Terrorism in Russia

Last updated

Terrorism in Russia has a long history starting from the time of the Russian Empire. Terrorism, in the modern sense, [1] means violence against civilians to achieve political or ideological objectives by creating extreme fear. [2]

Contents

Terrorism was an important tool used by Marxist revolutionaries in the early 20th century to disrupt the social, political, and economic system and enable rebels to bring down the Tsarist government. Terrorist tactics, such as hostage-taking, were widely used by the Soviet secret agencies, most notably during the Red Terror and Great Terror campaigns, against the population of their own country, according to Karl Kautsky and other historians of Bolshevism [ citation needed ].

Starting from the end of the 20th century, significant terrorist activity has taken place in Russia, most notably the Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis, the 1999 apartment bombings, the Moscow theater hostage crisis, the Beslan school siege, and most recently the Crocus City Hall attack and the 2024 Dagestan attacks. Many more acts of terrorism have been committed in major Russian cities, as well as the regions of Chechnya and Dagestan.

19th century

German Social Democrat Karl Kautsky traces the origins of terrorism, including the terrorism seen in the Russian Empire, to the "Reign of Terror" of the French Revolution. [3] [4] Others emphasize the role of Russian revolutionary movements during the 19th century, especially Narodnaya Volya ("People's Will") and the Nihilist movement, which included several thousand followers. "People's Will" organized one of the first political terrorism campaigns in history. In March 1881, it assassinated the Emperor of Russia Alexander II, who twenty years earlier had emancipated the Russian serfs. [5]

Important ideologists of these groups were Mikhail Bakunin and Sergey Nechayev, who was described in Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel The Possessed . [5] Nechayev argued that the purpose of revolutionary terror is not to gain the support of the masses, but on the contrary, to inflict misery and fear on the common population. According to Nechayev, a revolutionary must terrorize civilians in order to incite rebellions. He wrote: [5]

"A revolutionary must infiltrate all social formations including the police. He must exploit rich and influential people, subordinating them to himself. He must aggravate the miseries of the common people, so as to exhaust their patience and incite them to rebel. And, finally, he must ally himself with the savage word of the violent criminal, the only true revolutionary in Russia".
"The Revolutionist is a doomed man. He has no private interests, no affairs, sentiments, ties, property nor even a name of his own. His entire being is devoured by one purpose, one thought, one passion – the revolution. Heart and soul, not merely by word but by deed, he has severed every link with the social order and with the entire civilized world; with the laws, good manners, conventions, and morality of that world. He is its merciless enemy and continues to inhabit it with only one purpose – to destroy it."

According to historian and writer Edvard Radzinsky, Nechayev's ideas and tactics were widely used by Joseph Stalin and other Russian revolutionaries. [5]

Early 20th century

Assassination of Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich in 1905 Em Moscow -- Uma bomba de dynamite faz voar estilhacos o carro em que ia o Grao Duque Sergio, tio do czar, cujo corpo despedacado foi atirado a grande distancia.jpg
Assassination of Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich in 1905

The SR Combat Organization was founded in 1902 and operated as an autonomous branch of the Socialist Revolutionary Party responsible for assassinating government officials, was led by Grigory Gershuni and operated separately from the party so as not to jeopardize its political actions. SRCO agents assassinated two Ministers of the Interior, Dmitry Sipyagin and V. K. von Plehve, Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich, the Governor of Ufa N. M. Bogdanovich, and many other high-ranking officials. [6] It has been estimated that all together in the last twenty years of the Tsarist regime (1897–1917) more than 17,000 people were killed or wounded in terror attacks. [7]

Soviet Union

1977 Moscow bombings

A series of three bombings in Moscow on 8 January 1977 killed seven people and seriously injured 37 others. No one claimed responsibility for the bombings, although three members of an Armenian nationalist organization were executed early in 1979 after a KGB investigation and a secret trial. Some Soviet dissidents said that the bombings were allegedly organized by KGB to frame-up Armenian nationalists who were executed. [8] [9] [10] [11]

State-sponsored international terrorism

The Soviet Union and some its allies have sponsored international terrorism on numerous occasions, especially during the Cold War.

Russian Federation

Photos of killed hostages in the gym of school # 1 in Beslan Beslan foto pogibshih.jpg
Photos of killed hostages in the gym of school # 1 in Beslan
A victim of 2010 Moscow metro bombing 2010 terrorist attack in Mosmetro on MCHS 02.jpg
A victim of 2010 Moscow metro bombing

The First Chechen War (1994–1996) and the Second Chechen War (2000–2009) saw Chechen nationalism transformed into jihadism. In later years, the conflict extended beyond Chechnya, inspiring jihadist movements in Dagestan and Ingushetia. Since the First Chechen war, there has been a number of attacks by jihadists in various Russian cities, with the Doubrovka Theatre hostage crisis in Moscow (over 150 dead, including 130 hostages, in 2002) and the Beslan school siege in North Ossetia (334 dead, including 186 children, in 2004) peaking. There have been numerous other bloody jihadist terrorist attacks, notably at airports and in the Moscow and St Petersburg metros, with dozens of deaths. [12] [13]

Other types of terrorism in modern Russia are less significant (the activity of such radical left-wing groups as New Revolutionary Alternative and terrorist attacks by racialist Russian nationalists, such as 2006 Moscow market bombing and the assassinations committed by Battle Organization of Russian Nationalists).

1999 Russian apartment bombings

The Russian apartment bombings were a series of bombings in Russia that killed 300 & injured over 1,700. And, together with the Dagestan War, led the country into the Second Chechen War. The four bombings took place in the Russian cities of Buinaksk, Moscow and Volgodonsk during early days of September 1999. [14]

The bombings were followed by a controversial episode when a suspected bomb was found and defused in an apartment block in the Russian city of Ryazan on 22 September, which was then explained to be an exercise by the Russian security services, the FSB. [15]

An official investigation of the bombings was completed only three years later, in 2002. Seven suspects were killed, six have been convicted on terrorism-related charges, and one remains a fugitive. According to the investigation, the Moscow and Volgodonsk bombings were organized and led by Achemez Gochiyaev, who headed a group of Karachai Wahhabis, while the Buinaksk bombing was organized and perpetrated by a different group of Dagestani Wahhabis. [16]

The Russian Duma rejected two motions for parliamentary investigation of the Ryazan incident. An independent public commission to investigate the bombings chaired by Duma deputy Sergei Kovalev was rendered ineffective because of government refusal to respond to its inquiries. Two key members of the Kovalev Commission, Sergei Yushenkov and Yuri Shchekochikhin, both Duma members, have since died in assassinations in April 2003 and July 2003 respectively. The commission's lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin was arrested in October 2003 to become one of the better-known political prisoners in Russia. [17] [18] [19]

21st century

2002

The Moscow theater hostage crisis (also known as the 2002 Nord-Ost siege) was the seizure of a crowded Dubrovka Theater by 40 to 50 armed Chechens on 23 October 2002 that involved 850 hostages and ended with the deaths of at least 170 people.

2004

A suicide bombing in downtown Moscow Metro killed 41 people on February 6. Simultaneous suicide bombings brought down two passenger aircraft within one hour of leaving from the Domedodovo airport, Moscow, killing 90 people total on August 24. Chechen terrorists seized over 1,000 hostages at a school in Beslan, North Ossetia on September 1. The siege ended on September 3, with more than 300 people dead, most of them children.

2006

The 2006 Moscow market bombing occurred on 21 August 2006, when a self-made bomb with the power of more than 1 kg of TNT exploded at Moscow's Cherkizovsky Market frequented by foreign merchants. [20] The bombing killed 13 people and injured 47. In 2008, eight members of the neo-Nazi organization The Saviour were sentenced for their roles in the attack. [21]

2010

In March 2010 suicide bombings were carried out by two women who were aligned with Caucasus Emirate and Al-Qaeda. The terrorist attack happened during the morning rush hour of 29 March 2010, at two stations of the Moscow Metro (Lubyanka and Park Kultury), with roughly 40 minutes interval between. At least 38 people were killed, and over 60 injured. [22] [23]

2011

The Domodedovo International Airport bombing was a suicide bombing in the international arrival hall of Moscow's Domodedovo International, in Domodedovsky District, Moscow Oblast, on 24 January 2011.

The bombing killed 37 people [24] and injured 173 others, including 86 who had to be hospitalised. [25] Of the casualties, 31 died at the scene, three later in hospitals, one en route to a hospital, [26] one on 2 February after having been put in a coma, and another on 24 February after being hospitalised in grave condition. [24]

Russia's Federal Investigative Committee later identified the suicide bomber as a 20-year-old from the North Caucasus, and said that the attack was aimed "first and foremost" at foreign citizens. [27]

2013

In December 2013, two separate suicide bombings a day apart targeted mass transportation in the city of Volgograd, in the Volgograd Oblast of Southern Russia, killing 34 people overall, including both perpetrators who were aligned to Caucasus Emirate and Vilayat Dagestan. The attacks followed a bus bombing carried out in the same city two months earlier. [28] [ citation needed ]

On 21 October 2013, a suicide bombing took place on a bus in the city of Volgograd, in the Volgograd Oblast of Southern Russia. The attack was carried out by a female perpetrator named Naida Sirazhudinovna Asiyalova (Russian: Наида Сиражудиновна Асиялова) who was converted to Islam by her husband, she detonated an explosive belt containing 500–600 grams of TNT inside a bus carrying approximately 50 people, killing seven civilians and injuring at least 36 others. [29]

2014

On 5 October 2014 a 19-year-old man named Opti Mudarov went to the town hall where an event was taking place to mark Grozny City Day celebrations in Grozny coinciding with the birthday of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov. Police officers noticed him acting strangely and stopped him. The officers began to search him and the bomb which Mudarov had been carrying exploded. Five officers, along with the suicide bomber, were killed, while 12 others were wounded. [30]

On 4 December 2014, a group of Islamist militants, in three vehicles, killed three traffic policemen, after the latter had attempted to stop them at a checkpoint in the outskirts of Grozny. [31] The militants then occupied a press building and an abandoned school, located in the center of the city. Launching a counter-terrorism operation, security forces, with the use of armored vehicles, attempted to storm the buildings and a firefight ensued. [32]

14 policemen, 11 militants and 1 civilian were killed. Additionally 36 policemen were wounded in the incident. The Press House was also burned and severely damaged in the incident. [33] [34]

2015

Metrojet Flight 9268 was an international chartered passenger flight operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia (branded as Metrojet). On 31 October 2015 at 06:13 local time EST (04:13 UTC), an Airbus A321-231 operating the flight disintegrated above the northern Sinai following its departure from Sharm El Sheikh International Airport, Egypt, in route to Pulkovo Airport, Saint Petersburg, Russia. All 217 passengers and seven crew members who were on board were killed. [35] [36] [37]

Shortly after the crash, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)'s Sinai Branch, previously known as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, claimed responsibility for the incident, which occurred in the vicinity of the Sinai insurgency. [38] [39] ISIL claimed responsibility on Twitter, on video, and in a statement by Abu Osama al-Masri, the leader of the group's Sinai branch. [40] [41] ISIL posted pictures of what it said was the bomb in Dabiq , its online magazine.

By 4 November 2015, British and American authorities suspected that a bomb was responsible for the crash. On 8 November 2015, an anonymous member of the Egyptian investigation team said the investigators were "90 percent sure" that the jet was brought down by a bomb. Lead investigator Ayman al-Muqaddam said that other possible causes of the crash included a fuel explosion, metal fatigue, and lithium batteries overheating. [42] The Russian Federal Security Service announced on 17 November that they were sure that it was a terrorist attack, caused by an improvised bomb containing the equivalent of up to 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of TNT that detonated during the flight. The Russians said they had found explosive residue as evidence. On 24 February 2016, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi acknowledged that terrorism caused the crash. [43]

2017

  • On 3 April 2017, a terrorist attack using an explosive device took place on the Saint Petersburg Metro between Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologichesky Institut stations. [44] Seven people (including the perpetrator) were initially reported to have died, and eight more died later from their injuries, bringing the total to 15. [45] [46] [47] [48] [49] At least 45 others were injured in the incident. [50] [51] The explosive device was contained in a briefcase. [50] A second explosive device was found and defused at Ploshchad Vosstaniya metro station. [48] The suspected perpetrator was named as Akbarzhon Jalilov, a Russian citizen who was an ethnic Uzbek born in Kyrgyzstan. [52] Prior to the attack, Chechen separatists had been responsible for several terrorist attacks in Russia. In 2016, ISIS had plotted to target St. Petersburg due to Russia's military involvement in Syria, resulting in arrests. [53] No public transport system in Russia had been bombed since the 2010 Moscow Metro bombings. [54] ISIS propaganda was being circulated prior to this incident. It encouraged supporters to launch strikes on Moscow. ISIS propaganda showed bullet holes through Putin's head and a poster circulated before the attack of a falling Kremlin and included the message "We Will Burn Russia." [55]
  • On 22 April 2017, two people were shot and killed in an attack in a Federal Security Service office in the Russian city of Khabarovsk. The gunman was also killed. The Russian Federal Security Service said that the native 18-year-old perpetrator was a known member of a neo-Nazi group. [56]
  • On 27 December 2017 a bomb exploded in a supermarket in St Petersburg, injuring thirteen people. Vladimir Putin described this as a terrorist attack. [57]

2019

Several terrorist incidents occurred in Russia during the year of 2019:

  • On March 13, two perpetrators attacked Federal Security Service (FSB) officers with automatic weapons and grenades when stopped for questioning in Stavropol of the Shpakovsky district. Both perpetrators were killed in the confrontation. Later, Russian authorities reported they were planning a terrorist attack in accordance to their affiliation with ISIS. [58]
  • On April 8, ISIS (claimed to have) set off an explosion at Kolomna, a city near Moscow. The attack did not result in any casualties. [58]
  • On July 1, ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack on a police officer at a checkpoint in the Achkhoy-Martonovsky district of Chechnya, who was stabbed to death. The attacker was shot and killed as he threw a grenade at the other officers. [58]
  • On December 19, someone living in the Moscow region opened fire near the FSB headquarters in Moscow and caused 6 casualties; 2 killed and 4 wounded. Subsequently, the shooter, later identified as Yevgeny Manyurov, a 39-year-old ex-security guard, was killed onsite. [58]

2021

A German court sentenced Russian agent Vadim Krasikov to life imprisonment for the murder of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili which the judge called "state terrorism". [59]

2023

On 2 April there was an explosion in a Saint Petersburg café.

2024

On 22 March, a group of four gunmen from IS-KP, also known as ISIS–K, opened fire on the public and then set fire to the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk, a city on the Western edge of Moscow. [60] ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack. [61] [62]

On 23 June 2024, Telegram channel Baza reported a terrorist attack in the city of Derbent on the Orthodox Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin on Lenin Street. [63] Not long after, a similar attack occurred in the regional capital Makhachkala. The Head of the Republic of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, confirmed that the attacks had indeed took place. [64]

Accusations of state terrorism

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the government of the Russian Federation has been frequently accused of sponsoring or inspiring terrorist activities inside the country and in other countries in order to achieve its political goals.

Former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, Johns Hopkins University and Hoover Institute scholar David Satter, [65] Russian lawmaker Sergei Yushenkov, historian Yuri Felshtinsky, politologist Vladimir Pribylovsky and former KGB general Oleg Kalugin asserted that Russian apartment bombings were in fact a "false flag" attack perpetrated by the FSB (successor to the KGB) in order to legitimize the resumption of military activities in Chechnya and bring Vladimir Putin and the FSB to power. FSB operatives were actually briefly arrested in the case, but their presence at the crime scene was explained as "training". [66] [67] This view was disputed by philosopher Robert Bruce Ware and Richard Sakwa, [68] [69] [70] [71] [72] but supported by historians Amy Knight [73] [74] and Karen Dawisha [75]

Former FSB officer Aleksander Litvinenko and investigator Mikhail Trepashkin alleged that a Chechen FSB agent directed the Moscow theater hostage crisis in 2002. [76] [77]

In May 2016, Reuters published a Special Report titled "How Russia allowed homegrown radicals to go and fight in Syria" that, based on first-hand evidence, said that at least in the period between 2012 and 2014 the Russian government agencies ran a programme to facilitate and encourage Russian radicals and militants to leave Russia and go to Turkey and then on to Syria; the persons in question had joined jihadist groups, some fighting with the ISIL. According to the report, the goal has been to eradicate the risk of Islamic terrorism at home; however Russian security officials deny that terrorists were encouraged to leave Russia. [78]

Investigation and prosecution of alleged terrorism

Russian authorities routinely extort confessions from suspected terrorists using torture, instead of engaging in genuine investigative efforts. [79] According to Vyacheslav Izmailov, the terrorist kidnappings of journalists and members of international NGOs in 2005 in Chechnya, along with Andrei Babitsky from Radio Free Europe, Arjan Erkel and Kenneth Glack from Doctors Without Borders were organized by FSB agents. [80]

Investigative journalist Yulia Latynina has accused the Russian security services of staging fake terrorist attacks to report false successes in solving those cases, instead of investigating the actual terrorist attacks. [81]

Russia reportedly abuses its anti-terrorism and anti-extremism laws. [82] On February 10, 2020, seven Russian anarchists and anti-fascist activists were sentenced to six to eighteen years in prison, based on fabricated terrorism charges. The activist were accused to be members of "The Set" an alleged terrorist organization from Penza that aimed to "overthrow the Russian government". [83] [84]

International cooperation

In December 2019 President of Russia Vladimir Putin thanked his American counterpart Donald Trump for a tip which allowed the prevention of a terrorist attack in St. Petersburg. [85]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moscow theater hostage crisis</span> 2002 terrorist attack and hostage crisis in Moscow

The Moscow theater hostage crisis was the seizure of the crowded Dubrovka Theater in Moscow by Chechen terrorists on 23 October 2002, resulting in the taking of 912 hostages. The attackers, led by Movsar Barayev, claimed allegiance to the Islamist separatist movement in Chechnya. They demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya and an end to the Second Chechen War. The crisis was resolved when Russian security services released sleeping gas into the building, and subsequently stormed it, killing all 40 hostage takers. 132 hostages died, largely due to the effects of the gas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Chechen War</span> 1999–2009 conflict in Chechnya and the North Caucasus

The Second Chechen War took place in Chechnya and the border regions of the North Caucasus between the Russian Federation and the breakaway Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, from August 1999 to April 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Security Service</span> Principal security agency of Russia

The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) is the principal security agency of Russia and the main successor agency to the Soviet Union's KGB; its immediate predecessor was the Federal Counterintelligence Service (FSK) which was reorganized into the FSB in 1995. The three major structural successor components of the former KGB that remain administratively independent of the FSB are the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the Federal Protective Service (FSO), and the Main Directorate of Special Programs of the President of the Russian Federation (GUSP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shamil Basayev</span> Chechen militant (1965–2006)

Shamil Salmanovich Basayev, also known by his kunya "Abu Idris", was a Chechen guerilla leader who served as a senior military commander in the breakaway Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. He held the rank of brigadier general in the Armed Forces of Ichkeria, and was posthumously declared generalissimo. As a military commander in the separatist armed forces of Chechnya, one of his most notable battles was the separatist recapture of Grozny in 1996, which he personally planned and commanded together with Aslan Maskhadov. He also masterminded several of the worst terrorist attacks that occurred in Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1999 Russian apartment bombings</span> Terrorist bombings in Russia

In September 1999, a series of explosions hit four apartment blocks in the Russian cities of Buynaksk, Moscow, and Volgodonsk, killing more than 300, injuring more than 1,000, and spreading a wave of fear across the country. The bombings, together with the Invasion of Dagestan, triggered the Second Chechen War. The handling of the crisis by Vladimir Putin, who was prime minister at the time, boosted his popularity greatly and helped him attain the presidency within a few months.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2004 Russian aircraft bombings</span> 2004 bombings of two Russian passenger flights

On the night of 24 August 2004, explosive devices were detonated on board two domestic passenger flights that had taken off from Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia, causing the destruction of both aircraft and the loss of all 90 people on board them.

The Beslan school siege, also referred to as the Beslan school hostage crisis or the Beslan massacre, was an Islamic terrorist attack that started on 1 September 2004. It lasted three days, and involved the imprisonment of more than 1,100 people as hostages, including 777 children, ending with the deaths of 334 people, 186 of them children, as well as 31 of the attackers. It is considered the deadliest school shooting in history.

Black Widow or Shahidka, is a term for Islamist Chechen female suicide bombers, willing to be a manifestation of violent jihad. They became known at the Moscow theater hostage crisis of October 2002. The commander Shamil Basayev referred to the shahidkas as a part of force of his suicide bombers called the Riyad-us Saliheen Brigade of Martyrs. Basayev also stated that he himself trained at least fifty of the Black Widows. The female suicide bombers have carried out over 65% of the 23 terrorist attacks linked to the Chechen movement since 2000. The Black Widows are associated with terrorist attacks in Chechnya between 1999 and 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dokka Umarov</span> Chechen warlord and first emir of the Caucasus Emirate (1964–2013)

Doku Khamatovich Umarov, also known as Dokka Umarov as well as by his Arabized name of Dokka Abu Umar, was a Chechen mujahid in the North Caucasus. Umarov was a major military figure in both wars in Chechnya during the 1990s and 2000s, before becoming the leader of the greater insurgency in the North Caucasus. He was active mostly in south-western Chechnya, near and across the borders with Ingushetia and Georgia.

Human rights violations were committed by the warring sides during the second war in Chechnya. Both Russian officials and Chechen rebels have been regularly and repeatedly accused of committing war crimes including kidnapping, torture, murder, hostage taking, looting, rape, decapitation, and assorted other breaches of the law of war. International and humanitarian organizations, including the Council of Europe and Amnesty International, have criticized both sides of the conflict for blatant and sustained violations of international humanitarian law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">German Ugryumov</span> Soviet naval official (1948–2001)

German Alexeyevich Ugryumov was a Soviet and Russian navy and security services official. During his childhood he lived in Chelyabinsk Oblast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">February 2004 Moscow Metro bombing</span> Chechen separatist suicide bombing in a Moscow Metro

The February 2004 Moscow metro bombing occurred on 6 February 2004 when a male suicide bomber killed 41 people near Avtozavodskaya subway station on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line in Moscow. Up to 250 people were injured in the incident, some of the more common injuries being broken bones and smoke inhalation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Insurgency in the North Caucasus</span> 2009–2017 armed conflict in Russia

The insurgency in the North Caucasus was a low-level armed conflict between Russia and militants associated with the Caucasus Emirate and, from June 2015, the Islamic State, in the North Caucasus. It followed the (Russian-proclaimed) official end of the decade-long Second Chechen War on 16 April 2009. It attracted volunteers from the MENA region, Western Europe, and Central Asia. The Russian legislation considers the Second Chechen War and the insurgency described in this article as the same "counter-terrorist operations on the territory of the North Caucasus region".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 Moscow Metro bombings</span> Islamist terror attacks

The 2010 Moscow Metro bombings were suicide bombings carried out by two female Islamic terrorists during the morning rush hour of March 29, 2010, at two stations of the Moscow Metro, with roughly 40 minutes in between. At least 40 people were killed, and over 100 injured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Grozny clashes</span> 2014 attack by Islamist militants in Grozny, Chechnya, Russia

On 4 December 2014, a group of armed militants of the jihadist organization Caucasus Emirate attacked a traffic police checkpoint outside the city of Grozny, Chechnya, Russia. The militants then entered the city and occupied the "Press House" building in the city center and a nearby school.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Saint Petersburg Metro bombing</span> Terrorist attack by the Islamist militant group ISIL in Saint Petersburg, Russia

On 3 April 2017, a terrorist attack using an explosive device took place on the Saint Petersburg Metro between Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologichesky Institut stations. Eleven people were initially reported to have died, and five more died later from their injuries, bringing the total to 15.

On 13–14 December 2017, Russian security authorities arrested seven members of an ISIL terrorist cell during a police operation in St. Petersburg. The suspects were alleged to have plotted suicide bombings in St. Petersburg on the weekend of 16–17 December 2017, with the Kazan Cathedral among the targets. Both the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) were involved in the operation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Osmayev</span> Chechen brigadier general

Adam Aslanbekovich Osmayev is a Chechen brigadier general active in Ukraine. Born into a prominent Chechen family, Osmayev first acquired notability after being arrested in 2007 and accused of involvement in a plot to assassinate Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Released three days later, he fled to the United Kingdom and later settled in Ukraine. In 2012, he was further accused of masterminding an attempt to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin. Arrested on charges of carrying explosives and causing property damage, he was not extradited following a recommendation from the European Court of Human Rights which argued that he would face torture if returned to Russia. He was released from Ukrainian prison in 2014 and subsequently joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine, becoming commander of the Dzhokhar Dudayev Battalion in 2015.

References

  1. ↑ See the "Etymology" section
  2. ↑ Humphreys, Adrian (17 January 2006). "One official's 'refugee' is another's 'terrorist'". National Post. p. 1. Archived from the original on 27 February 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2007. The divergent assessments of the same evidence on such an important issue shocks a leading terrorism researcher. 'The notion of terrorism is fairly straightforward – it is ideologically or politically motivated violence directed against civilian targets.'" said Professor Martin Rudner, director of the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies at Ottawa's Carleton University.
  3. ↑ Terrorism and Communism Archived 15 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine by Karl Kautsky. Kautsky said: "It is, in fact, a widely spread idea that Terrorism belongs to the very essence of revolution, and that whoever wants a revolution must somehow come to some sort of terms with terrorism. As proof of this assertion, over and over again the great French Revolution has been cited." (Chapter 1)
  4. ↑ The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
  5. 1 2 3 4 Edvard Radzinsky Stalin: The First In-depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia's Secret Archives (1997) ISBN   0-385-47954-9
  6. ↑ Anna Geifman. Entangled in Terror: The Azef Affair and the Russian Revolution, Wilmington, Scholarly Resources Inc., 2000, 247 pp. ISBN   0-8420-2651-7 ISBN   0-8420-2650-9
  7. ↑ Figes, Orlando (1996). A People's Tragedy: The Russian revolution, 1891-1924. New York: Penguin. p. 138. ISBN   014024364X.
  8. ↑ Chronicle of Current Events, 44.15, "Concerning the explosions in Moscow" (15 March 1977) Archived 7 April 2020 at the Wayback Machine .
  9. ↑ Andrew, Christopher M., Oleg Gordievsky. KGB: The Inside Story of Its Foreign Operations from Lenin to Gorbachev. HarperCollinsPublishers; 1st edition (1 May 1992). ISBN   0-06-016605-3. p. 546.
  10. ↑ M. Heller and A. Nekrich, History of Russia 1917–1995; seven volumes; London, 1982, ISBN   5-87902-004-5 Russian text online Archived 24 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine , Quote (Russian): "армянские националисты были приговорены к смертной казни закрытым судом и несмотря на то, что алиби обвиняемых было подтверждено многими свидетелями." (Armenian nationalists were to death in a closed trial, and despite the fact that the alibi of the accused was confirmed by many witnesses)
  11. ↑ "Взрыв в московском метро 1977 г. (из книги "Полвека советской перестройки"). Сергей Григорьянц – Григорьянц Сергей Иванович" [Explosion in the Moscow metro in 1977 (from the book "Half a century of Soviet perestroika"). Sergey Grigoryants - Grigoryants Sergey Ivanovich]. grigoryants.ru. Archived from the original on 1 November 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  12. ↑ Moscow Attack: Russia Confronts Islamist Terrorism
  13. ↑ IntelBrief: Radicalization and Extremism in Russia’s North Caucasus Region
  14. ↑ "Foiled Attack or Failed Exercise? A Look at Ryazan 1999 | Wilson Center". www.wilsoncenter.org. Archived from the original on 16 June 2021. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  15. ↑ "Russian bomb scare turns out to be anti-terror drill". CNN. 24 September 1999. Archived from the original on 20 August 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  16. ↑ Pokalova, Elena (2015). Chechnya's Terrorist Network: The Evolution of Terrorism in Russia's North Caucasus. Praeger. pp. 97–99. ISBN   978-1-44083-154-6.
  17. ↑ "Why 'GQ' Doesn't Want Russians To Read Its Story". NPR. Archived from the original on 5 September 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  18. ↑ "2 Decades on, Questions Linger About Putin's Rise to Power | Voice of America – English". www.voanews.com. 7 August 2019. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  19. ↑ "Foiled Attack or Failed Exercise? A Look at Ryazan 1999 | Wilson Center". www.wilsoncenter.org. Archived from the original on 16 June 2021. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  20. ↑ Nowak, David; Nikitin, Vladim (22 August 2006). "Market Blast Kills 10 and Injures 55". Wayback Machine . Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  21. ↑ Russian court jails market bombers Archived 2008-05-19 at the Wayback Machine Al Jazeera. 15 May 2008.
  22. ↑ Buribayev, Aydar (29 March 2010). "Suicide bombers kill at least 38 in Moscow subway". Reuters. Archived from the original on 25 June 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  23. ↑ "Moscow metro bombs kill dozens". The Guardian. 29 March 2010. Archived from the original on 29 June 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  24. 1 2 Число жертв теракта в Домодедово возросло до 37 (in Russian). RIA Novosti. 24 February 2011. Archived from the original on 27 February 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  25. ↑ Steve Rosenberg (24 January 2011). "Moscow bombing: Carnage at Russia's Domodedovo airport". BBC News. Archived from the original on 25 January 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  26. ↑ На месте взрыва в Домодедово погиб 31 человек, сообщил Минздрав (in Russian). RIA Novosti. 24 January 2011. Archived from the original on 29 January 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  27. ↑ "Russia 'identifies' Domodedovo airport bomber suspect". BBC News. 29 January 2011. Archived from the original on 1 February 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
  28. ↑ "Second deadly blast hits Russian city of Volgograd". France 24. 30 December 2013. Archived from the original on 9 September 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  29. ↑ "Volgograd train station rocked by suicide bombing". The Guardian. 30 December 2013. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  30. ↑ "Five killed in suicide bombing in Chechen capital". BBC News. 5 October 2014. Archived from the original on 9 September 2019. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  31. ↑ Walker, Shaun (4 December 2014). "Gun battles erupt in Chechnya's capital after militants launch attack". The Guardian . Archived from the original on 4 December 2014. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  32. ↑ "Putin thanks Kadyrov, Chechen law enforcers for counterterrorism operation in Grozny". ITAR-TASS . Moscow. 5 December 2014. Archived from the original on 4 December 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014. Alt URL Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  33. ↑ "В спецоперации в Грозном уничтожено 11 боевиков, заявил Кадыров" [11 militants killed in special operation in Grozny, Kadyrov says]. 5 December 2014. Archived from the original on 5 December 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  34. ↑ "Во время спецоперации в Грозном погибли 14 полицейских" [14 policemen killed during special operation in Grozny]. 5 December 2014. Archived from the original on 8 December 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  35. ↑ "Russian plane crash: UK suspects bomb was in hold". BBC News. 6 November 2015. Archived from the original on 6 November 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  36. ↑ "Metrojet Flight 9268: Russia confirms bomb destroyed plane in Egypt". CBC Radio . 17 November 2015. Archived from the original on 26 March 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  37. ↑ Jason Hanna, Michael Martinez and Jennifer Deaton (18 November 2015). "ISIS says photo shows bomb on Russian plane". CNN. Archived from the original on 25 June 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  38. ↑ "Updates: Russian airliner crashes in Egypt's Sinai peninsula". BBC News. 31 October 2015. Archived from the original on 13 November 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  39. ↑ "Russian plane that crashed in Egypt 'broke up in air'". France 24 News. November 2015. Archived from the original on 2 November 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  40. ↑ Gadher, Dipesh; Amoor, Miles (8 November 2015). "Plane bombing mastermind unmasked as Egyptian cleric". Wayback Machine . Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  41. ↑ "Abu Osama al-Masri: Portrait of the Egyptian terrorist suspected of downing Russian plane". Regina Leader–Post. ISSN   0839-2870. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  42. ↑ Hassan, Ahmed Mohamed; Georgy, Michael (9 November 2015). "Investigators '90 percent sure' bomb downed Russian plane". Reuters (U.S. ed.). Archived from the original on 11 November 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  43. ↑ "Egypt's president admits Russian plane downed by 'terrorism'". Gulf Today. 24 February 2016. Archived from the original on 2 March 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  44. ↑ Youngman, Mark (6 April 2017). "Russia's domestic terrorism threat is serious, sophisticated and complex". The Conversation. The Conversation Trust (UK). Archived from the original on 9 April 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2017. The April 3 bombing on the St Petersburg metro was the highest-profile terror attack on Russian soil since a suicide bombing at Moscow's Domodedovo airport in January 2011.
  45. ↑ "Число жертв теракта в Петербурге выросло до 14 человек" [Number of fatalities of the terrorist act in Petersburg has grown to fourteen people]. Meduza. 4 April 2017. Archived from the original on 30 April 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2017. В результате взрыва в метро Санкт-Петербурга погибли 14 человек, сообщила министр здравоохранения России Вероника Скворцова. [In the aftermath of explosion in the metro of Saint Petersburg 14 people have died, reported by the minister of health of Russia Veronika Skvortsova]
  46. ↑ "Signs of terror attack in St. Petersburg subway blast obvious – Kremlin". TASS. Saint Petersburg. 4 April 2017. Archived from the original on 13 July 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2017. The Russian Investigative Committee has qualified the blast as a terrorist attack, but other versions are looked into.
  47. ↑ MacFarquhar, Neil; Nechepureneko, Ivan (3 April 2017). "Explosion in St. Petersburg Metro Kills at Least 10". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 3 April 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  48. 1 2 "Взрыв в метро Санкт-Петербурга: погибли 10 человек" [Explosion in Metro St. Petersburg, killing 10 people] (in Russian). BBC Russia. 3 April 2017. Archived from the original on 13 June 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  49. ↑ "В петербургской больнице скончались двое пострадавших при взрыве в метро" [Two injured in the explosion in the subway died in the St. Petersburg hospital] (in Russian). RIA Novosti. Archived from the original on 24 November 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  50. 1 2 "St Petersburg metro explosions kill ten – media". BBC. 3 April 2017. Archived from the original on 15 May 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  51. ↑ "At least 10 people may have been killed by Russia metro blast: TASS". Reuters. 3 April 2017. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  52. ↑ "St Petersburg metro bombing suspect 'from Kyrgyzstan'". BBC News. 4 April 2017. Archived from the original on 4 April 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  53. ↑ Bergen, Peter (4 April 2017). "The likely culprits behind the St. Petersburg bombing". CNN. Archived from the original on 4 April 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  54. ↑ Ioffe, Julia (4 April 2017). "How Russians Got Used to Terrorism". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 5 April 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  55. ↑ Griffin, Andrew (4 April 2017). "St Petersburg attacks: Isis celebrates explosions that killed 10 people". Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  56. ↑ "Murderous attack on FSB office in Khabarovsk 'was by a neo-Nazi – not an IS terrorist'". siberiantimes.com. Archived from the original on 11 March 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  57. ↑ Stonestreet, John (28 December 2017). "Putin says St Petersburg supermarket bombing was terrorism". Archived from the original on 28 December 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  58. 1 2 3 4 "Russia". United States Department of State. Archived from the original on 27 March 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  59. ↑ Escritt, Thomas (16 December 2021). "German court accuses Russia of "state terrorism" over 2019 Berlin park murder". Reuters. Archived from the original on 11 August 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
  60. ↑ "Moscow attack: Gunmen kill dozens at Crocus City Hall in Moscow 60 people have been confirmed dead and more than 100 injured". BBC News. 22 March 2024. Archived from the original on 22 March 2024. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  61. ↑ Knight, Mariya; Chernova, Anna; Tarasova, Darya; CNN (22 March 2024). "ISIS claims responsibility for attack in busy Moscow-area concert venue that left at least 40 dead". CNN. Retrieved 23 March 2024.{{cite web}}: |last4= has generic name (help)
  62. ↑ "All four suspects arrested after Crocus City Hall shootings, Russia says". BBC News. 22 March 2024. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  63. ↑ Knight, Mariya; Tarasova, Darya; Deaton, Jen (23 June 2024). "Priest and six law enforcement officers killed in attacks on synagogues and church in Russia's Dagestan". CNN. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  64. ↑ "В Дербенте и Махачкале вооруженные боевики напали на православные храмы и синагоги. Погибли и ранены полицейские Материал обновляется". Meduza (in Russian). Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  65. ↑ David Satter. Darkness at Dawn: The Rise of the Russian Criminal State. Yale University Press. 2003. ISBN   0-300-09892-8.
  66. ↑ "Satter House Testimony 2007" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  67. ↑ "Oleg Kalugin: "Putin Is a Temporary Twist in History"". The Ukrainian Week . 8 September 2011. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  68. ↑ Sakwa, Richard (2008). Putin, Russia's choice (2nd ed.). Routledge. pp.  333–334. ISBN   978-0-415-40765-6.
  69. ↑ Vladimir Putin & Russia's Special Services Archived 12 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine Gordon Bennet, 2002
  70. ↑ Western treatment of Russia signifies erosion of reason Archived 1 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine Dr. Vlad Sobell, 2007. The same article at Russia Profile
  71. ↑ Russia Profile Weekly Experts Panel: Russian Presidential Election – Affirming Democracy or Confirming Autocracy? Archived 19 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  72. ↑ Bowker, Mike (2005). "Western Views of the Chechen Conflict". In Richard Sakwa (ed.). Chechnya: From Past to Future (1st ed.). London: Anthem Press. pp. 223–238. ISBN   978-1-84331-164-5.
  73. ↑ Amy Knight (22 November 2012). "Finally, We Know About the Moscow Bombings". The New York Review of Books. Archived from the original on 7 December 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2020. The evidence provided in The Moscow Bombings makes it abundantly clear that the FSB of the Russian Republic, headed by Patrushev, was responsible for carrying out the attacks.
  74. ↑ Getting away with murder Archived 15 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine by Amy Knight, The Times Literary supplement, 3 August 2016
  75. ↑ Putin's Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia?, By Karen Dawisha, 2014, Simon & Schuster, page 222.
  76. ↑ Lazaredes, Nick (4 June 2003). "Terrorism takes front stage – Russia's theatre siege". SBS. Archived from the original on 21 August 2006. Retrieved 28 November 2006.
  77. ↑ М. Трепашкин: "Создана очень серьезная группа" [M. Trepashkin: "A very serious group has been created"]. Wayback Machine (in Russian). Chechen Press State News Agency. 1 December 2006. Archived from the original on 5 February 2007. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  78. ↑ "How Russia allowed homegrown radicals to go and fight in Syria". Reuters. Archived from the original on 4 July 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  79. ↑ Izmailov, Vyacheslav (7 November 2005). "Рынок взорвали фотороботы" [The market was blown up by photo robots] (in Russian). Archived from the original on 8 May 2006.
  80. ↑ Izmailov, Vyacheslav (27 January 2005). "Спецслужбы доставки" [Special delivery services]. Novaya Gazeta (in Russian). Archived from the original on 18 November 2005.
  81. ↑ Latynina, Yulia (3 April 2006). "Спецслужбы изображают подрывную деятельность" [Intelligence agencies portray subversive activities] (in Russian). Archived from the original on 23 May 2006.
  82. ↑ Russia: Surge in abuse of anti-terrorism laws to suppress dissent, by Amnesty International, February 19, 2024
  83. ↑ "Russia jails members of 'non-existent' terror group Set". BBC News. 10 February 2020. Archived from the original on 5 February 2022. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  84. ↑ "Russia: Prosecution for membership of a non-existent "terrorist" organization must stop". International Amnesty. 7 February 2020. Archived from the original on 18 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  85. ↑ "Putin thanks Trump for tip Russia says foiled attacks". Reuters . 29 December 2019. Archived from the original on 30 December 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2019.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.