Guns Flooding into North Caucasus from Putin’s War, Sparking Rise in Crime and Re-Energizing Militant Underground inside Russia

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 14 – Since the start of Putin’s expanded war in Ukraine, guns have been flooding back into the Russian Federation, fueling a rise in violent crime across the country as more Russians acquire guns and in the North Caucasus re-energizing the militant underground as weapons are now much easier to get.

            For background on this, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/04/illegal-arms-sales-possession-and-use.html windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/12/weapons-flooding-into-bandit-formations.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2025/07/serious-crime-in-north-caucasus-rises.html.

            The FSB and other Russian force structures have sought to block this influx of weaponry and the underground armories which service such guns and explosives (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2025/08/fsb-raids-underground-armament-firms-in.html).

            But stories coming out of the Caucasus in particular suggest that the siloviki are fighting a losing battle, with Russian force structures finding underground armories after closing others in earlier raids. The latest cases are in Ingushetia and North Ossetia (https://www.kavkazr.com/a/u-zhiteley-ingushetii-i-severnoy-osetii-izyali-oruzhie/33756732.html).

            If and when Putin’s war in Ukraine ends, what has been a steady flow of guns back to Russia is likely to become a torrent; and while Moscow is most worried about a rise in violent crime, it may soon face a revival of the militant underground in the North Caucasus that Putin has claimed such credit for suppressing in the past.