In Moscow another act of terrorism took place. In Domodedovo airport a suicide bomber exploded himself and the people in the arrival zone. The funerals of the victims will be organized free of charge in Moscow and in the vicinity of Moscow by the Russian government. Their families will also receive 2 million rubles, the badly wounded ones – 1.5 million rubles and the mildly wounded ones – 1 million rubles. Indeed, all this didn’t take place without political speculations. They have already mentioned about the Caucasian trace. As the experience shows during the upcoming weeks in Moscow the traffic will become intense. Especially the non-Slavonic entities will feel most uncomfortable. In all the densely populated areas, objects and routes are taken into control. The Russian capital has already gone through all that before but it’s impossible to police-control each square meter of Moscow. We have tried to disperse these pessimistic moods by trying to speak to an expert of Central Asia and Caucasus Sanobar Shermatova. But it didn’t work very well.
– The picture of Domodedovo terror act seems to become clear – suicide killer, 35 victims, approximately 200 injured people. This is a terror act. We may find out who’s behind that. Someone may take on the responsibility of the bombing. But several Russian experts couldn’t help but brining up the version that the tragic act was connected with the government to provide the entrance of Putin to the top power on a White Horse with the condition that people need a strong hand.
– This version seems invented to me. In order to increase the chances of Putin there was no need to organize a terror act in Domodedovo. He still has big chances to win the elections and rule the top power. The terror act in Domodedovo should be observed not in a political context. There was a blood-shedding war in Chechnya; thousands of innocent people were killed. Their relatives were recruited among the terrorists. Some of them have returned to peaceful life. The big war with large war hardware is over but the “small” war still continues and so these terrorist acts are continuation of this small war. As long as Chechens participate in terrorism everything becomes clear. However, last year in the Russian metro Dagestani girls exploded themselves. There has been no war here. Moreover in 1999 the Dagestanis were standing next to the extremists in order to protect their state. Nevertheless, currently Dagestan is one of the hot spots of the world, where they declare a regime of anti-terrorism actions and various law-abiders are being perished. The same situation is in the whole North Caucasus. By starting the war in Chechnya the war was spread in the whole North Caucasus. And the consequences of this war are indirectly reaching Moscow by various methods of terrorism. Behind each explosion, which was the explosion of Domodedovo airport, some organization exists. The ideologist and organizer of the actions of the suicide bombers was Shamil Basayev. When he died in Moscow the explosions stopped and it took the terrorists several years to strengthen the organization again. Why they were allowed to do so is a totally different question. Maybe they thought that after the death of Basayev the issue of terrorism will be annihilated by itself. During terrorist acts they usually speak about big money too. In certain cases money doesn’t play a very big role. A person, who’s going to part his life, doesn’t need money despite the fact that there are various cases. However, law-enforcing bodies have risk group lists, which includes the relatives and loyalists of commanders and terrorists. After each terror act they are trying to seek the culprits on this list. The main incentive of suicide-bombing is vengeance. Most probably what had happened in Domodedovo has a Caucasian trace. In Russia till now all the big terror acts were organized and done by Caucasians.
– Is the main reason of dissolution of this problem the malfunctioning of law-enforcers and other force structures?
– But the fact that the explosion took place in one of the greatest airports of Moscow already comes to speak about the bad functioning of law-enforcers. It is evident that the methods applied by them do not reach their right goal. Indeed, airports, metros and other major objects should be inspected. But we are speaking about the functioning of the ministry of internal affairs and the national security, which are responsible for the security of the country. I don’t remember any precedent, after which in Russia a high-rank official of the law-enforcing structure would be fired. Perhaps there was some internal investigation and we don’t know about that. The fight against terrorism is totally free in order to raise its efficiency. But terrorist acts still continue. The actions of the law enforcers in the North Caucasian countries gain big criticism. They are blamed of kidnapping people, of applying unacceptable methods during the interrogation of people. There are cases when young people joined terrorists after questioning at the police. But the reasons of extremism are not only hidden behind the activities of the law enforcers. It is evident that the terrorists wouldn’t have be able to function that long if they hadn’t had support. The terrorists, who declare war to the law-enforcers, to a certain extent enjoy the sympathy and respect of the local population.
– In your opinion, how can it be concretely possible to withstand such terror acts as the one in Domodedovo? To me the situation seems without a way out. It’s impossible to follow everyone or inspect all the passersby, which means that at any moment someone may blow up something or himself/herself.
– In Russia they apply the principle “arrest and release.” And even now we may anticipate long lines at the airports, which means that the police are inspecting many passengers. They will once again raise the theme of capital city arrivers as though these means have ever stopped the terrorists. Let us remember how two women suicide bombers were able to get on the plane and blew up the plane simultaneously in the air in 2004. A police officer helped them, who didn’t fully inspect them when getting on the plane. And other employee of the airport also helped them, who was in charge of ticket speculation. In other words, any means of restriction is neutralized in conditions of the high-level of corruption.
– Besides that, the airport cannot always be in a restricted zone and cannot operate like that for a long time. After some time people will demand to facilitate the process in order to get rid of the inconvenience…
– The inspection on objects is not a reason for terrorism. It is necessary to carry out decent anti-terrorism actions and respond for the consequences of the previous action.
– And how can the terrorism organizations be sought, which are concretely responsible for the explosions. For example, there are various Caucasian organizations, which don’t have anything about terrorism in their bylaws. They are not responsible for the actions of their counterparts.
– That is the business of special bodies. And nationalistic unions don’t have anything to do here. They are not responsible for the actions of their counterparts.
– Do you think it’s worth waiting? Will the situation become tenser or may it appease?
– Everything depends on the actions of law-enforcement bodies. I don’t mean a hundred of a thousand terrorists but a dozen of people, who are on the danger list and who fight in the Caucasian mountains. But in the current conditions the law-enforcers won’t be able to reach any results. It is necessary to modernize the law-enforcement bodies and not a cosmetic reconstruction with the change of names. We need deep reforms. It is a big question whether the government is ready for such reforms.