Kids walking home from school in Gudermes, Chechnya (Photo by the New York Times)
Many positive political and economic developments are taking place in Moscow. Russia Blog has noticed that many of these events have been ignored since the election of the new Russian President, Dimitry Medvedev. The doom-and-gloom scenario predicted by many Washington think-tanks did not take place, and many scholars and journalists hostile to Russia ran out of negative steam relatively fast.
Serious news reporting about the war-torn Caucasus region of Chechnya has disappeared from the Western media coverage as well. Chechnya and its capital city of Grozny are in far better shape today than they were just three years ago. Nearly half a million Chechen refugees have returned to their homes and nearly 100,000 private businesses have been started in the recovering region. However, terrorism remains a problem, and minor attacks on Chechen and Russian security forces still take place on a weekly basis.
For more detailed reporting and analysis of the terrorist attacks happening in the region, please visit the website of the Russia-Eurasia Daily Watch.
Of course terrorism will remain a problem in Chechnya. Even though the security standards there are much different then in say Iraq or Afghanistan, sporadic violence occurs still. As it will continue for some time. Though its will continue to drop as Chechnya's economy recovers and citizens feel less inclined to join rebels because of the economic success Moscow has introduced to them. Besides, the Chechen population is aware of the Russian army's brutality in combat, and they do not want a reminder of that. Though the rebel movement in Chechnya still exists, it is no where near the level it was a decade ago, with the Chechen state collapsed, most of the key rebel leaders killed or captured, the leadership has been greatly damaged, and with few Chechens willing to take up arms and lead a rebellion against the Russians, there is no prospect of an increase in violence anytime soon. Also Russia has been building up its forces in the North Caucasus region to counter Georgian aggression towards Abkhazia and South Ossetia. And the North Caucasus region holds the majority of Russia's contract soldiers, meaning the troops in the region are not conscripts but volunteers, meaning higher morale, and better fighting quality among the individual soldiers. To the modern, yet small Georgian army, this massive force of fearless Russian contract servicemen is bad enough. To an unorganized group of Chechens with low morale, terribly outdated equipment, and with no serious leadership, this force is even far more threatening then it already is.