Chechnya and the North Caucasus: Radical Islam, Insurgency and Human Rights

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Dr. Fiona Hill, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Dr. Anatol Lieven,
Senior Research Fellow, at the New America Foundation, discuss the
political and security outlook for Chechnya and the North Caucasus in
the wake of the recent elections. As predicted the pro-Kremlin United
party “won” 60% of the vote, in the first elections conducted in the
Chechen Republic since 1999. The region has witnessed a decade long
brutal insurgency between Chechen separatist and Russian forces.
President Putin’s policy of “Chechenization” ostensibly offers
progressive restoration of autonomy, but the war has been increasingly
outsourced to local militias in a struggle which has witnessed
widespread human rights abuses and the indiscriminate use of force. In
a region of endemic poverty, rife with corruption, criminality and
ethnic and religious divides, the conflict has widened to include
neighboring Ingushetia and the North Ossetia. The conflict has been fed
by the growth of Islamic extremism and international jihadist elements
propagating terrorism. What effect will the recent elections have? How
can we check the growth of radical Islam and extremism in the region?
What practical steps can the international community take to promote a
constructive and viable peace process?

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