Der Spiegel: Russia On The Brink Of Civil War

A new conflict involving Chechnya is brewing.

Two Russian regions in the North Caucasus are on the brink of civil war, writes Der Spiegel.

The ruler of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, threatened billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, a senator from Dagestan, with blood feud.

This is a continuation of the largest business conflict in modern Russia related to the Wildberries company. The divorce of the Bakalchuk spouses led to the fact that each of the founders of the company, both husband and wife, attracted influential patrons to their side.

Tatiana Bakalchuk (Kim) used the Dagestani billionaire and senator Suleiman Kerimov as a "roof", and her husband Vladislav Bakalchuk appealed to the ruler of Chechnya Kadyrov.

From that moment on, Kadyrov and Kerimov began their enmity. At first, there was a firefight between representatives of two Caucasian clans near the office of the Wildberries, right at the walls of the Kremlin. There were no injuries.

Then the Chechen leader said that the Dagestani billionaire allegedly ordered his murder, and in turn threatened him with blood feud.

It is said that since then, Suleiman Kerimov has limited the radius of his movement and doubled the staff of his security.

Modern Russian legislation prohibits blood feud. However, this traditional institution is still important in the Caucasus.

"And it is still not clear whether Chechnya and Dagestan really belong to Russia," the article noted. Despite the common history, very similar languages and cultures, Chechnya and Dagestan today are arranged in an almost opposite way.

Chechnya is de facto a separate state that is practically not controlled by Moscow, and its leader Ramzan Kadyrov can do whatever he pleases.

Dagestan, in fact, is under the control of the federal center: the republic is mainly controlled by the FSB and Regardie, and not by the head of the republic Sergey Melikov.

Melikov is one hundred percent a person of Moscow, and not a representative of local groups. However, during the conflict between Kerimov and Kadyrov, he already expressed his support for Kerimov and said that Dagestan would support its fellow billionaire in everything.

Putin, obviously, deliberately sets the Chechens and Dagestanis against each other, while supporting both and not allowing either side to lose, the newspaper writes.

This is a dangerous tactic for a region that is becoming increasingly militarized — with more money and more weapons.

It can neutralize both sides for several years, but then there is a danger that the endless Caucasian war will continue in full force.

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