Violence in former Soviet satellite states in the Caucasus region appears to be on the rise.

This week, a suicide bomber hit a police station in Ingushetia. 20 people were killed and more than 130 injured in the attack in Nazran, Ingushetia's main city. 

Ingushetia's leader, who himself survived an assassination attempt recently, has blamed militants for the attack.

But this is not an isolated incident. Russia's North Caucasus has been plagued by violence in recent months.

About a week ago, Ruslan Amirkhanov, Ingushetia's construction minister, was assassinated in his office by masked gunmen.

In a separate incident, three employees of Russia's emergencies ministry were shot dead.

In late July, a suicide bomber killed six people and wounded at least ten others in the capital of Chechnya.

And earlier in that month, nine officers were killed when fighters firing machine guns and grenades ambushed a police convoy.

But what are the root causes of this upswing in violence? Separatist sentiments or disenchantment with the governing regimes? 
 
Inside Story, with presenter Imran Garda, discusses with guests Masha Lipman, the editor of the Pro et Contra journal which is published by Carnegie Moscow Centre, Zaza Gachechiladze, the editor-in-chief of the Georgian newspaper The Messenger, and Natalia Leshchenko, a Russia and Eurasia analyst at Global Insight.

This episode of Inside Story aired from Tuesday, August 18, 2009.