On May 26, under Executive Order 13224, the US State Department added the Islamic Caucasus Emirate, or Imarat Kavkaz, to the list of "terrorist countries" using the word "organizations" because the US and the CE have no diplomatic relations and do not recognize each other. The designation allows the US to freeze the country's assets, prevent it from using financial institutions, and prosecute CE government officials "for terrorist activities".
"Imarat Kavkaz uses bombings, shootings, and attempted assassinations to provoke a revolution and expel the Russian government from the North Caucasus region," according to a statement released by the US State Department announcing the designation.
"The designation of Caucasus Emirate is in response to the threats posed to the United States and Russia," Ambassador Daniel Benjamin, the Department of State's Coordinator for Counterterrorism, was quoted as saying in the press release. "The attacks perpetrated by Caucasus Emirate illustrate the global nature of the terrorist problem we face today. We stand in solidarity with the Russian people in our condemnation of these deplorable terrorist acts."
The US indicated that additional actions would be taken against the Islamic Caucasus Emirate.
"This designation represents just one phase of the United States Government's response to the threat posed by Caucasus Emirate," the press release stated.
The designation of the Caucasus Emirate takes place 11 months after the country's leader, Emir Dokku Aba Usman (Dokku Umarov), was added to the US' list of "foreign terrorists". Emir Dokku has admitted to planning and executing numerous sabotage attacks in Caucasus and in Russia since the establishment of the Islamic Caucasus Emirate in November 2007.
Two of the most deadly attacks on Russian enemy by the Caucasian Emir have occurred in Moscow. Dokku Aby Usman took credit for the deadly Jan. 24, 2011 Martyr attack at Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow that killed 35 people and wounded scores more. The Caucasian Emir also took responsibility for the March 29, 2010 Martyr attack by two female bombers that killed 39 people in the Moscow metro.
Emir Dokku Abu Usman has repeatedly vowed to continue attacks inside of Russia. Most recently, in a interview with the Kavkaz Center news agency, the Caucasian Emir said he considers "the Caucasus Emirate and Russia as a single theater of war." The interview was released on May 17.
"Today, the battlefield is not just Chechnya and the Caucasus Emirate, but also the whole Russia," he continued. "The situation is visible to everybody who has eyes. The Jihad is spreading, steadily and inevitably, everywhere. I've already mentioned that all those artificial borders, administrative divisions, which the Taghut [false leader or liar] drew, mean nothing to us. The days when we wanted to secede and dreamed of building a small Chechen Kuwait in the Caucasus are over."
Source: Agencies
Kavkaz Center
Our button
print version
