Wake up call for Russia

Russia has done not much to settle the political as well as economic grievances that gave birth to the Chechen rebellion.

Kamna Arora

Two female suicide bombers hit Moscow`s subway stations -- Lubyanka and Park Kultury -- during the early morning rush hour on March 29, killing at least 39 people and injuring over 100. The two stations were seen filled with dense smoke as frightened commuters panicked to rush out. The Lubyanka metro station is next to the headquarters of the Federal Security Services (FSB), the successor to the KGB. Immediately, FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov claimed that the bombs, filled with bolts and iron rods, were exploded by rebels from the Muslim North Caucasus region. On March 31, a Chechen militant leader claimed responsibility for the deadly subways bombings. Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had hinted that terrorists from the Pakistan-Afghan border region may have had a hand in Monday`s suicide attacks. "We know that many terrorist attacks - not only in Afghanistan, but in other countries too - are plotted in that area (the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan)... Sometimes, the trail leads to the Caucasus," he said. Immediately after the attack, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev put airports on alert, with an order to tighten the security. In televised remarks, he said: “We shall continue operations against terrorists without wavering and to the end.” Meanwhile, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said: “I am sure that police will do their best to find and punish the criminals. The terrorists will be destroyed." Terrorism is not at all a new phenomenon for Russia. The government’s tough military campaign against Chechnya in the early part of the last decade had set off various retaliatory attacks in the Russian cities, including Moscow. Russians were fighting the rebels to ensure security, but the 2002 siege of Dubrovka Theatre and the 2004 attack on an elementary school in Beslan indicated to Kremlin that fool-proof security was still a distant dream. Muscovites have also witnessed such attacks in the past. In 2004, a bomb on the Moscow Metro had killed nine people. In November 2009, at least 26 people died when a bomb blast led to the derailment of a Moscow-St Petersburg express train. Chechen Islamists had claimed responsibility for that bombing. However, the terrorist attacks in Russia have become less frequent in recent years. Even Chechnya itself has been relatively peaceful, thanks to Putin-backed strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, who became Chechen president in 2007. However, violence has spilled over to neighbouring republics, mainly Ingushetia and Dagestan. In fact, killings and explosions take place quite often in these North Caucasian republics. Russia had managed to gain a landmark victory by assassinating Chechen field commander Shamil Basayev in July 2006. However, Basayev`s successor, Doku Umarov, seems to be another headache. In February, the Chechen rebel leader had warned in a televised interview: "If Russians think that this war is happening only on television, somewhere far off in the Caucasus and will not touch them, we intend to show them that this war will return to their homes." The use of female suicide bombers is a tactic promoted by Basayev. The rebels fighting to secede the republic of Chechnya from Russia had adopted the method of suicide bombing for the first time in 2000. At the start, the bombers were men. Female suicide bombers came into the scenario in 2003. Notably, female suicide bombers had attempted to kill Kadyrov’s father, Akhmad Kadyrov, at a religious ceremony in May 2003. Many reports claim that it is partially because of the destruction, both psychological as well as physical, caused by Russian soldiers, that women have decided to put their lives at stake to kill others. Many were gang-raped, and many lost their family members, hence leading to post-traumatic stress disorder. "Probably it was a reply to some injustice or atrocity done to their fathers or brothers, whoever, but it`s only the end of a tentacle," said Sergei Arutyunov, chair of the Caucasus department at the Russian Academy of Science. "And the tentacles converge in a large, loose body of separatism and pseudo-Islamic fanaticism," Arutyunov was quoted as saying. The Russian government has failed to calm Chechnya completely. Not much has been done to settle the political as well as economic grievances that gave birth to the Chechen rebellion. Corruption and unemployment are rampant throughout the North Caucasus. Consequentially, it has made the region a fertile breeding ground for Islamic militancy. Another factor which has contributed to the growth of extremism in the region is brutality among Russia’s security and military services. Of late, media has exposed violent attacks by policemen against common people. Hence, the Kremlin would need to revamp its security agencies, reform local administration, further economic development, and re-examine its North Caucasus policy, while cracking down on armed extremist groups.