RUSSIA. Republic of Dagestan. Town of Botlikh. July 2000.
Celebrations following the awarding of "the Hero of Russia" medal by Vladimir PUTIN to a Dagestani policeman for his bravery during the Chechen "Wahabi" rebel incursions, led by Shamil BASAYEV in August 1999.

Daghestan is home to over 30 different ethnic groups and remains one of Russia's most diverse multi-ethnic republics of a predominately muslim tradition. The presence of divisive ethnic issues, one of the destabilizing factors of the region, has ironically proved to be a unifying factor of ethnic allegiances. These seem to supercede and at times contradict religious affiliation. The population's active resistance resulted in the defeat of BASAYEV's attempt to unify Chechnya and Daghestan under a radical Islamic banner (he is one of the most extremist Chechen warlords).