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.
