| A war of terrorism has been declared on Russia Holiday. Day of Knowledge. Lesson of peace. And infants are among hundreds of hostages in secondary school No. 1 in the North Ossetian city of Beslan on the border with Ingushetia, captured by yet another martyrs. Tragedy. Day of pain. Lesson of war.
There is no counter-terrorism operation in Chechnya. There is a terrorist war in Russia. And we need to understand why we - the government and society - are losing this war.
On the eve of the militant attack on Ingushetia, which occurred on June 22, 2004, an interview with Aslan Maskhadov appeared on Radio Liberty, threatening to spread the terrorist war to the entire territory of Russia. Russian intelligence services immediately unanimously called these statements political PR. And the official national television channels continued to broadcast pastoral scenes on the theme of restoring peaceful life in Chechnya and singing praises to the football victories of the Grozny “Terek”, based in Mineralnye Vody for safety.
Alas, the bloody terrorist PR of the militants turned out to be more truthful than the benign political PR of Moscow. And the terrorists presented their—deadly—arguments.
The Russian authorities, apparently, have convinced themselves, and not just the population, that permanent untargeted purges in Chechnya are quite enough to consider the situation in the Caucasus stable. Having turned the real war in the Caucasus into a PR campaign for the special services, the authorities failed or did not want to understand: the counter-terrorist operation cannot and does not focus on Chechnya alone. Terrorists have long been able to “internationalize” the conflict. The whole country, any object, children and adults are under attack. The war is fought on earth and in the sky.
There have already been terrorist attacks in Moscow, but there have been no terrorist attacks on airplanes. This came as a surprise to the Russian intelligence services. There were already battles in Ingushetia, but no one expected that on the night of June 22, so many militants would attack the republic, which, by the way, is ruled by FSB General Murat Zyazikov, in so many places at once. They did not expect it, despite the directly voiced threats, despite the attempt to kill General Zyazikov himself, who was saved from death only by the strong armor of the Mercedes.
North Ossetia, the only Orthodox republic in the Russian Caucasus, was formally considered the most peaceful in the region. Although there are constant explosions in the markets of Vladikavkaz. Although suicide bombers have already blown up a military hospital in Mozdok. Although there is a deep-rooted, but by no means resolved conflict between Ossetians and Ingush in the struggle for the Prigorodny district.
Having recognized that we are dealing with a full-scale terrorist war, and not with isolated isolated attacks by a bunch of half-baked extremists, we must think about the antidote. This antidote has three components - reasonable state policy, professionalism of the intelligence services and conscious assistance from civil society. They can only work together. In today's Russia there is not one of them.
Caucasian politics comes down to attempts, with the help of simple political technologies, to “plant in the region” a candidate convenient for the Kremlin - like in some Kursk region. Without taking into account his real political abilities to ensure stability in this region and the degree of real trust in the nominee from the civilian population.
By hook or by crook, the intelligence services are trying to shift responsibility for the next failure onto each other. The Ministry of Internal Affairs nods to the FSB as the main coordinator of the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya, the FSB points to the Ministry of Internal Affairs as the main one responsible for catching bandits. And Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, during a recent exercise to neutralize terrorists... in Kamchatka, honestly stated that the army should not be used in internal conflicts, transparently hinting at the role of the Armed Forces in the Caucasian situation.
Finally, society is not ready to compare in its mind the pictures of television propaganda about the prosperous Caucasus and the next footage of the next terrorist attack, to determine what is true and what is a lie. In addition, the authorities do not conduct a dialogue with society, they do not even teach applied skills to assist the special services in protecting the security of crowded places.
We have no choice but to unite in the fight against terrorism. The government and society, the intelligence services and the population are not just allies in this fight, but one team, where everyone, to the best of their ability, helps defeat the common enemy. The main thing is not to be afraid of the truth. The main thing is not to be afraid.
YOUR OPINION Semyon NOVOPRUDSKY |
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