Vilayat Kavkaz is a self-proclaimed province of the Islamic State that encompasses the northern Caucasus region in Russia. The province was founded on 23 June 2015; since November 2014, mid-level Caucasus Emirate commanders had begun to pledge allegiance to the new Islamic State. Rustam Asildarov led the new province, abandoning Aliaskhab Kebekov's emirate in favor of supporting the new caliphate. In early 2016, the group was responsible for assassinating local police officers and personnel in Chechnya and Dagestan and for killing several Russian Army soldiers and officers in Syria, but the group was weakened when Asildarov was killed on 4 December 2016.