MOSCOW: Russia’s southern Dagestan region on Wednesday issued a temporary ban against wearing the niqab in the Muslim-majority republic, citing security reasons after a recent attack against churches and synagogues.
This veil — which hides the entirety of a woman’s face with the exception of the eyes — is “temporarily prohibited until the elimination of existing threats,” said Dagestan’s highest religious body.
Last month, gunmen simultaneously attacked two churches, two synagogues and a police checkpoint in two cities in Dagestan, killing 22 people.
The attacks came just three months after Daesh fighters killed more than 140 in an assault on a Moscow concert hall, the deadliest terror attack in Russia for almost two decades.
Few details have surfaced about the identities and motivations of the attackers in Dagestan.
The incidents had echoes of the kind of insurgent violence that struck the North Caucasus during the 1990s and 2000s, however, the Kremlin has dismissed fears of a renewed wave of violent unrest.
In the 1990s, Moscow fought two wars for control of the neighboring Chechnya region, with President Vladimir Putin touted his success in quashing the insurgency at the start of his presidency.
Militants from Dagestan are known to have traveled to join Daesh in Syria.
Russia’s Dagestan bans niqab over ‘threats’ after attacks
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Russia’s Dagestan bans niqab over ‘threats’ after attacks
- This veil is “temporarily prohibited until the elimination of existing threats,” said Dagestan’s highest religious body
- Few details have surfaced about the identities and motivations of the attackers in Dagestan
US, Ukraine hail ‘productive’ Miami talks but no breakthrough
- Representatives from Ukraine, Russia, and Kyiv’s European allies, held separate talks hosted by US special envoy Steve Witkoff
- Russia's delegation said recent proposed changes to Trump's “20-point plan” to end the war were a non-starter
MIAMI, Florida: US and Ukrainian envoys issued a joint statement on Sunday that hailed “productive and constructive” talks in Miami but did not announce any apparent breakthrough in efforts to end the war with Russia.
Top representatives from both Ukraine and Russia, as well as Kyiv’s European allies, have been in southern Florida over the past several days for a series of separate talks hosted by US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff.
The meetings were the latest in a weeks-long diplomatic blitz over plans to end the war, after Washington last month presented a 28-point proposal widely seen as echoing the Kremlin’s demands.
It has since been redrafted following Ukraine and Europe’s involvement, though its contents have not been publicly disclosed.
“Over the last three days in Florida, the Ukrainian delegation held a series of productive and constructive meetings with American and European partners,” Witkoff and Ukraine’s top negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said in separate statements on X.
They said a bilateral US-Ukraine meeting focused on developing and aligning positions on “four key documents” — a “20-point plan,” a “Multilateral security guarantee framework,” a “US Security guarantee framework for Ukraine” and an “economic & prosperity plan.”
“Particular attention was given to discussing timelines and the sequencing of next steps,” they said, without announcing any further meetings.
National security advisers from Kyiv’s European allies “also joined the discussions to align on a shared strategic approach between Ukraine, the United States, and Europe,” the statements added.
Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev was also in southern Florida and met with the US delegation, which included billionaire real estate developer Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Witkoff on Sunday similarly said that the meetings with Dmitriev were “productive and constructive.”
Earlier, the Kremlin said recent proposed changes to the plan to end the war were a non-starter.
Dmitriev “should receive information about what has been developed by the Americans and Europeans” in the plan and report that back to Moscow later, Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state TV.
Moscow, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, sees Europe as pro-war and argues that its participation in the talks only hinders them.
War rages on
While little is known of the latest peace plans, Kyiv is likely to be expected to surrender some territory — a prospect resented by many Ukrainians — in exchange for US security guarantees.
Though envoys from both Moscow and Kyiv were in town, the Kremlin had earlier ruled out three-way talks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier described the talks as “constructive” and said they were “moving at a fairly rapid pace.”
He nevertheless cautioned that “much depends on whether Russia feels the need to end the war for real.”
He also hailed this week as “historic” for Ukraine, thanking Europe for pledging $100 billion of funding over the next two years.
Moscow’s troops have been steadily advancing at the eastern front in recent months. Putin on Friday hailed the Russian army’s territorial gains — and threatened more in the coming weeks.
Just over the week, “Russia has launched approximately 1,300 attack drones, nearly 1,200 guided aerial bombs, and 9 missiles of various types” against Ukraine, Zelensky said.
Most of them have pummeled the Black Sea region of Odesa, where relentless strikes wrought havoc on ports, bridges and energy facilities, killing eight people Saturday.
In the eastern Sumy region, Russian troops attempted a breakthrough in an area previously spared from an intense ground offensive. Russian forces forcibly moved 50 people from a local village, said Kyiv.
“Russian invaders have stolen five dozen civilian people, mostly elderly women, from a tiny Ukrainian village Grabovske, right across the state border in the Sumy region,” Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said.
Russia made no comment on the matter.
