The Russians have a long history of doing this, going back to the 1920s. The RAND Corp. did a study of this some years back. The Russians were apparently quite successful in suppressing Muslim anti-communists back then by forming local militias loyal to Moscow.
This is the ultimate test if a nation has imperial skills. The empires are not based on brute force (such force is too expensive), they are based on leveraging the influence, interest/curiosity in the local culture, preserving the local powers structure, self-restraint in imposing one's own values etc. English were good at that and until now they control Wales and Scotland.