Gunmen opened fire on a Russian military convoy in Chechnya, killing at least one person and injuring another.
The incident happened in the outskirts of the capital Grozny and has sparked fears the country is facing the prospect of renewed instability and conflict.
Footage of the aftermath of the attack has been shared on social media channels by Chechen opposition groups.
Images show a military vehicle with bullet holes, bloodstains on the road, and the body of the deceased.
The attack on the National Guard convoy occurred at around 12:00pm local time on October 24 in Petropavlovskaya village in the Groznensky district.
A spokesperson for the military unit said: “Unknown people attacked a military convoy in the Grozny suburbs.
“One serviceman was killed and a second was wounded. Measures are being taken to find and detain the attackers.”
Chechnya has been a constant source of instability within the Caucasus, fighting two bloody wars of independence with Moscow, since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Some estimates suggest that as many as 40,000 Russian soldiers died during the Second Chechen War, which resulted in Russia reimposing control over the country in 2000.
Since then, a measure of stability has returned to the country under the brutal regime of Ramzan Kadyrov.
Kadyrov came to power three years after his father was assassinated in May 2004 in a bomb attack carried out by Islamists during a Victory Day memorial parade.
However, tensions in the Caucasus are running high after Kadyrov declared a blood feud on three politicians – two from Dagestan and one from Ingushetia.
Anton Gerashchenko, a former adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, claimed Russian security officials are worried it could lead to war between Dagestan and Chechnya.
Relations between the two republics are already strained over a long standing land dispute that could reach a climax later this year.
Ethnic Chechens in Dagestan, of whom there are around 16,000, and Kadyrov have stepped up demands that Makhachkala lives up to its promises to restore a Chechen district in the country to them by the end of 2024.
However, doing so would likely require the Dagestani authorities to expel the Avars and the Laks, who moved there after Stalin deported the Chechens in 1944.
Officials in Dagestan believe such action will destabilise their country, prompt Grozny to annex the restored Chechen region, and reopen other border disputes.
