Russia had two major terrorist attacks in just three months

Russia is reeling from another major terrorist attack, with at least 19 people killed and 25 injured in what appear to be coordinated shootings at several religious temples in Russia’s far-southern republic of Dagestan.

The attack is the second in the last three months, after more than 130 people were killed at a concert hall near Moscow in a terrorist attack claimed by ISIS-K in March, and challenges President Vladimir Putin’s self-declared reputation as a leader capable of ensuring order throughout the vast and turbulent country.

The rise in violence comes as long-simmering ethnic tensions resurface, worsened both by efforts to fill Russia’s military ranks as Putin’s war against Ukraine continues – and by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

What happened in Dagestan?

Unidentified gunmen opened fire on several religious temples and a police stop in two cities in Muslim-majority Dagestan, killing at least 15 police officers and four civilians, including a priest, on Sunday (23).

Two synagogues – one in the city of Derbent and the other in the city of Makhachkala – were attacked, according to a statement from the Russian Jewish Congress (RJC).

The attackers “set fire to the building using Molotov cocktails” at the Derbent synagogue, while police and security guards were killed outside during the attack, the RJC reported.

In the provincial capital Makhachkala, Russian state news agency TASS reported that a church security guard was killed in a shooting attack at Svyato-Uspenskiy Sobor, and 19 people barricaded themselves inside the premises. An attack was also reported at a traffic police post in Makhachkala.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but law enforcement agencies told TASS that the attackers were “adherents of an international terrorist organization.”

The Investigative Directorate of the Russian Investigative Committee for the Republic of Dagestan said it had launched a terrorism investigation into the attacks under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Where is Dagestan?

Dagestan is in Russia’s Caucasus region, on the western coast of the Caspian Sea.

The republic is in many ways a microcosm of Russia’s diversity. The mountainous region is home to more than 30 ethnic groups with distinct languages ​​and is a Muslim-majority republic that has historically been home to a variety of Islamic religious practices.

Dagestan has a tiny Jewish population – Judaism is one of the region’s long-established religions, practiced by communities of Mountain Jews who speak a form of Persian – but after centuries of coexistence with Muslim neighbors, that population has dwindled due to emigration.

The Caucasus, which was mostly included in the Russian empire in the 19th century, had a long history of resentment toward Moscow’s rule during tsarist, Soviet and post-Soviet times.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, insurgents in neighboring Chechnya fought two separatist wars for independence – which Russia labeled terrorism and responded with tactics that left much of the capital, Grozny, in ruins. Putin then installed the feared warlord Ramzan Kadyrov in Chechnya, who has since ruled with an iron fist.

In Dagestan, Russian security forces fought an Islamist insurgency in the mountainous region in the 2000s that spread into neighboring Chechnya, although attacks have become rarer in recent years.

But contemporary events have once again put the historically restive region on alert.

Religious and ethnic tensions in Russia

More than 200 ethnic minority communities live in Russia, which spans eleven time zones and is home to around 144 million people.

Some of these communities have been especially hard hit by Putin’s war in Ukraine, with ethnic minorities disproportionately mobilized to face the horror of Moscow’s human wave tactics.

In 2022, protests broke out in multiple ethnic minority regions against Putin’s mobilization orders, including in Dagestan. In a video geolocated by CNN at the time, women in the capital Makhachkala could be seen pleading with police outside a theater.

“Why are you taking our children? Who attacked who? It was Russia that attacked Ukraine,” they said in the video.

Israel’s war against Hamas, following the brutal October 7 attacks, has also increased tensions around the world, fueled by daily images of destruction in Gaza, including in the Caucasus.

Putin performed a delicate international balancing act, presenting himself as a potential mediator and calling for restraint on both sides – a position that drew praise from Hamas.

But that trust was shaken later that month, when anti-Semitic protesters stormed Makhachkala Uytash airport in Dagestan, where a flight from Israel arrived.

At least 20 people were injured and 60 people were arrested in the chaotic clashes, according to local authorities. Several videos on social media showed a crowd inside the airport and on the tarmac, some waving the Palestinian flag, others forcing their way through the closed doors of the international terminal.

Interfaith violence is something that makes Russian leader Putin “very, very concerned,” said the former head of the CNN in Moscow, Jill Dougherty, responding to Sunday’s attacks in Dagestan.

Russia has a complex web of relationships in the Middle East: Putin supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (an enemy of Israel); he depends on Iran (another enemy of Israel) for a stockpile of drones to attack Ukraine; and he is a friend of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, another powerful player in the region.

He has also maintained cordial working relations with Israeli counterparts, although his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cooled.

ISIS-K attack on a concert hall

The coordinated attacks in Dagestan come just weeks after Russia suffered its worst terrorist attack in decades.

In March, more than 130 people were killed after attackers stormed a popular concert complex on the outskirts of Moscow.

ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the massacre and four gunmen from the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan were charged with terrorism.

The shocking terrorist attack came just a week after Putin won a staged election that tightened his grip on the country he has ruled since the turn of the century.

For a leader who has long promised security and stability to Russians, the major attack on Russian soil was another powerful blow.

The emotion triggered by the violence – combined with the disturbing videos – has triggered a wave of xenophobia from some towards Central Asian migrant workers in general.

Migrants from the Central Asian states of the former Soviet Union – Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan – have traditionally been a valuable source of cheap labor in Russia.

In the aftermath of the March attack, Putin called for Russia to remain united.

“We must never forget that we are a multinational and multi-religious country. We must always treat our brothers, representatives of other religions, with respect, as we always do – Muslims, Jews, everyone,” he said.

But Sunday’s attack in Dagestan shows that deep fissures continue to mark Russia’s border regions.