The Caucasus Mountains located near Sochi, Russia will host part of the Winter Olympics due to commence on the 7th of February 2014. The same mountain range is also home to the North Caucasus, the site of Europe’s deadliest conflict. Two devastating wars in the republic of Chechnya after the collapse of the Soviet Union resulted in the violence spreading across the whole region. Although the military operations officially ended in earnest in 2009, some 700 people have been murdered in the last year in this small multi-ethnic, multi-religious corner of Russia.