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Further Reading

North Caucasus Insurgency - 2006-?

In the 2006 US State Department Human Rights report it was noted that during 2006 in Chechnya, antigovernment forces continued killing and intimidating local officials. There were also reports of Chechen rebel involvement in both terrorist bombings and politically motivated disappearances in Chechnya and Ingushetiya during the year. Some rebels were allegedly involved in kidnapping to raise funds, and there were reports that explosives improvised by rebels led to civilian casualties. Also, during the year unrest continued in and around the Chechen Republic and in the neighboring republics of Ingushetiya and Dagestan. Federal forces and Chechen Republic forces engaged in human rights abuses, including torture, summary executions, disappearances, and arbitrary detentions. Chechen rebels also committed human rights abuses, including major acts of terrorism and summary executions.

The beginning of this broader North Caucasus insurgency could be traced to the death of Shamil Basayev and the rise of Doku Umarov. Doku Umarov served in the Chechen military, during which time he fought against Russian forces in the first Chechen War. Umarov took Basayev's place as the separatist leader of not only the Chechen rebels, but also of the group that he founded called the Caucasus Emirate. This militant group was an umbrella organization under which many militant groups gathered, including the late Basayev's group Riyadus Salihin. The Caucasus Emirate also included one of the oldest Dagestani militant groups known as Shariat Jamaat.

In August 2006, after the death of Basayev, who claimed responsibility for the Beslan school massacre and other atrocities, the Kremlin declared an amnesty until 1 August 2006 for militants active across the North Caucasus to lay down their arms and promised them an unbiased investigation. The deadline was later extended until 30 September 2006. Chechen Prosecutor Nikolai Kalugin said 119 gunmen had surrendered in Chechnya alone since the amnesty was declared. Even with the amnesty declaration, militants staged 3 attacks that month in the neighboring Caucasus republics of Dagestan and Ingushetia, targeting law officers and killing 5 and wounding 13 people.

The conflict in Chechnya appeared to be coming to a close when Russian President Medvedev ordered the consideration to officially end counter-terrorist operations in Chechnya on 27 March 2009. Although the active phase of the antiterrorism campaign in the North Caucasus officially ended in 2001, periodic bombings and clashes between militants and federal troops continued to disrupt Chechnya and nearby regions, particularly Dagestan and Ingushetia.

The end to the counter-terrorism operation in Chechnya appeared to officially end on 16 April 2009. The end to the operation envisaged the withdrawal of some 20,000 Interior Ministry troops deployed in the republic. It also removed restrictions concerning international flights. However, continued fighting led to the return of Russian military operations in 3 districts in Chechnya by 23 April 2009.

As of July 2010, the asymmetric war in Chechnya and the surrounding republics of Ingushetia and Dagestan continued to rage on. Islamic militants, under the command of Doku Umarov, demanded the creation of an independent Islamic state in the Caucasus region. The combination of unemployment, poverty, and the abuse of civil rights had created a pool of malice in the Caucasus republics which fed the insurgency. The Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin addressed the troubled area in which he said that peace would only be restored until social and economic changes were implemented.