Azerbaijan-Russia borderline security

The Azerbaijan-Russia borderline mainly goes by the Caucasian mountain range and close to the Samur riverbed. Main border posts are situated close to the Caspian seashore while the locals living in the Upper Dagestan area have difficulties with crossing borderline. The locals are represented by the so called “divided peoples” whose living area was divided with the state border after 1991. The former inner borders ignored ethnic areas but now they became the lines crossing the ethnic groups of Legins, Avars, Tzakhurs and Rutuls. Certainly, those peoples are interested in specific rules for crossing the border. At the same time, their areas have not got the equipped border offices and they have to spend a lot of time and money for travelling to the neighboring districts via Baku or Vladikavkaz. Such problems arouse the radical demands among locals. The Lezgin movement for an independent Lezgistan is the most famous among them. Its supporters were involved in a terrorist attack in Baku in 1990-s and now they collect files about any problems connected with border issues, including the results of a demarcation process. They attract attention to the facts of all assignments made by Russian representatives. The activity of other ethnic groups was comparatively lower and they could make an agreement with local authorities about division of powers. Obviously, any solution about development of the border infrastructure may stabilize the separatism activity in the area. The author determines the key challenges and threats to cross-border security at Azerbaijan-Russia borderline on the basis of analysis of Federal and regional media, declarations made by representatives of the local and borderline authorities, as well as online activities of national movements. The author reveals the infrastructure factors of ensuring cross-border activity, social and economic conditions of borderline districts development. The suggestion is made on the need to develop infrastructure borderline objects for complex development of the cross-border area that will allow preventing separatism.