests of the Karabudakhkent, Sergokolinsk, Buynaksk, Tsuntinsk and Tsumadinsk regions were eliminated. In the last two years the sabotage terrorist groups have consisted of 3-5 people each, only some of them involve 10 people.
Who are the lords of forest – the militants or the special forces?
In recent years militant groups have been found and surrrounded mostly in residential areas. They stopped being the lords of the forests and mountain passes. Today the forests are occupied by special forces. Patrols and checkpoints of law-enforcement agencies are focused there. And it became a guarantee of relative stability. Earlier, militants had an opportunity to train in the forests and they appeared in residential areas with experience.
When the number of officers of the law-enforcement agencies grew in the region it became difficult for the militants to move around, pass checkpoints, and establish field bases. Special forces are eliminating the forest infrastructure and depriving recruits of arms. In 2013 there were 185 attempts on the lives of officers of the law-enforcement agencies. In 2012 there were 204 such attempts.
To be continued
