Russian authorities say strongarm police operations in two North Caucasian republics west of Chechnya have struck a vital blow against radical extremists, but many local people are drawing unfavourable comparisons with the heavy-handed tactics used by security forces in Chechnya itself. Armed men in flak jackets and camouflage appeared on the streets of Nalchik, capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, in the early hours of March 10. Teams of three or four policemen stood at every intersection in the city, stopping and searching practically every car and checking the documents of those inside. Simultaneously. a massive sweep operation was also taking place in villages in the mountainous south of the republic and in neighbouring Karachai-Cherkessia. Like Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachai-Cherkessia has been increasingly linked with extremist violence over the past year. On February 20, a militant named Issa Akbayev, reported to have links to Chechen rebels, was killed in the town of Karachayevsk.Just some background: all four of these tribal groups are traditionally Muslim, but the Karachays and especially the Balkars (both of Turkic ethnicity, both temporarily deported to Central Asia by Stalin) lean toward Islamic fundamentalism and hostility toward Russia. The Cherkess and Kabardins (both of Circassian ethnicity, both treated as "loyal minorities" by Stalin) are generally pro-Russian. When drawing local borders, the Kremlin deliberately mismatched the four groups following the usual Soviet "divide and rule" minority policy. Ethnic-themed politics and occasional violence within each republic have been increasingly common since the late 90s, especially after Karachay-Cherkessia's 1999 presidential election. Balkars and Karachays tend to favor splintering off into ever smaller and smaller autonomies, whereas the two Circassian groups prefer keeping close ties to Russia.