Heavy military activity, terrorist bombings, kidnappings, and unexploded mines and munitions are widespread. Throughout the region, local criminal gangs routinely kidnap foreigners, including Americans, Canadians, and UK nationals, for ransom. Close contacts with the local population do not guarantee safety. Sadly, the authorities may pose an even greater threat to travelers than rebels, bandits, and gangs.
A traveller should also remember all of the region is part of the turf of the infamous terrorist group, the Caucasus Emirate, therefore adding on a greater fear.
In the event of emergencies embassies can do very little, and/or more likely, will not send any help. All governments assume they will not be able to do anything for their citizens except to deliver messages.
Below is a list of what a traveler should do to stay vigilant when travelling to certain regions in the North Caucasus:
respect
The North Caucasus are largely Sunni Islamic societies, and so you need to behave and act accordingly and properly.
talk
This mountainous region is an extraordinary patchwork of peoples and languages Circassian, Turkic, Persian, Mongolian, and a whole host of smaller groups unrelated to any other—the relatively small region contains an incredible 8 language families and 46 different languages 35 in Dagestan alone! Fortunately for the traveler, Russian serves as the region's lingua franca and is spoken by nearly everyone, even by villagers in remote mountain auls.
karachay-cherkessia
Karachay-Cherkessia is safer than most regions; however, the region has continued to see minor attacks.
north ossetia
Like South Ossetia, the northern part is fairly unsafe, though not as unsafe as its southern counterpart. There have been high-profile crimes, albeit infrequently. The capital Vladikavkaz has recently been the site of some showdowns between law enforcement and separatists, though on a very light scale.
chechnya
Chechnya is probably one of Russia's most volatile regions, even though the Chechen government has been making some progress in bringing stability to the nation. Violence, terrorism and a high homicide rate continue to plague the nation. As a general rule of thumb, the farther you are from Chechnya, the safer and more plausible your travel experience will be. Downtown Grozny is fairly safe, but you do need to be careful as large parts of the nation are plagued with violence and political turmoil.
Many foreign governments, including the UK, Canadian and US governments, strongly warn their citizens not to travel to Chechnya under any circumstances. They report that there have been many incidents of their citizens as well as Russian citizens going missing or being killed or kidnapped for ransom in Chechnya.
kabardino- balkaria
The republic's mainly Muslim population has become increasingly radicalised by the region's instability. The region is quite safe, though the security of the country may be occasionally shaken, due to frequent attacks by militants. Nalchik in particular is seeing a very unstable situation.