Russian Views on Countering Terrorism During Eight Years of Dialogue Extracts from Proceedings of Four U.S.-Russian Workshops (2009) / Chapter Skim
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On the Events in Beslan--Gennady Kovalenko
On the Events in Beslan--Gennady Kovalenko
Pages 199-214
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From page 199... ...
Those who carried out the terrorist acts in both cases put forth intentionally unacceptable demands for the withdrawal of federal forces from Chechnya in an attempt to compel the Russian leadership to enter into talks with the leaders of the Chechen militants. Both terrorist acts shook all of Russian society and once again drew world public attention to the actions of the Chechen fighters.
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From page 200... ...
One of the main goals of the terrorist acts was to destroy the process of normalization of the North Caucasus situation and to have a negative impact on the population of primarily this region before the State Duma elections. In 2004 we saw a sharp increase in terrorism, culminating in the events in Beslan.
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From page 201... ...
During the raid, more than 100 people were killed, including senior officials from the local Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ingushetian public prosecutor's office. The action in Nazran revealed substantial shortcomings in the regional government system and a lack of effective coordination among local law enforcement agencies and the federal forces deployed in the Caucasus.
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From page 202... ...
On September 1, 2004, a group of terrorists seized Beslan's School Number 1, taking more than 1,200 hostages, including students, their parents and relatives, and teachers. Unfortunately the law enforcement agencies and units of other related structures had no warning that this terrorist act was being planned.
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From page 203... ...
An operational headquarters under the command of North Ossetian President Aleksandr Dzasokhov was established by order of the government of the Russian Federation to directly manage the counterterrorist operation. After beginning its work, the operational headquarters issued orders to strengthen the first and second blockade perimeters around the area of the school and to evacuate residents of nearby homes.
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From page 204... ...
Proceeding on this basis, the operational headquarters focused its primary efforts on negotiating with the terrorists with the aim of freeing and saving the maximum possible number of people. In the initial phase of the negotiations, the headquarters called in the mufti of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of North Ossetia, but the terrorists refused to speak with him or with other muftis invited from Ingushetia and Chechnya.
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From page 205... ...
In this situation the headquarters ordered troops from the Special Purpose Center of the Russian Federal Security Service to advance on the school in order to evacuate the hostages and eliminate the terrorists' firing positions. The approach to the building was made under heavy fire from the militants.
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From page 206... ...
CONCLUSIONS The events in Beslan, the armed terrorist attacks against Ingushetia and Grozny in the summer of 2004, and the terrorist acts in Moscow are all part of the unified strategy of the ideologues of international terrorism, namely to expand their influence as widely as possible, create an atmosphere of universal fear, cause the population to distrust the capabilities of the government, and to force its leaders to enter into negotiations with the leaders of the bandit formations. The situation in the North Caucasus remains rather complex, as shown by 2004's series of terrorist acts.
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From page 207... ...
The roots of terrorism lie in massive unemployment and the lack of an effective social policy. In particular, graphic evidence of this may be found in many statistical indictors on the Southern Federal District, which are significantly lower than both Russian averages and development indicators for other federal districts.
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From page 208... ...
The local authorities undoubtedly bear a significant share of responsibility for the serious socioeconomic situation in the region. The events in Beslan and the results of the earlier armed raids on Nazran and Grozny revealed significant shortcomings in the regional administrative system along with departmental disconnections and a lack of effective coordination among local law enforcement agencies and the federal forces deployed in the Caucasus.
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From page 209... ...
The events of last year show that despite the terrorist acts, which involved significant casualties, the struggle against the terrorist network in the North Caucasus is gradually achieving its goals, although far more slowly than we would like. The terrorists have not managed to achieve the goals they set for themselves.
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From page 210... ...
Under this decree the Russian government, the Ministry of Defense, and law enforcement agencies were assigned the task of developing a set of measures to improve state policy for ensuring the security of the Russian Federation and intensifying the struggle against terrorism. Administrative Measures Soon after the Beslan tragedy, Dmitry Kozak was appointed plenipotentiary representative of the Russian president to the Southern Federal District and given additional authorities.
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From page 211... ...
One of the goals of the law is to give the authorities and the law enforcement and military structures a legal base that will make it possible to minimize losses of not only time but also results. This draft federal law strengthens the legal foundations for countering terrorism, including not only the grounds, conditions, and procedures for carrying out measures to combat terrorism but also a range of measures of a political, socioeconomic, informational-promotional, organizational, and legal nature related to counterterrorism activities in general.
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From page 212... ...
Under ordinary circumstances, leadership and coordination of the activities of all entities involved in countering terrorism are the responsibility of the antiterrorist commissions, but from the moment a terrorist danger regime is instituted or a decision is made to conduct counterterrorist operations, leadership of all forces and resources of all counterterrorist entities is assigned to agencies of the Federal Security Service. Passage of the new Law on Countering Terrorism will undoubtedly help to make the struggle against terrorism more effective and to ensure the security of the Russian Federation.
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From page 213... ...
After the latest major terrorist act in Russia, numerous condolences were received from abroad, the sincerity of which is difficult to doubt. However, last year the "minister of foreign affairs" of the underground government of so-called Ichkeria, Ilyas Akhmadov, received political asylum in the United States; "Vice Premier" and "Minister of Culture" Akhmed Zakaev lives quietly in England; "Minister of Health" Umar Khanbiev has been given shelter in France; and the "minister of social issues" receives a stipend from the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Germany.
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From page 214... ...
In order to improve the effectiveness of counterterrorist activities, we must make a timely analysis of the experience amassed by other countries, specifically the United States, in the struggle against terrorism. In this regard, the recommendations on countering terrorism developed by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9-11 Commission)
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