Interesting article from Perspectives on Terrorism looking at the continuity of Russian counterterrorism policy since the days of the Tsar:
"Since the first terrorist campaign set up by the Russian revolutionaries in the late 19th century, terrorism in Russia has been regarded as an assault against the state personified by the Tsar, the communist party, or the central government and leadership of the modern state, respectively. In the epoch of Tsars, terrorism was coterminous with the revolutionary movement against absolutism.[4] During the early years of the Bolshevik rule, it was tantamount to counter-revolutionary anti-Communist actions. Two decades later, terrorism was viewed as subversive activities of foreign intelligence services, or acts of resistance to the Soviet government orchestrated by secret services from Western states. Neither the Soviet Union nor contemporary Russia has clearly defined terrorism or distinguished it from other crimes of a violent or political nature.[5] This ill-defined legal construct allowed the government full discretion to bring forth charges of alleged terrorist crimes. The vague definitions created uncertainty in the application of law, which allowed for politically motivated enforcement of the criminal legislative provisions."
The problem with this kind of policy is that it politicizes counterterrorism policy and allows for the conjunction of counterterrorism operations with forms of social control. The current calm in Chechnya is largely due to the the skill of Chechen President Kadyrov in utilizing the classic Machiavellian tactics of divide and conquer. He co-oped some of his adversaries and ruthlessly eliminated the rest. This is not as much due to the excellence of Russian counterterrorism and counterinsurgency forces than the skillful application of indirect rule.
But although it has been largely pushed out of Chechyna, the larger insurgency is still at work in the surrounding regional republics. And there may be some indications that a certain amount of "dead-enders" are at work inside Chechnya proper. For all of the blood shed, the horrors of Beslan may very well be repeated.
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