The War on Terrorism: Medvedev Takes Putin’s Path
By Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan
April 8, 2010
Yezhednevny Zhurnal

In the week that has passed since the bombings on the city metro, President Dmitri Medvedev has actively intruded upon Putin’s personal domain – which the war on terrorism is considered to be – and proposed a few solutions. Clearly, they should demonstrate that his approach to this problem differs from the last one, which, considering what happened, has obviously not proven its worth. Today there are three initiatives – a presidential decree regarding transportation safety, the appointment of a new security force in the North Caucasus, and the introduction of a scale of terrorist threats.

The decree entitled “On the creation of a complex system to provide safety to the population on transportation” calls for the creation of a system to prevent emergency situations and terrorist attacks, most of all in the metro. Judging by the text, this would involve equipping public transportation with special technology to deal with “acts of unlawful interference,” and also systems to collect information about emerging emergency situations and threats of terrorist attacks. That is to say, additional systems to monitor passengers, and also all possible devices to determine the presence of poisonous, toxic, or other malicious agents in the air.

According to the document, the most vulnerable facilities should be equipped with this special technology by the end of next March, and the entire safety system should be completed by 2014.

Insofar as this is the only open document adopted after the bombings in the metro, one can make the conclusion that the state is intent on investing funds to prevent terrorist attacks at the last stage – when a terrorist with a bomb or poisonous gas cartridge is already moving toward a goal and falls into view of technical or other systems of control.

Meanwhile, it’s entirely obvious that cameras and censors don’t help to stop terrorists in the middle of a crowd in the metro or in a train station; at the very least, there have been no such examples of this happening in the past ten years. Moreover, as Russian experience has shown, barriers can be an obstacle to entering a defined area, but they won’t hinder a terrorist from detonating a suicide bomb in a crowd of people. At the Krylya festival in Tushino, a suicide bomber was unable to enter the stadium and blew herself up in the line at the barrier.

Of course, video cameras can help to quickly establish the identity of a suicide bomber, and, it’s true, that turns out to be helpful in the search for the terrorist’s accomplices; although, recently, as a general rule, they skillfully disguise themselves, covering up with caps and using glasses to change how their faces look. But none of this has anything to do with preventing a terrorist attack itself, and, at best, eases the investigation of a tragedy that has already happened.

In London, the world’s most developed video surveillance system (official figures say that Great Britain has one camera for every twelve people) couldn’t prevent the underground and bus terrorist attacks in 2005, although, as consequently became clear, the terrorists fell into view of the cameras numerous times on their way to the sites of the explosions and as they made preparations for the attacks.

British police already admit that all of this technology is practically useless even against normal crime, let alone terrorist attacks. The head of video surveillance management at Scotland Yard, Mick Neville, said at a 2008 press conference that less than one of every thirty crimes is uncovered with the help of CCTV – with its help, but not thanks to it exclusively.

Moreover, for understandable reasons, the metro and above-ground transportation in large cities cannot be equipped with the same safety measures that are used in airports (barriers, x-rays, all possible kinds of detectors). The head of the city metro, Dmitri Gayev, has spoken about this numerous times in the past few days.

The second initiative announced after the Moscow terrorist attacks was the scale of terrorist threats, which the National Anti-terroristt Committee is intent on introducing – not the same type that was introduced in the United States after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

It’s obvious that this scale is meant first and foremost for the population, since the intelligence agencies already have their own internal plan of action for any terrorist threats that show up. For example, before the 2005 terrorist attacks in London, the threat level was decreased. Moreover, experience has shown that raising the threat level only increases the nervousness of the population. Normal people who aren’t trained to identify dangerous behavioral indicators are inclined to see them in everyone that looks or behaves “just not right.” This, naturally, leads to a growth in suspiciousness and xenophobia. At the same time, the intelligence agencies wind up swamped with a humongous quantity of garbage information that they’re required to respond to.

Medvedev’s third step was a staffing decision in the North Caucasus. Having visited Dagestan, the president appointed Deputy Chief of Internal Forces Yevgeny Lazebin, who head the United Group of Federal Forces in 2005-06, as the supervisor of the Internal Ministry in the North Caucasus.

All three of these decisions proposed by Medvedev in the wake of the terrorist attacks have one quality in common: they are a direct continuation of the strategy formed by Putin in the beginning and middle of the last decade.

The Internal Ministry has been investing funds in a system to control the population, including with video surveillance, since at least 2005. The scale of terrorist threats has been the beloved brainchild of Nikolai Patrushev even since during his tenure as FSB director, and they’ve been trying to introduce it since 2004. However, while the effect of these two initiatives is simply doubtful, the appointment of an Interior Forces general belongs in a separate category.

The Kremlin began to systematically move the Interior Forces into the main role in the North Caucasus back in the middle of the last decade. Back then, the highest-rated terrorist threat was an attack on a city by large detachments of militants, as happened in 2004 when Basayev’s detachment took control of Nazran within nearly twenty-four hours. Therefore, the main task was considered as having heavily armed detachments of special forces on hand to deflect an attack and carry out tactical operations in the city or forest.

In appointing Lazebin, Medvedev has shown that he continues to consider attacks by powerful militants to be the most dangerous threat. It’s obvious that such an approach has nothing to do with preventing terrorist attacks by suicide bombers, which most of all demand intelligence work – not the Interior Forces’ strongest point.

Moreover, Medvedev’s choice demonstrates that the Kremlin isn’t planning to even begin a battle for “the hearts and minds” of the North Caucasus. The interior forces have a fully developed reputation in the region. There are no such words that could convince the local population to enter into cooperation with the crimson berets. But this scarcely worried Putin, and as is becoming clear, doesn’t interest Medvedev even a bit.

Translation by theOtherRussia.org.

Fatima Dzhaniyeva was driving with her mother and two brothers in the Ingush city of Nazran when their car suddenly exploded.

Dzhaniyeva, who is pregnant, and one of her brothers were hospitalized with heavy wounds, while her mother and second brother died at the scene.

Investigators believe that the attempted assassination may be connected with the murder of her husband, opposition activist Maksharip Aushev, in October.

One investigator said that a bomb had been placed under the driver’s seat either directly inside of the car or within the undercarriage.

“It’s obvious that it was a well planned assassination attempt,” said the investigator.

Maksharip Aushev was gunned down in his car by unknown assailants in the Kabardino-Balkaria territory of the Northern Caucasus on October 25. He died at the scene. His cousin, Tauzela Dzeitova, was hospitalized with heavy wounds, but passed away on December 6.

Aushev was a prominent businessman in the Russian republic of Ingushetia who turned to activism after his son and nephew were abducted in 2007, an incident that he blames on the republic’s security forces. His colleague, former Ingushetia.org editor Magomed Yevloyev, was murdered in August 2008. Aushev had been determined to form an opposition movement that would use all lawful methods to stop bloodshed in the troubled North Caucuses.

According to the statement, certain mass-media present news in a manner that raises “feelings of extreme resentment and indignation” for the delegates. It comments that “provocative, slanderous and biased REN TV reports on the region’s news…suggest that forces interested in shaking up the situation in the South of our country are behind this.”

REN TV, which is the largest privately-owned federal television channel in Russia, was purchased by Kremlin-friendly companies in 2005. Since then, some of the station’s journalists have reported feeling pressure to avoid certain stories, and a part of the staff have resigned.

“In one day, this television company sent three groups of journalists to document an attempt to lead an unsanctioned, illegal action organized by the so-called ‘Other Russia,’” the statement continues. “Freedom of speech does not give REN TV company journalists the right to act as conduits for terrorism and extremism on the territory of our country, and doesn’t free them from responsibility for obvious slander.” The document requests that appropriate measures be taken against the channel.

Another open letter, authored by senator Issy Kostoev and published on the same website, claims that reports run on the TV station were “falsified from start to finish.” Kostoev goes on to criticize some of Russia’s most notable independent media outlets: Ekho Moskvy radio (Echo of Moscow), Novaya Gazeta, and the Zhizn (Life) newspaper.

Sergei Mironov, the speaker of Russia’s Upper Chamber of Parliament, the Federation Council, noted that the Parliament has no ability to stop REN TV from broadcasting in Ingushetia. “Unfortunately, we don’t have the capability or power to shut TV channels, or influence their content,” RIA Novosti quoted Mironov as saying.

The channel’s press-service declined to comment at this time, explaining that the complaints were not directed to the station.

Journalists on assignment in Ingushetia have faced pressure in the line of their professional work. In November 2007, a film crew from REN TV was kidnapped from their hotel rooms, taken to the outskirts of the region’s capital, Nazran, and severely beaten. Their assailants threatened to kill them, and told them that for their own safety, they should never return to Ingushetia.

A demonstration against corruption and human rights abuses has been violently shut down by OMON Special Forces in Nazran. Police blocked passage for demonstrators in the capital of the Republic of Ingushetia, firing shots over the crowd and moving forward with clubs. A small group of protesters responded with violence, attacking police with stones and Molotov cocktails. Two buildings have burned and at least one person has been injured.

Earlier in the day, between 300 and 1000 people attempted to assemble in a central square of the capital. They were complaining about regional government policies, unorthodox crackdowns by security services in the region, and recent State Duma elections, which are widely believed to have been rigged. Many participants carried signs calling for the resignation of Ingush president Murat Zyazikov, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin. The rally was originally sanctioned by authorities, but was forbidden in line with a regional state of emergency instituted on January 25th.

As picketers neared the square, heavily armed OMON agents blocked surrounding streets. According to eye-witnesses, several youths tried to break through police lines, and officers responded with force, beating demonstrators with batons and firing warning shots, before chasing the crowd. Demonstrators responded by throwing stones and flaming Molotov cocktails at the officers.

At least one individual has suffered a gunshot wound, and over 100 people, many of them teenagers, have been arrested or detained. A hotel and the offices of a local State-run newspaper have been damaged by fire. Journalists covering the demonstration, including correspondents from Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow) radio, Novaya Gazeta, Radio Liberty, and other mass-media were also apprehended by police. Citing safety concerns, authorities have transported them to North Ossetia, a neighboring region. Police casualties are unknown.

Ingushetia, which is located in the North Caucasus and borders Chechnya, has seen a rising tide of violence and terrorism activity, which has been met with a firm fist from authorities. A low-level insurgency has especially targeted law enforcement officials in the primarily Muslim Republic, and regional command has responded by tripling police presence. On January 25th, the area was deemed a “zone of anti-terrorist operation,” an emergency ruling which grants the security services greater powers. Restrictions on citizens, such as searches, will be introduced shortly.

Before the protest began, the whole branch of Ingushetia’s OMON Special Forces refused orders to disperse the meeting. The administration then requested outside help, and officers from neighboring regions were moved into Nazran.

Authorities have decided to take a firm stance against demonstrators. Musa Medov, the regional Interior Minister, explained their plan to the Associated Press:

“Everyone even indirectly involved in organizing this protest will be severely punished.”