The North Caucasus (or Ciscaucasia; Russian: Се́верный Кавка́з; IPA: [ˈsʲevʲɪrnɨj kɐfˈkas]) is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea and within European Russia.
Politically, the Northern Caucasus (territory north of the Greater Caucasus Range) includes the Russian Republics of the North Caucasus. As part of the Russian Federation, the Northern Caucasus region is included in the North Caucasian and Southern Federal Districts and consists of Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai, and the constituent republics, approximately from west to east: the Republic of Adygea, Karachay–Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia–Alania, Ingushetia, Chechnya, and the Republic of Dagestan. Since October 2007, separatists and Caucasus Front soldiers led by Dokka Umarov and Akhmed Yevloyev have claimed all of the North Caucasian regions from Karachay–Cherkessia to the Caspian Sea as part of their territory invaded by Russia during the 18th century that expelled most of the Caucasians towards Turkey, Iran, Bulgaria, Syria, and Jordan. This proclaimed Caucasus Emirate has been met with opposition within the Caucasus region from the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.