Russian Federation - June 2024

Five armed militants attacked a church, synagogue and security forces in Derbent and Makhachkala, Dagestan, killing seventeen police officers and five civilians before police killed the attackers. Derbent’s only synagogue, founded in 1914, was burned to the ground by attackers. The victims included Father Nikolay Kotelnikov, the city’s only Orthodox priest. Simultaneous but less destructive attacks on a synagogue and Orthodox church occurred in Makhachkala. The attack is the second major terror attack in Russia in several months and marks the return of such attacks to the North Caucasus after nearly a decade of relative calm. While no group has claimed responsibility, regional authorities blamed “international terrorist organizations”, and local religious authorities banned the wearing of the niqab in response on 3 July. Dagestan was also the site of an antisemitic pogrom in October 2023 that surprised analysts due to the historical lack of similar attacks in the region.

Sources: Caucasian Knot (1), Caucasian Knot (2), International IDEA, Politico