North Caucasus Scientific Center of Higher Education For the general public in Russia, the events that have developed in Dagestan in recent years have for some time been in the shadow of the Chechen conflict. After it ended, Dagestan was spoken of as a new "powder keg" of the North Caucasus, the explosion of which could have much more serious consequences for Russia than the conflict with Chechnya. These concerns became particularly acute in early 1998. Information received from Dagestan throughout 1997 noted an increase in the activity of Chechen militants on the administrative border between the two republics: the expansion of the network of terrorist training bases, the transfer of armed formations from the interior of Chechnya to the border, an increase in illegal arms shipments from this republic to the Khasavyurt district of Dagestan, populated mainly by Chechens-Akkinites, political conflicts, and whose leaders dream of reunification with Chechnya. The December 1997 attack on a Russian military unit stationed in Buinaksk summed up the preliminary results of this activity and served as a review of the forces and combat readiness of extremists. The fact that the underground organization Central Front for the Liberation of Dagestan claimed responsibility for this terrorist act, along with the activation of so-called Wahhabis in some regions of the republic, gave the impression that the extremist forces of Chechnya and Dagestan were ready for joint large-scale actions aimed at separating Dagestan from Russia. Wahhabism is one of the many movements in Islam that advocates a return to the original foundations of the faith, which were distorted during the widespread spread of Islam. It emerged in the middle of the XVIII century under the influence of the preacher Abd-al-Wahhabi. It was brought to the North Caucasus from outside at the beginning of Perestroika. It was actively spread after the entry of Russian troops into Chechnya. The Wahhabis of the North Caucas ... Читать далее