Dagestan on the threshold of "Extremely"

Chechen militants and their Dagestan allies began an offensive in Dagestan. True, so far only on the Internet. Within a few days, the Caucasus Center website has distributed a number of appeals to the police and just residents of Dagestan.

Appeals signed the Dagestan Mujahideen. They call for police officers to go over to the side of the militants, and residents are explained by the goals of the war: to expel the "Russian invaders", to overthrow the local authorities, which the authors of leaflets consider it illegal, and establish an Islamic state in the region.

Numerous murders of employees of law enforcement agencies, a recent battle in the city of Kizlyar, are forced to seriously treat such calls. That the authorities do. According to the deputy minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan Magomed Omarov, Mujahideen in small groups of 3 to 5 people "quickly move from Chechnya to Dagestan and vice versa." Especially tense is the situation in the mountainous areas bordering from Chechnya. “The situation was complicated on the adjacent side,” says Omarov. “The power structures have data on the concentration of armed detachments in the highland Chechen village of Kenhi, adjacent to the Botlikh district of Dagestan.”

To prevent a possible crossing of the border, outposts are exhibited on mountain passes. And in the area of ​​the village of Gigatley, which is located between Chechnya, Dagestan and Georgia, the Ministry of Defense units are being transferred. At the same time, local authorities admit that they are not able to block the entire 540-kilometer border with Chechnya.

It is also reported that the Mujahideen openly go on the air on police operational radio frequencies, and that they are actively "underground to work."

However, the main thing here is that against the background of the generally expected activation of militants, the conflict unexpectedly worsened inside the ruling elite of Dagestan. On July 29, the mayor of the city of Khasavyurt Saigidpashi Umakhanov brought his armed supporters to the streets to demand the resignation of the current head of the State Council of Dagestan Magomedali Magomedov. The rally participants were heard leaflets where Magomedov was accused of usurpation of the authorities, as well as such terrible crimes as the terrorist attack in Kaspiysk on May 9, 2003 and the murder of Mufti Abubakarov. There were calls to go with weapons to Makhachkala.

Supporters of Umakhanov demand the resignation of Magomedov, as well as holding early presidential elections in the republic. It was previously decided to hold them next year. Umakhanov belongs to the Avars nationality, the most numerous in Dagestan. So, unlike Dargins Magomedov, he can count on victory.

In Makhachkala, at the attack of Khasavyurt, they responded to the organization of the campaign in support of the local authorities. On August 11, the rally participants in Makhachkala adopted a resolution condemning the actions of the mayor of Khasavyurt and supported the deputies of the People’s Assembly of the Republic of Dagestan Sagid Murtazaliev and Hamidulakh Magomedov. And shortly before, on August 6, a meeting of the State Council of the Republic was held. According to IA REGNUM, its members, after watching a video of the rally in Khasavyurt, called Umakhanov’s actions by a demon of the already fragile world in the republic. The State Council unanimously supported his chairman Magomedali Magomedov. Another opposition rally in Khasavyurt, scheduled for August 10, was urgently canceled, the Dagestan authorities can take a breath, the attack was repelled.

However, the presidential election is unlikely to give Magomedov the opportunity to feel calm. Obviously, Umakhanov will not just back down. In addition, the leadership of the OGV in the North Caucasus, acting in the peak of the FSB, which supports Magomedov, is behind it. Islamic militants, headed by Rappani Khalilov, behind whom Shamil Basayev, are also ready to take advantage of the situation. In their leaflets, the Khalilovites have repeatedly beat the constant clan showdowns of the Dagestan elite, simultaneously positioning themselves as a force capable of uniting multinational Dagestan under the flag of Islam and Jihad.

The struggle for power, against the background of the brewing Wahhabi uprising, which can be supported by an invasion of Chechnya, you can’t imagine the picture worse. At the same time, neither in Makhachkala nor in Moscow there is a certain plan on how to act in a similar situation. The current fashion for the widespread building of the power vertical, the desire to have in the explosive region of a person responsible for everything, pushes Moscow to implement the idea of ​​conducting direct presidential elections. However, national and other features of Dagestan may not only not allow these elections, but in the conditions of the ongoing Chechen war - to finally steal the smoldering coals in this republic.