Analysts point to growth of Caucasophobia after conflict in Krasnodar

In the shootout staged by natives of Chechnya and Dagestan in Krasnodar there are no motives for interethnic hostility, but such incidents worsen in Russia the attitude to migrants from the regions of Northern Caucasus, analysts have commented on the conflict.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that a shootout broke out in Krasnodar on August 21; a native of Dagestan perished.

So far, there are no grounds to say that the conflict in Krasnodar occurred on the basis of the aggravation of Chechen-Dagestani territorial relations, or, moreover, because of Ramzan Kadyrov's words about Imam Shamil, Margarita Lyange, a deputy chairman of the Assembly Russian Nations, believes. "There is no evidence that people are really so preoccupied with these issues that start fighting because of them," she said.

However, any conflict between ethnic groups causes tensions in the rest of the population, Ms Lange has admitted.

The interethnic character is often attributed to conflicts that have completely different grounds, Akhmet Yarlykapov, a researcher of the Caucasus, has pointed out. He also believes that the incident has negatively affected people's attitude to natives from Northern Caucasus.

Any clash of people of different nationalities acquires the shade of interethnic hostility, Alexei Malashenko, a political analyst, believes.