Putin's problem republic: Reports of hours-long firefights in southern Russia. There have been movements for independence for a long time in the republic in question.
In Dagestan, there have been repeated terrorist attacks against Moscow for more than 20 years. The first (republics) to declare their sovereignty and independence will be the ethnically homogeneous non-Russian republics, says a political scientist from the US think tank Jamestown Foundation. The Russian authorities implemented emergency measures to combat terrorism in Ingushetia at the weekend.