Anime festival held in Daghestan in a previous year (Ekho Moskvy /Instagram)
Film screenings of a K-pop concert, an anime festival, and a concert by Russian rapper Kreed — all cultural events cancelled in recent months after pressure from those claiming to be defenders of Daghestani culture and religion. But for those wishing to attend such events, the backlash has little to do with traditions and more a ‘desire to feel significant’.
Screenshot from a video from a counterterrorism operation in Botlikh, Daghestan, in March 2018 (Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation /YouTube)
For several years, young Daghestani men have been disappearing, reported missing by their families only later to be declared ‘destroyed in counterterrorism operations’. Evidence from the families of many of these men as well as local rights groups and experts, suggest they may have been kidnapped by the authorities, and that faking the war on terror is just another face of Daghestan’s raging corruption.
