Terrorism resurges in Russia with new faces, old targets

Source: Xinhunet

MOSCOW, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- Russia experienced a surge of terrorist attacks in 2010 after a relative lull in recent years, seeing a younger generation of attackers adopt new strategies, but still target state buildings.

The resurgence of terrorists erased the government's hopes that it has defeated terrorism after Ramzan Kadyrov, a strong pro-government leader, was appointed to terrorists' main stronghold, the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya.

Since the beginning of this year, Russia has witnessed at least 24 major terrorist attacks, all but two in the North Caucasus region. However, one of the two attacks claimed more lives than the total claimed in the rest 23 combined.

Nearly all these attacks, including the most bloody one in March, are definitely linked with insurgents in the North Caucasian region. Thus it's time for the Russian government to change its old-style battle against terrorists who have changed their tactics to hide deeper.

LULL IS OVER

On March 29, two blasts with an interval of about 45 minutes rocked two metro stations in downtown Moscow, killing at least 37 people and injuring some 65 others.

Two female suicide bombers, or "black widows," from North Caucasus, cooked up the catastrophe in revenge for their husbands or relatives killed in the government's security operations.

In the year of 2010, Russia saw a young generation of terrorists unseen in 2005, said Alexander Sharavin, director of Moscow's Institute for Political and Military Analysis.

The relative lull in the past years was a period of generation replacement among the militants, he told Xinhua.

"Nearly all militants in their forties have either been killed or changed sides to become loyal to the Kremlin. Now terrorist attacks have been prepared and conducted by the second generation of militants in their twenties or even younger, like those in the March subway attacks," Sharavin said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev vowed after the bloody twin attacks that the federal authorities "will continue fighting terrorism till the end".

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, too, in his characteristic manner, demanded law enforcers "drag those terrorists out of the sewage pipes."

However, the authorities still work with young people in those violent regions in the most ineffective way, like organizing boring conferences or publishing dull articles in local newspapers.

"The new generation do not know any other ideology but 'holy war against the unfaithfuls', learning so-called "wisdom" not in mountain hideouts but on internet in their comfortable homes," Sharavin said.

Now, the Russian authorities are facing a highly challenging task. They have to conquer the minds of those teenage militants in order to curb terrorism, Sharavin added.

The year also marked a new phase in terrorism, as militants changed their tactics, said Andrei Soldatov, a leading anti-terrorist expert in Russia.

"Militants re-grouped, breaking their quasi-military brigades into smaller units, consisting of two or three insurgents. But until 2010, federal authorities kept hunting the remnants of rebels' 'army' in the mountains and reported 'victories'," Soldatov said.

The security forces' operations actually have succeeded in killing several failed warlords in North Caucasus, but unconsciously left behind most terrorists who had abandoned the forests and returned to "normal" life in the towns.

"Security forces' tasks are more complicated now, because it is impossible to destroy a network of micro-groups by tanks and helicopters," Soldatov added.

NEW POLICY IN URGENT NEED

Russia's Northern Caucasus is the third largest "terror hotbed" in the world after Afghanistan and Iraq. There has been a significant shift in the origin and location of terrorist attacks, Russian experts said.

Before the lull from 2006 to 2009, most of the attacks happened in Chechnya and neighboring Ingushetia. However, in 2010, only one attack happened in Chechnya and four more in Ingushetia, as the anti-government violence shifted from Chechnya to Dagestan, a republic on the Caspian Sea coast, which has witnessed 12 attacks so far this year.

Sharavin said that this shift reflects the changing nature of terrorism in Russia.

"Until recently, Russian leaders were convinced that terrorism had been imported into the country, but now local extremists are trying to spread their attacks from remote Chechnya to the very heart of Russia's mainland," he said.

"For the global terror network, Russia is a training ground, because the country is a junction of so many economic, religious, historical problems," he added.

Most of the terrorist strikes still targeted state institutions, and strikes against non-governmental targets, like the subway bombing, were rare.

Still plagued by rampant terror attacks, Russia needs to change its strategy of eliminating terrorism only by brutal force, Sharavin said.

"The authorities initially did not understand that terrorism was not an isolated problem of the law enforcement structures," he said, adding that war against terrorism must also be waged on the financial, anti-drug and economic development fronts.

In addition, the authorities also have to change the local people's attitude toward the militants, he added.

"The idea is, the local residents must persuade the potential bombers, probably their neighbors or relatives, that there are other ways to spend their lives than 'jihad'," Sharvin said.

TOUGH TASK AHEAD

The return of terrorism this year shows the battle against terrorism in the country is far from being concluded and the task ahead is still challenging.

Fortunately, Russian leaders have gradually changed their policies, including turning their focus on solving local social and economic problems. Medvedev promised in Dagestan's regional capital Makhachkala to take social and economic measures to demotivate would-be terrorists.

However, it is still doubtful whether the orders of Russian leaders can be effectively carried out.

Experts agree that terrorism cannot be defeated unless the economic situation improves in the troubled regions. It means that ordinary Russian citizens have to wait for many years before they can travel on the subway without fears of being victim of terrorist attacks.