A Look At The War That Russia Is Fighting That No One Is Noticing

The Russians Are Waging A Counter-Insurgency Battle That No One Is Talking About -- Business Insider/Central Eurasia Standard

While everyone in the States was busy thinking about/ignoring the debates, a Russian Anti-Terrorism force launched an operation that resulted in 49 militants killed and 219 people taken into custody.

As Central Eurasia Standard has previously reported, the Northern Caucasus are seething. Militants have attacked police stations, checkpoints, hospitals, and energy infrastructure. Suicide bombs are frequently detonated, and the conflict is spilling over into previously stable regions.

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My Comment: This war .... and it is a war .... is (fortunately) being covered extensively within Russia itself (through new media). But aside from this coverage .... it is true .... no one else is paying attention to what has increasingly become a bloody and violent insurgency. My prediction .... international news coverage of this conflict will only start when the Sochi Winter Olympics are a few months away from opening .... especially since Muslim rebels have already stated that these Olympics will be a prime target.

Heavy Fighting Reported In Russia's Caucasus

Russian Forces Kill 49 Militants In North Caucasus -- The Guardian

Russia's top anti-terrorism agency announces deaths days after Vladimir Putin led meeting of country's security council.

Russian security forces have killed 49 militants in an operation across the North Caucasus region, where rebels are fighting to carve out an Islamic state, Russia's top anti-terrorism body has said.

The agency, which serves as a mouthpiece for law enforcement agencies operating in the region, gave no time period for the operation, which was launched days after the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, led a meeting of the country's security council.

Putin has pushed the North Caucasus insurgency, rooted in two separatist wars in Chechnya, back to the forefront of national politics.

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More News On Reports Of Heavy Fighting In Russia's Caucasus Region

49 militants killed in sweeping Russian anti-terror op (VIDEO)-- RT
Russian Forces Kill 49 Rebels in North Caucasus Strike -- New York Times
Russia kills 49 Islamist militants in North Caucasus -- The Telegraph
Russia: Dozens of militants killed in North Caucasus region -- Euronews
49 militants killed by Russia in Caucasus operation, says state anti-terror agency -- NBC/Reuters
Russia: Security Forces Kill 49 Militants in North Caucasus Operation -- Voice of America
Russia says fighters killed in North Caucasus -- Al Jazeera
Russian forces take few prisoners in security sweep -- Deutsche Welle

Russia's Bloody Conflict Against Radical Islamists In The Caucasus Has Claimed Hundreds Of Lives In The Past Few Months

Vladimir Putin. © RIA Novosti. Alexey Druzhinin

Hundreds Of Terrorists Killed In Recent Months - Putin -- RIA Novosti

Russian police and interior troops have killed more than 300 militants, including 43 warlords, in North Caucasus in the past few months, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.

“In the past several months, 479 militants were detained, and 313 terrorists, who refused to surrender, were killed, including 43 leaders,” Putin told a meeting on ways to fight terrorism in Russia.

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More News On Russian President Putin's Remarks On The Conflict In The Caucasus

Putin Says 313 Terrorists 'Eliminated' In Recent Months -- Radio Free Europe
Putin: Russia must be unyielding against terrorists -- RT
Putin demands tighter crackdown on terrorists -- Voice of Russia
Putin urges Russian intelligence, police to stamp out terror, prevent attacks at 2014 Olympics -- Washington Post/AP

Russia's Conflict With Radical Islam is Increasing

Terrorists Are Killing Hundreds Of Russians And The Kremlin Has No Idea What To Do -- Business Insider

The past month has brought a surge in reporting on conflicts, skirmishes and violence in the Caucasus region of southern Russia.

These are not only insurgencies against Russia, but also a hostage situation in Georgia. As always, reports are inconclusive and questions always remain about motivation and who exactly is fighting whom.

Much of the conflict appears to originate in Dagestan, which is the seat of an extremely violent insurgency. Skirmishes appear to be spilling into Georgia, and worryingly for Putin, into the heartland of Russia.

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My Comment: On my last trip to Russia I was stunned by the visceral hatred that many Russians feel towards those who are from the Caucasus .... specifically against those from Muslim provinces. This is becoming Putin's (and Russia's) number one national security problem, and it would not surprise me if in the coming months extreme police and military measures will be used in suppressing this conflict.

Russian Military Strike Against Terrorist Camp In Caucasus Kills 17

17 Militants Killed In Strike On Terrorist Camp In Russian North Caucasus -- RIA Novosti

Seventeen militants were killed on Monday in combined air and ground strikes on a terrorist camp in Russia's North Caucasus region, a spokesman for the National Anti-Terrorist Committee said.

The strikes were part of an ongoing operation to capture terrorists thought to be behind a suicide bombing at Moscow's busiest airport in January that left 37 people dead.

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More News On The War In The Caucasus

Russian 'Precision Air Strike' Kills 17 North Caucasus Rebels -- Radio Free Europe
Russia 'kills 17 North Caucasus militants' -- BBC
Russia kills 17 Caucasus rebels in precision air strike -- AFP
Russia kills 17 Caucasus rebels in precision air strike -- Radio Netherlands
Clashes in Russia's Caucasus kill 20-reports -- Reuters
2 law enforcement officers shot and killed in Russia's restive province of Dagestan -- Canadian Press
Gunmen kill serviceman in Russian Caucasus: police -- Asia One/AFP
Chechnya's President Says Insurgency Dying Down -- Voice of America
Russia: Colonial Rule Of North Caucasus Approaching End, Analyst Says – Analysis -- Eurasia Review

Russia's Growing Insurgency In The Caucasus

Insurgency In Russia's Caucasus A Growing Threat -- Washington Post

MAKHACHKALA, Russia -- A police officer stopped at a traffic light in Dagestan's capital is gunned down from an adjacent car. A driver blows himself up at a checkpoint. The mayor has survived 15 assassination attempts.

Attacks on authorities take place almost daily in Dagestan, the largest and most violent of Russia's mostly Muslim provinces in the North Caucasus, a breeding ground for terror spreading all the way to Moscow.

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My Comment: Russians are now resigned to the idea that this conflict will last for years .... if not decades. And like the West's war against Islamic extremist organizations like Al Qaeda .... we have no choice but to be in it for the long haul.

16 Killed And 130 Wounded In Market Bomb Attack In Russia

Medvedev Vows To Destroy Vladikavkaz Bombing Masterminds -- RIA Novosti

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday police are to spare nothing to track down and destroy those responsible for the terrorist attack in the southern Russian city of Vladikavkaz.

At least 16 people were killed and 98 injured in a suicide car bombing in Vladikavkaz, the capital of the country's North Caucasus republic of North Ossetia. Many injured are in critical condition.

The blast occurred near the city's central market around midday, police said.

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More News On The Market Terror Attack In Vladikavkaz

Suicide attack in Russia kills 15, wounds over 130 -- Yahoo News/AP
Suicide bomber kills 15 at Russian Caucasus market -- Yahoo News/AFP
Car bomb kills 15 at market in Russia's Caucasus -- Yahoo News/Reuters
Russian Market Explosion Kills at Least 15 -- Voice of America
Big toll in Russian market bomb -- BBC
Suicide bomber kills at least 15 in market -- UPI
Russian market hit by deadly car bomb -- The Guardian
Putin Calls on Muslims to Battle Terror After Blast Kills 15 -- Bloomberg
Putin strongly condemns deadly terrorist attack in Russia -- Xinhuanet
Blast in Vladikavkaz designed to promote enmity – Putin -- RT
Medvedev orders to seize or destroy organizers of Vladikavkaz attack -- RT

Dagestan Suicide Bombing Kills 5 Russian Soldiers

Dagestan Suicide Bombing Targets Russian Military -- Christian Science Monitor

A Dagestan suicide bombing that struck a Russian military base Sunday underscored the difficulties Moscow faces in stamping out violence in the restive republic.

A suicide bomber in Russia’s restive republic of Dagestan blew up a car bomb on a military installation Sunday, killing at least three Russian soldiers and wounding at least 32.

It is only the latest attack in the North Caucasus, where Russia has been battling a growing insurgency for years that has challenged the legacy of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who as president vowed to wipe out the unrest (See map of region here).

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More News On The Conflict In Dagestan

5 Russian Soldiers Killed in Dagestan Suicide Bombing -- Voice of America
Bomb Kills Five Soldiers in Russia's Caucasus -- Wall Street Journal
Five killed, scores hurt in Dagestan suicide bombing -- The Province/AFP
At Least Three Killed, Dozens Injured In Daghestan Suicide Bombing -- Radio Free Europe
Dagestan car bombing kills five Russian soldiers -- BBC

Car Bomb Injures Dagestan Regional-Government Minister, Kills His Driver -- Bloomberg
In Dagestan, a bomb wounds a government minister -- CNN
Daghestan Car Bomb Wounds Official, Kills Driver -- Radio Free Europe

Buinaksk bombing shows militants still have powers - Dagestan's president -- RIA Novosti
Russia's defense minister arrives in Dagestan -- RIA Novosti
Medvedev orders help for those affected in N. Caucasus suicide bombing -- RIA Novosti

Chechnya And Its Neighbors Suffer A Relapse

On Aug. 17, a blast at the police headquarters in Nazran, the capital of Ingushetia, killed 25 people and wounded 280. A period of calm has ended in Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan. Kazbek Vakhayev/European Pressphoto Agency

From The New York Times:

MOSCOW — Just a year ago, Russian authorities were so proud of their success at bringing order to the north Caucasus that they made Chechnya a stop for the Valdai Discussion Club, the handpicked group of Western analysts flown to Russia every year to hobnob with top officials.

Two busloads of writers and academics were shuttled to the gigantic mosque built by President Ramzan A. Kadyrov in memory of his father, granted a wide-ranging interview with Mr. Kadyrov and allowed to stroll down the repaved, repainted and rebuilt streets of Grozny, the Chechen capital. Even the skeptics among them left impressed: calm, it seemed, had returned to Russia’s crucible of violence.

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My Comment: When the Russian - Georgian war broke out last year, Russian government pundits were saying that this was necessary to keep the peace in the Caucasus. That Georgia's actions in the provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia was unsettling peace and stability, and that firm military action was necessary.

This strategy has not worked, and as predicted the security situation is rapidly deteriorating.

This is still a low intensity conflict, but the trend is starting to worry many in Moscow.

With Russia being the host to the Winter Olympics at Sochi in 2014 .... a site that is on the border of the Caucasus region .... any escalation in the conflict will directly impact the security of the Olympics. A prospect that I am sure many officials do not want to ponder on.

Attacks In The Caucasus Is Starting To Worry Moscow

Russia Car Bomb Attack 'Kills 19' -- AFP

NAZRAN, Russia — A truck packed with explosives rammed through the gates of a police compound in southern Russia on Monday and exploded in an attack that killed at least 19 people and wounded dozens, officials said.

The attack in the city of Nazran, the main city in Ingushetia, occurred as police officers lined up for roll call at the start of their morning shift. It killed and wounded police officers in the compound and local residents in homes nearby, officials said.

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More News On The Caucasus

Suicide truck bomb kills at least 20 in Russia -- Yahoo News/AP
Truck Bomb in Russia's Caucasus Kills 18 -- Voice of America
Truck bomb kills 19 at Ingushetia police station -- L.A. Times
19 killed by bombing in Russia's Ingushetia -- CNN
A glance at other recent attacks in Ingushetia -- AP

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