The Impact of Foreign Salafi -Jihadists on Islamic Developments in Chechnya and Dagestan

This article intends to revisit the role of foreign fi ghters in the Chechen war and its aftermath, looking particularly at their impact on Islamic developments in Chechnya and Dagestan during the 1990s–2010s. The article challenges the argument, which is predominant in the literature, that foreign jihadists were primarily responsible for transforming the Chechen insurgency from a secular movement into a religious one. Instead, it argues that Islamist tendencies and Salafi circles were present in the North Caucasus before the outbreak of the First Chechen war. Secondly, this article contends that local Salafi jamaats, in conjunction with foreign jihadist fi ghters, provided the mobilization structures and the ideological framing for the radicalization of the Chechen/ North Caucasus rebel movement. By examining the Salafi -jihadist discourse of both foreign and local Salafi s operating in Chechnya and Dagestan in the 1990s and 2000s, the article shows how foreign Salafi s infl uenced and helped shape the ideological framing of local Salafi politicians and rebel jihadist groups. Yet, this article also shows that many of these Salafi -jihadist projects failed to gain broader societal support. They did not resonate with the local populations in Chechnya and Dagestan in the 1990s–2000s. A fi nal section of this article looks at events in the past decade, particularly at developments since the emergence of ISIS in Syria and Iraq. In this context, the article explains why many young Muslims in Dagestan became themselves foreign fi ghters and travelled to Syria/Iraq to fi ght for and live in the Islamic State. It concludes that Salafi projects, although not indigenous to the region, prospered as a result of the interaction between local Salafi s and foreign jihadist fi ghters and recruiters.

1. Abdulagatov, Zaid. Sovremennyi Ekstremism I Terrorizm: Sostoyanie i Problemy Protivodeistviya. Makhachkala: Alef, 2019 [In Russian].

2. Akaev, Vakhid, Sufi sm i Vakhkhabism na Severnom Kavkaze. Moscow: RAS, 1999 [In Russian].

3. al-Dagestani, Muhammad. Litso sufi sma: v svete ubezhdenii lyudei sunny i dzhamaata. Moscow: Nauchnoanaliticheskii tsentr Badr, 2006 [In Russian].

4. Bobrovnikov, Vladimir O., and Akhmet A. Yarlykapov. “ ‘Wahhabity’ Severnogo Kavkaza.” In Islam Na Territorii Byvshey Rossiiskoyu Imperii, Entsiklopedicheskiy Slovar, edited by S.M. Prozorov. Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura, 1999 [In Russian].

5. Dobaev, I.P., S.E. Berezhnoi, and P.V. Krainiuchenko. Islam v sovremennikh respublikakh Severnogo Kavkaza. Rostov-na-Donu: SKNTs, 2002 [In Russian].

6. Krivitskii, E. V. “Religioznyi faktor v etnopoliticheskoi situatsii na Severnom Kavkaze.” In Religia i Politika v Sovremennoi Rossii. Moscow, 1997 [In Russian].

7. Makarov, Dmitry. Ofi tsial’niy I Neofi tsial’niyi Islam v Dagestane. Moscow: Tsentr Strategicheskikh I politicheskikh issledovanii, 2000 [In Russian].

8. Malashenko, Aleksei. Islamskoe Vozrozhdenie v Sovremennoi Rossii. Moscow: Moscow Carnegie Center, March 1998 [In Russian].

9. Mantaev, Abuzagir, A. Vakhkhabizm I Politicheskaya Situatsiya v Dagestane. Moscow: Moscow State University, 2002 [In Russian].

10. Yarlykapov, Akhmet. “Kredo Wahhabita.” In Evraziya: Lyudi I Mify, 589–590. Moscow: Natalis, 2003 [In Russian].

11. al-Shishani, Murad B. The Rise and Fall of Arab Fighters in Chechnya. Washington DC: Jamestown Foundation, 2006.

12. Bakke, Kristin M. “Help Wanted? The Mixed Record of Foreign Fighters in Domestic Insurgencies.” International Security 38, no. 4 (Spring 2014): 150–187.

13. Bobrovnikov, Vladimir. “Mythologizing Sharia Courts in the Post-Soviet North Caucasus.” ISM Newsletter 5, no.1 (June 2000): 25.

14. Byman, Daniel. Road Warriors: Foreign Fighters in Armies of Jihad. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.

15. Carter, Joseph A., Peter R. Neumann, and Shiraz Maher. #Greenbirds: Measuring Importance and Infl uence in Syrian Foreign Fighter Networks. London: International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, 2014.

16. Hegghammer, Thomas. “Should I Stay or Should I Go? Explaining Variation in Western Jihadists’ Choice Between Domestic and Foreign Fighting.” American Political Science Review 107, no. 1 (February 2013): 56–57.

17. Hegghammer, Thomas. “The Rise of Muslim Foreign Fighters: Islam and the Globalization of Jihad.” International Security 35, no. 3 (Winter 2010/2011): 53–94.

18. Makarov, Dmitry, and Rafi k Mukhametshin. “Offi cial and Un-offi cial Islam.” In Islam In Post-Soviet Russia: Public and Private Faces, edited by Hilary Pilkington, and Galina Yemelianova. London: Routledge, 2003.

19. Malashenko, Aleksei. “The Glitter and Poverty of Chechen Islam.” In The Security of the Caspian Sea Region, edited by Gennady Chufrin, 295–310. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

20. Malet, David. “Foreign Fighter Mobilization and Persistence in a Global Context.” Terrorism and Political Violence 27, no. 3 (2015): 454–473.

21. Moore, Cerwyn, and Paul Tumelty. “Foreign Fighters and the Case of Chechnya: A Critical Assessment.” Studies in Confl ict and Terrorism 31, no. 5 (May 2008): 412–433.

22. Moore, Cerwyn. “Foreign Bodies: Transnational Activism, the Insurgency in the North Caucasus and ‘Beyond.’ ” Terrorism and Political Violence 27, no. 3 (May 27, 2015): 395–415.

23. Murphy, Paul. The Wolves of Islam. Washington D.C: Potomac Books, 2004.

24. Neumann, Peter R., and Brooke Rogers. Recruitment and Mobilisation for the Islamist Militant Movement in Europe. London: International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, 2007.

25. Nokhcho, M. B., and Glen E. Howard. “Chechnya’s Abu Walid And The Saudi Dilemma.” Terrorism Monitor Volume 2, no. 1 (5 May 2005). https://jamestown.org/program/chechnyas-abu-walid-and-the-saudi-dilemma/

26. Ratelle, Jean-François. “North Caucasian Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq: Assessing the Threat of Returnees to the Russian Federation.” Caucasus Survey 4, no. 3 (October 4, 2016): 218–238.

27. Rich, Ben, and Dara Conduit. “The Impact of Jihadist Foreign Fighters on Indigenous Secular-Nationalist Causes: Contrasting Chechnya and Syria.” Studies in Confl ict and Terrorism 38, no.2 (2015): 113–131.

28. Rotar, Igor. “Under the Green Banner: Islamic Radicals in Russia and the Former Soviet Union.” Religion, State and Society 30, no. 2 (2002): 89–153.

29. Sagramoso, Domitilla, and Akhmet Yarlykapov. “What Drove Young Dagestani Muslims to Join ISIS? A Study Based on Social Movement Theory and Collective Framing.” Perspectives on Terrorism 14, no.2 (April 2020): 42–56.

30. Sagramoso, Domitilla, and Galina Yemelianova. “Islam and Ethno-Nationalism in the North-Western Caucasus.” In Radical Islam in the Former Soviet Union, edited by Galina Yemelianova, 125–130. London: Routledge, 2009.

31. Sagramoso, Domitilla. “The Radicalisation of Islamic Salafi Jamaats in the North Caucasus: Moving Closer to the Global Jihadist Movement?” Europe-Asia Studies 64, no. 3 (May 2012): 561–595.

32. Sagramoso, Domitilla. “Violence and Confl ict in the Russian North Caucasus.” International Aff airs 83, no. 4 (July 2007): 699–703.

33. Schaefer, Robert W. The Insurgency in Chechnya and the North Caucasus: From Gazavat to Jihad. Oxford: Prager, 2011.

34. Vidino, Lorenzo. “The Arab Foreign Fighters and the Sacralization of the Chechen Confl ict.” Al Nakhlah (Spring 2006): 1–11.

35. Wilhelmsen, Julie. “Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Islamisation of the Chechen Separatist Movement.” Europe-Asia Studies 57, no. 1 (2005): 35–59.

36. Williams, Brian. G. “Al Qaeda, Transnational Jihadis, and the Chechen Resistance: Assessing the Role of Chechnya in the War on Terror.” Paper presented at CESS Conference, Harvard University, October 2003.

37. Yarlykapov, Akhmet. “Islam and Muslim Youth of the North Caucasus.” In Islam and Muslim Youth in Central Asia and the Caucasus. 2018a. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326977809_Akhmet_A_Yarlykapov_Islam_and_Muslim_Youth_of_the_North_Caucasus_In_Islam_and_Muslim_Youth_in_Central_Asia_and_the_Caucasus_Baku_2018_P158-189.

38. Yarlykapov, Akhmet. “Islamic State Propaganda in the North Caucasus.” In Hybrid Confl icts and Information Warfare: New Labels, Old Politics, edited by Ofer Fridman, Vitaly Kabernikm, and James C. Pearce. Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2018b. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331181258_Akhmet_Yarlykapov_Islamic_State_Propaganda_in_the_North_Caucasus_In_Hybrid_Confl icts_and_Information_Warfare_New_Labels_Old_Politics_Edited_by_Ofer_Fridman_Vitaly_Kabernik_

39. James_C_Pearce_Lynne_Rienner. Youngman, Mark, and Cerwyn Moore. “Russianspeaking’ fi ghters in Syria, Iraq and at Home: Consequences and Context.” CREST, November 2017. https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/en/publications/russian-speaking-fi ghters-in-syria-iraq-and-at-homeconsequences-.