Publication

This report looks at 1) the current status of jihadist groups operating in the North Caucasus region; 2) the links between them and the so-called Islamic State, particularly in relation to the foreign fighters operating in Syria and Iraq; and 3) Russia’s often cynical security policies towards its homegrown terrorist threats. In the last case, the report’s authors point out that the level of violence in the North Caucasus region dropped substantially prior to the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games, most probably because the Russian security services opened up the country’s borders and allowed local radicals to depart. By ‘exporting’ jihadism as it did, Russia most likely made new enemies and helped transform what had been a national problem into a global one.