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Dagestan: A New Flashpoint in Russia’s North Caucasus

Member

Hon. Joseph Pitts

Commissioner

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

Moderator

Kyle Parker

Policy Advisor

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

Witnesses

Svetlana Gannushkina

Chair

Civic Assistance Committee for Refugees

Alexei Malashenko

Co-Chair

Religion, Society and Security Program

Elena Milashina

Investigative journalist

Novaya Gazeta

During this briefing Kyle Parker, policy advisor at the Commission, addressed Dagestan, the largest republic in the North Caucasus, which had joined Chechnya and Ingushetia on Russia’s security concern list. The increase in violence, human rights abuses, radicalization of the population, religious extremism, and a growing insurgency within the legal vacuum in Dagestan had grave implications for the entire southern periphery of Russia and the Caucasus region as a whole.

Leading experts from Russia – Svetlana Gannushkina, Alexei Malashenko, and Elena Milashina – addressed the consistent attacks on authorities by armed gunmen, disappearances and murders of local residents and acts of terror, and provided insight into the complex socio-political environment of Dagestan. They highlighted the local authorities’ response, which included adopting counter-insurgency policies and methods reminiscent of the brutality seen in Chechnya and Ingushetia.

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