Researchers of Caucasus explain the idea of video oath of those killed in Dagestan to IS* leader

The video showing the oath of allegiance to the leader of the "Islamic State" (IS), a terrorist organization, banned in Russia by the court, taken by the attackers on law enforcers in Dagestan, was intended to indicate their adherence to the ideas of the terrorist organization, the orientalists, interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot", believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 11, in a shootout with law enforcers in the Karabudakhkent District of Dagestan, three alleged militants were killed. A video was found on them, in which they swear allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the IS* leader.

Most likely, the video of the oath of allegiance to the IS* leader was aimed at obtaining financial support from the terrorist organization, said Alikber Alikberov, a deputy director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), the head of the Centre for Studying Central Asia, Caucasus and Ural-Volga Region.

"Now, the IS* has already been crushed – there is practically no one to send the video to; and the oath is not so relevant. It's rather a fact of adherence to the IS* ideas than a direct link with the organization. If it was actually sent to the IS*, then the militants wanted to receive financial help or other support for their actions," Mr Alikberov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The video record of the oath taken by the attackers killed in Dagestan is not evidence of their direct link to the IS*, said Mikhail Roschin, a Senior Researcher at the RAS' Institute of Oriental Studies.

"After the defeat of the IS*, it exists in the network space; and it's obvious that they have no single control centre. I think that the record of the oath doesn't indicate a direct link of those [killed] with the IS* leadership. Rather, the militants themselves sought to identify themselves as the IS* in the Caucasus," Mr Roschin told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

* "Islamic State" (IS, earlier, the ISIL) is a terrorist organization banned in Russia by the court

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 29, 2019 at 07:55 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.