The Caucasus Three Years After Beslan

Three years after the siege of Beslan, in which some 334 people were killed at a schoolhouse, Russia’s Caucasus belt belies President Putin’s claim to bringing peace to the country.

Chechnya itself is comparatively peaceful after two ferocious wars over the last 13 years. But now the republics to either side of Chechnya are the scene of routine bombings, ambushes and murder.

In the latest incident, a car bomb today killed four policemen in Ingushetia, west of Chechnya. Read The AP story

Steve's comment: Perhaps no one could pacify the northern Caucasus. But there is little evidence that Putin, who prides himself on ultra-competence, has attempted anything more than the usual -- the appointment of governors whose prime qualification is loyalty to him.

Today's car bomb is a prism into the highly complex nature of the region's turbulence. The unrest in Ingushetia goes back at least to the 1940s and Stalin's expulsion of the Ingush to Kazakhstan and Siberia. Ever since the Ingush were permitted back, there has been a struggle over territory with the Ossetians next door. It erupted into outright warfare in 1992, a civil conflict that I witnessed. Russia as usual is caught in the middle, but principally sides with the Christian North Ossetians.

The bomb today was aimed at Ingush policemen nominally allied with Russia. It is possible therefore that it was aimed at intimidating Moscow and pro-Russian locals.

In a nice piece a week ago, Chris Chivers did a good job of connecting the dots of the unrest in Dagestan and Ingushetia to Chechnya.

One may argue with the approach, but the last time Russia attempted to find a middle ground with the Caucasus populations was a decade ago. Tomorrow, relatives of the 186 Beslan school children who died alongside their parents, teachers and friends will say again that the government could have done more to save lives.