The North Caucasus: Russia’s Other War

Abstract

This essay examines Russia’s ongoing counterinsurgency war in the North Caucasus in the light of Russian historical strategies and some Western or comparative principles that pertain to such wars. We argue that Russia is failing to bring this war toward resolution and that it is already deforming the state structure and could engender even more negative consequences for the Russian state due to conditions under which it is being waged, including the impact of Moscow’s wars in Syria and Ukraine.