A new wave of terrorism has originated in North Caucasus and there is no day without terrorism resulting in the death of not only high rank officials but ordinary citizens as well. What is happening there? How to fight against the terrorism? The correspondent of the 168 Hours has discussed these issues with Semyon Baghdasarov, member of the Russian State Duma, head of the committee on foreign relations and expert of security issues.
– What is happening in Russia? Is it a terrorism war?
– This is terrorism activity. In North Caucasus the religious radical powers have become active. These are radical salafist groups like the groups in the Middle East. In other words it can be descried like a group close to Al-Qaeda. However it is not like that and the name of al-Qaeda has become a brand. These groups have a goal of reaching a religious radical power, i.e. Islamic caliphate.
– The radical islamic groups have become active not only in Russia but in the territories close to its borders, specifically in Central Asia. It may seem that this is a coordinated joint process. What do you think about that?
– These processes are interconnected and stem out of the general activation of the religious groups. As we know, during the attack in the South, in Kirgizstan, there were losses. The situation is still tense there. The situation is tense in Tajikistan as well, which has in fact a transparent border with hundreds of kilometers in length with Afghanistan. The fighters who have been trained and participated in actions in Afghanistan are concentrated there. These people are not used to being free for a long time. They are really well-prepared and are really very dangerous people. The situation may explode every moment there. Several years ago the fighters of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) were trying to destabilize the situation in the region by entering the valley of Fergana and trying to establish an islamic state there. At that time they were pressed down. In Central Asia there are several radical islamic groups. The most famous one is the IMU. Some time ago there used to be a joint organization there entitled the Islamic Movement of Turkistan. There were conflicts among the leaders of this movement and it broke into several parts, one of which is the IMU.
– Can the activation of these groups in the territory of Russia and surrounding borders be a result of the actions of the armed forces of NATO and the US in Afghanistan? Does it mean that the Western powers are pressing out these groups from Afghanistan to Russia?
– It plays some role too. Even sometimes the impression is that in Afghanistan certain actions are done and planned especially for that purpose. Sometimes even the Americans are pressing out the Afghan groups of fighters to the Russian geopolitical zones. They are interested in instability in those regions. The Taliban movement does not concern only one group as it may seem from first glance. For some groups the ideas concerning Afghanistan are really very important. The goals of the others are more cloudy and undecided. Plus, the drag trafficking, islamic terrorism and drug business are integral parts of these processes. The islamic groups need ways to Europe to sell the drugs and make money. This is one of the reasons of the tense situation in North Caucasus, especially in Dagestan. All these things are going there through the territory of Azerbaijan as the borders between Russia and Azerbaijan are transparent and it is several years that I speak about the importance of a visa regime with Azerbaijan. Turkey plays some role in this process too. This country has announced a war against terrorism. In fact it struggles against terrorism. However, meanwhile it is very loyal to terrorism (it is a paradox). The fighters of these terroristic groups are hosted by Turkey and they get treatment in Turkish hospitals. Turkey and Azerbaijan are allies. In this context I think the recent announcement made by Sahakashvili that Georgia is ready to establish a confederations state with Azerbaijan is very dangerous. During the hearings in the State Duma I ask my colleagues to discuss this issue, which can be no good for Russia.
– There is an opinion that no country can effectively fight terrorism; terrorism has existed and will exist in the future as well. Do you agree with this opinion?
– A state can effectively fight corruption, resist it and minimize the danger. Israel has a great experience of fighting terrorism, but this experience is not applicable in Russia. In Israel they see a potential terrorist in any muslim man, but in Russia this approach cannot be used. But the experience of Egypt, Algeria and Syria is very rich too. In 90s the situation was very bad in this country. But step by step the government of the country reduced the number of territories controlled by terrorists to minimum. As a result, Algeria could get rid of the problems that could be very dangerous for it. Today Algeria is a normal country, which is not dangerous for the neighbors. Concerning the activities of governments to fight corruption there must be three factors: power, financial and ideological factors. As far as I know there is a concrete formula in Saudi Arabia: people plus money plus ideology. In practice it means that for fighting terrorism a state should have good specialists, resources and ability to control the financial flows of terroristic groups, and eventually an ideology which can resist the ideologies of the terroristic groups. In Russia the problem of the power is solved, the situation with the finances is not good, as well as the situation with the ideology is bad as there are no people to fight against the ideologies of the opposite party effectively.