Russia on brink of civil war after Chechen leader declares 'blood feud'

Chechnya's leader has announced a blood feud against three politicians from Russia's volatile North Caucasus region, sparking fears of a major interethnic conflict.

The North Caucasus is populated by a variety of different ethnic groups, the majority of whom are Muslim and who live in several republics - these include , Dagestan and Ingushetia.

Relations between Chechnya and have been tense for years over a land and border dispute, that is threatening to explode.

Chechnya's brutal dictator appeared to pour flames on simmering tensions between the two republics, when he announced a blood feud on two politicians from Dagestan and one from Ingushetia.

In a televised meeting with senior officials, said: "I officially declare a blood feud against Bekhan Barakhoyev, Suleiman Kerimov and Rizvan Kurbanov."

Kerimov and Kurbanov are both originally from Dagestan, while Barakhoyev is from Ingushetia.

Kadyrov accuses the three politicians of ordering his assassination and also of seizing Russia's largest online retailer Wildberries from the estranged wife of Vladislav Bakalchuk.

The Chechen leader has vowed to help Bakalchuk get his wife back and to block the merger of their e-commerce giant with the advertising group Russ.

Anton Gerashchenko, a former adviser to Ukraine's Interior Ministry, said the conflict between Kerimov and Kadyrov was the most "serious" one in the last 10 years.

"There is a serious discussion in Russia that it could lead to a war between Chechens and Dagestanis," he wrote in a post to his X social media channel.

"A note from the Dagestan Interior Ministry said the blood conflict that the Chechen leader outlined today and accusations of organising his assassination are seriously destabilising the situation in the North Caucasus.

"According to political analysts close to the Kremlin, apparently Moscow is no longer able to extinguish or control this conflict.

"There are rumours that the National Guard of Russia and Interior Ministry forces will be redeployed to the North Caucasus, and it is also possible that army groups will be strengthened."

He added that Kadyrov may have to recall Akhmat units from Ukraine, as tensions threaten to escalate out of control.

Tensions between Chechnya and Dagestan are centred around a dispute over territory that has simmered for years.

Ethnic Chechens in Dagestan, of whom there are around 16,000, and Kadyrov have stepped up demands that Makhachkala lives up to its promises to restore a Chechen district in the country to them by the end of 2024.

However, doing so would likely require the Dagestani authorities to expel the Avars and the Laks, who moved there after Stalin deported the Chechens in 1944.

Officials in Dagestan believe such action could destabilise their country, prompt Grozny to annex the restored Chechen region, and reopen other border disputes.