Recent arrests of Russian citizens in the Stavropol territory linked with the Islamic State confirmed that jihadist propaganda penetrated the Russian territory by exploiting local problems and influencing the Muslim communities disseminated in the country, especially in the North Caucasus, where the Kremlin has contrasted local militancy and religious extremism.
SpecialEurasia decided to stop its online activities in August 2022 to organise next season's projects and propose an updated website focused on geopolitical analysis, risk assessment, security monitoring and forecasting.
The killing of al-Qaeda's leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul by a U.S. drone strike confirmed Washington's interests in the region and the Taliban's policy to host terrorist organisations' high-ranking leaders in the country, which has become a "safe heaven" for different jihadist groups.
The establishment of Tehrik-e Taliban Tajikistan (TTT) alarmed Dushanbe Government. It highlighted how the security situation in Central Asia linked with Afghanistan has deteriorated since the Taliban took power in Kabul in August 2021.
Central Asian republics want to establish solid regional cooperation to promote socio-economic projects to stabilise the area and contrast rising problems such as widespread disappointment and protests, terrorist threats and security issues related to the current situation in Afghanistan.
In Tajikistan, local security forces and authorities emphasised the rising threat of terrorism and extremism in the country in the last six months, confirming that terrorist organisations such as the Islamic State have been able to exploit local disappointment and the unresolved issues that in Gorno-Badakhshan.
On June 24th, 2022, SpecialEurasia, in cooperation with Criminalità e Giustizia, CISINT, Cesintel, IPA, ADR 360 and CCMN, organised an online webinar to present the book "Conflict in Ukraine: geopolitical risk, jihadist propaganda and threat for Europe".
The Russian Federation is not immune to jihadist propaganda and terrorist activities. Arrests in the last months of people connected to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham have demonstrated that this terrorist organisation has created or attempted to create a network in different Russian regions.
Every week, the Islamic State releases its magazine al-Naba, which gives significant insights into the group's activities and might support the risk assessment of future operations, violent attacks and propaganda campaigns.
In the last couple of months, Islamic State Khurasan Province (ISKP) and its local Central Asian militants have been increasing their propaganda output by directly targeting regional countries (especially Uzbekistan), calling for attacks against local governments and jihad in Central Asia.