If not, Chechnya could slip back into chaos, spreading instability around the North Caucasus.
The attacker came from the North Caucasus where Russia is battling an Islamist insurgency.
Indeed, there is mystifyingly little on Chechnya and the broader woes of the north Caucasus.
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He resents the Saudis for supporting Muslims in Chechnya and in the North Caucasus.
It was the biggest terror act outside Russia's troubled North Caucasus region since 2004.
The Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia lies in the northwest of Russia's troubled North Caucasus region.
People in the north Caucasus feel they are treated like aliens rather than Russian citizens.
"Terrorist attacks in the North Caucasus have an international connection, " believes Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak.
Indeed, Russia's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia could easily reignite separatist sentiment in the north Caucasus.
Mr Medvedev's recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia may also have unpredictable consequences for Russia's north Caucasus.
But without dispensing something, it may end up losing the whole North Caucasus region, pipeline and all.
Kabardino-Balkaria is home to the two highest peaks in the North Caucasus, Mount Elbrus and Dykh Tau.
The north Caucasus as a whole remains unstable and dangerous, though the fighting in Chechnya has diminished.
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Another warning sign: Russia's 2008 invasion was preceded by the Kavkaz 2008 war games in the north Caucasus.
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But even as the world's attention is fixed on Georgia, Russian citizens keep dying in the north Caucasus.
Since then, terror and instability have permeated the north Caucasus, aggravated by the lawlessness of the security services.
Yet despite their differences, both Tatarstan and the north Caucasus testify to the limits of the Kremlin's writ.
The three are suspected of being ringleaders of a regional cell of the North Caucasus-based terrorist group Caucasus Emirate.
Imarat Kavkaz is the most potent militant Islamist group in the north Caucasus -- which includes Chechnya and Dagestan.
Imarat Kavkaz is the most potent militant Islamist group in the north Caucasus region, which includes Chechnya and Dagestan.
It is not surprising that terror and instability have permeated the north Caucasus.
Despite the fact that the Chechens are Muslims, Iran has refrained from criticising Russia's military campaign in the North Caucasus.
Add to that a demographic catastrophe and continuing trouble in the north Caucasus (see article), and the picture darkens further.
The news from the north Caucasus, home to a bewildering patchwork of ethnically diverse peoples, seems to get worse and worse.
Unfortunately, he seems to have been animated by variants of Islam espoused by extremists, not the Sufi Islam of the North Caucasus.
Terrorism in Russia has a global aspect, but it is also related to the Kremlin's policies in the mainly Muslim north Caucasus.
In many ways Tatarstan does not resemble the north Caucasus at all.
Mr Putin has said the law is needed to protect the rights of minorities in ethnically mixed regions such as the North Caucasus.
Migrants from the republics of the north Caucasus and the post-Soviet countries of Central Asia have also spread more conservative interpretations of Islam.
Last year Tamerlan travelled to Russia from the United States and spent six months in the North Caucasus, much of that time in Dagestan.
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