Caviar politics in Dagestan

Magomed Khachilayev led the insurrection against the Dagestan government

The violence in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan has drawn attention to the region's chief export - caviar. The BBC's regional reporter, Tom de Waal, reports that the two brothers who led the small armed revolt against the republican government are both involved in the caviar trade - and accused of illegally profiting from smuggling the luxury good to the West.

Dagestan is one of the poorest parts of Russia. And yet the republic boasts some extremely wealthy people. Some are involved in the oil business and are making money from the transit of Caspian Sea oil across Russia. Others have access to one of the world's most exclusive luxury goods: caviar.

The home of Dagestani politician Nadirshah Khachilayev

The attraction is obvious. Poaching and smuggling in the Caspian Sea, which holds about 90% of the world's sturgeon, is continuing despite efforts to clamp down on it.

Even a small fraction of the sums caviar can command in the West is unimaginable wealth for small Caspian Sea poachers, who can, if lucky, find a kilo of roe in a single fish.

There are strict quotas on sturgeon fishing, but they are openly ignored. Stocks are declining rapidly and last year a protection order was issued to try to conserve stocks.

In the early 1970s some 25,000 Belugas migrated annually up the Volga to spawn; by the early 1990s the number had fallen to less than 11,000 and was still falling fast.

In this unstable region, it is often hard to distinguish between the poacher and the law-enforcer. Many officials are extremely corrupt and state salaries are much lower than the bribes the poachers can pay.

Some of the republican bosses are also accused by their enemies of making illegal profits from their positions. One such is Magomed Khachilayev, who is head of the local fishing company, Dagryba. He and his brother Nadir, a deputy in the Russian parliament, led a small insurrection against the local government on Thursday, when armed supporters seized the government headquarters and parliament building.

Nadirshah Khachilayev - Magomed's brother

The Khachilayev brothers are both Laks, which is the fifth largest ethnic group in the national mosaic of Dagestan. They have been shut out of republican politics because of their ethnicity; but both are extremely rich and they were able to muster sufficient armed support on Thursday to take over the centre of Makhachkala. That was proof of how local government is weak and the region is being dominated by clan leaders and armed militias.

Federal security forces are not safe from this phenomenon. A horrific explosion in an apartment block that killed 67 Russian border guards and members of their families in November 1996 was widely blamed on local mafia groups trying to stop smuggling.

Since then the criminalisation of the region has only got worse. That is bad news both for regional stability and the future of the Caspian Sea's sturgeon.