South Caucasus militants’ death toll

The Minister of Internal affairs of Russia Rashid Nurgaliev has made a statement that in the first four months of 2011, 146 militants were killed in the northern Caucasus, 19 of whom were commanders. In addition to this, around 180 militants have been arrested. The unrest in the north Caucasus has been very serious since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. What is interesting is that in the beginning there was unrest only in Chechnya but today the clashes are spread over Dagestan, Ingushetia and Kabardo Balcaria as well. Russians are calling these people terrorists, they call themselves patriots. Their major goal is independence.

Russians pay dearly for the fact that it supports separatism in Georgia and has created two separatist puppet entities in Georgian territory which has eventually backfired on Russia by triggering separatism in its northern Caucasus region.

During the last twenty years in the region, Russia has lost around 10 000 people among military servicemen and militia and it has wounded around 27 000. There are no statistics available about how many militants were killed and wounded exactly. Significantly, no statistics are available of how many civilians were killed, wounded or driven out from the places of their original dwelling.