WARNING: Travelling to the North Caucasus is not advised as the current situation there is extremely dangerous, due to ongoing conflicts within the region.
Travelers report substantially higher levels of corruption in Southern Russia than in the rest of European Russia. Corruption is mostly a problem during transportation due to the many road blocks ostensibly protecting Russians, but actually existing just to extort bribes. While corruption is a concern throughout the region, it is a severe danger in the unstable North Caucasus region.
Throughout the North Caucasus intrepid visitors should be very cautious and aware of current developments in the region's sensitive political situation. There has been substantial violent crime and kidnapping against travelers at the hands of bandits, terrorists, and probably the authorities throughout the region. These dangers are especially severe in the southeast, in North Ossetia, Ingushetia, and Dagestan. Chechnya is easily one of the world's most dangerous travel destinations and should simply be considered off limits until the security situation improves.
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Southern Russia is certainly the most complex linguistic region of the country, ranging from Mongolic Kalmyk, to Persian Ossetian, to dozens of languages wholly unrelated to any outside linguistic group. While this diversity makes the region an alluring destination to language nuts and ethnographers, the less linguistically inclined will find just about everyone speaks Russian.