The situation in the South Caucasus is not to be viewed as a conflict with the center. Rather, it is a “multi-layer pie,” with poor administration on federal and republican levels, the Deputy Director of the Institute for Political and Military Analysis Sergey Markedonov told NEWS.am, commenting on the recent aggravation of the situation in the North Caucasus.

According to him, Islamic struggle is an additional factor. The expert deems that any terrorist attack in the region has its own history and it is impossible to mix everything together.

“One of the problems is we consider any blast in the Caucasus a terrorist attack. Meanwhile, they are criminal clashes. I would name several reasons for the increase of violence in the recent period. One of them is growing radical Islamist moods in the eastern part of the Caucasus. Besides, many contacts between authorities and business have an informal basis. Therefore, many issues are settled on the no- man- no-problem principle,” he said.

The Russian expert considers it necessary to keep track of violence growth in the North Caucasus. As to the federal center’s responsibility for escalation of the situation, Markedonov believes that it mainly the absence of a concrete strategy. He stressed that any conflict has its prerequisites, and it would be wrong to blame the Kremlin for everything.