These are local troops. They live here with these people. Also, thisis an area quite distant from Moscow. It is a semi-autonomous area. It may be questionable militarily, but it, to me at least, does show a concern for the entire situation.
This is how I have read this.
I am having the dog-gone-est time finding a map to show where this place is...lol.And I work on the internet...lol
Some townspeople have caught a terrorist alive and are tearing him to pieces right in front of the news cameras.