Thepro-Kremlin daily "Komsomolskaya pravda" published on August 16-19 aninvestigative report claiming that more than half the members of arecently liquidated terrorist group in Karachayevo-Cherkessia wereRussians or Ukrainians.
Terrrorist Attacks Across Russia
Basedon the testimony of three surviving members of the group, calledKarachai Jamaat, the investigation believes the network was responsiblefor three explosions in Krasnodar in August 2003, in which three peoplewere killed and 30 wounded; an explosion in the Moscow metro inFebruary 2004, in which 40 were killed and 134 wounded; and anexplosion in the Moscow metro in August 2004, in which 10 were killedand 51 wounded.
"Weunderestimate the danger and know we are losing," the special-forceshero of the hit Russian television broadcast "Anti-Killer" told acolleague in a recent episode. "We are losing because we are at work --and they are at war."
The investigation alsocredited the Karachai Jamaat with three explosions at bus stops inVoronezh and with planting bombs on passenger trains in Mineralnye Vodyin 2004 and 2005, as a result of which several hundred people werekilled or injured.
Not Your Stereotypical Terrorists
Neitherthe Slavic nor the non-Slavic members of the jamaat fit thestereotypical image of Islamic fundamentalists. Most were well-educatedand well-off, enjoying high social and professional status. They didnot seem the type of men who would put their lives and position at riskfor mere money.
One of the arrested members of jamaat,Lieutenant Colonel Murat Shateyev, was an ethnic Daghestani who servedin Russia's Justice Ministry. Shateyev, who had two degrees, allegedlycarried an explosive in his car and used his authority to help protectmembers of his ring from arrest. His brother, Azret, allegedly also anactive member of the group, was a leading tuberculosis specialist at aMoscow hospital and co-owner of a pharmacy.
The Slavicmembers of the group were devoted Muslims who chose to enter the ranksof militant Islam. As sign of their dedication to the cause, theyreportedly destroyed their identification documents and adopted Muslimnames.
Among them were ethnic Ukrainian Vitaly Zagorulko,an officer in Russia's Interior Ministry and a graduate of the RostovHigh Militia School, and police colleagues Viktor Semchenko, a Russian,and David Fotov. Another alleged Karachai Jamaat member was a formerRussian paratrooper, Yury Menovshchikov, and Russian Army veteran IvanManarin, an ethnic Russian. All but Manarin, who is now under arrest,were killed in fighting with federal special forces.
UkrainianNikolai Kipkeyev, who rose to the rank of amir, is believed to havebeen the leader of the Slavic members of the group.
Officials investigating an explosion at a Voronezh bus stop on January 26, 2005 (TASS)
Kipkeyevallegedly organized the August 2004 bombing of the Rizhskaya metrostation in Moscow, which was carried out by a female suicide bomber.Kipkeyev, who was on site to monitor his subordinate's work, was killedin the blast.
All members of the group allegedly fought with theresistance in Chechnya, and were tied to Chechen militants via SyrianArab Akhmed Sambiyev, one of the leaders of the Wahhabi underground inChechnya. Sambiyev blew himself up in 2005 when FSB agents surroundedhim.
According to "Komsomolskaya pravda," the ethnicRussian members of the Karachai Jamaat were inspired by a radicalWahhabi interpretation of the Koran that is banned in Russia on thegrounds that it promotes intolerance toward "infidels."
Ali(Vyacheslav) Polosin, a former Russian Orthodox priest who converted toIslam, told "Komsomolskaya pravda": "Islam is a religion ofrevolutionaries. [But] revolutionary ideas can be easily transformedinto terrorist ideas. It is enough to slightly change theinterpretation, and in the name of their ideals people will commit notcrimes, but feats."
Looking For A New Ideology
Russiais now home to about 20 million Muslims, and some researchers believethe "revolutionary factor of Islam" will play a decisive role inRussia's evolution toward democracy.
Mikhail Delyagin,director of the Institute of Globalization and a former adviser toRussian prime ministers Mikhail Kasyanov and Yevgeny Primakov, wrote inhis best-selling book "Russia After Putin" that fundamentalist Islamwill seriously challenge Russia's ruling political class andbureaucracy in the future.
In the Muslim regions of theSoviet Union, Islam was more of a cultural phenomenon. The ideologicalvacuum formed after the collapse of the USSR resulted in Islam beingthe best tool available to elites in those regions for forging a newnational identity, according to Delyagin.
Islam, as a result, was often transformed from a cultural factor into a political tool.
Youthsoften do not follow the interpretation of Islam professed by officialIslamic clerics, who like their Russian Orthodox counterparts call forcooperation with the Kremlin. Younger adherents often choose a moreextremist paths, many of which have no relation to real Wahhabism.
Theoften-brutal tactics of federal troops during the Chechen wars havealso served to aid the expansion of radical Islam throughout NorthCaucasus.
"The enduring war in Chechnya not onlyqualitatively changed Chechnya and the North Caucasus, but all ofRussian Islam, " Delyagin wrote.
Islam -- The New Marxism
Delyaginoffered two explanations for why Slavic nationals might be attracted toradical Islam. Islam, he says, now plays the role that Marxism didduring the Soviet era. Marxism once offered young people a sense thatthey were contributing to a universal ideal, and in many ways Islam isplaying that role now. Also, Delyagin argues that Islam provides afeeling of transcendence over everyday life -- filling another voidleft by the collapse of Marxism.
In short, militant Islammay provide Slavic converts a feeling of purpose they find lacking inmodern society or in the teachings of traditional Christianity.
Theexpansion of radical Islam poses a serious challenge for Russiansecurity agencies, and this problem is compounded by the activities ofSlavic converts as terrorist activity spreads increasingly fromChechnya and the North Caucasus to Moscow and other Russian cities.
And the Kremlin does no know how to confront this threat.
"Weunderestimate the danger and know we are losing," the special-forceshero of the hit Russian television broadcast "Anti-Killer" told acolleague in a recent episode. "We are losing because we are at work --and they are at war."
Profound isn't it?
Jim
A Side note with the same above article:
THE COMING MUSLIM MAJORITY: On February 28,
Russia expert
PAUL GOBLE,vice dean of social sciences and humanities at Concordia-AudentesUniversity in Tallinn, Estonia, gave a briefing at RFE/RL's Washingtonoffice. Goble said ethographers predict Russia will have a Muslimmajority "within our lifetime." Since 1989, Russia's Muslim populationhas increased by 40 percent, Goble said, rising to some 25 millionself-declared Muslims. He said 2.5 million to 3.5 million Muslims nowlive in Moscow, gving Moscow the largest Muslim population of any cityin Europe. Russia today has more than 8,000 mosques, up from just 300in 1991. By 2010, experts predict, some 40 percent of Russianmilitary conscripts will be Muslims.
Goble noted that thesechanges have been accompanied by a "rising tide" of anti-Muslimprejudice. Public-opinion surveys reveal that up to "70 percent ofethnic Russians" express sympathy with xenophobic slogans. Goble warnedthat heavy-handed state efforts to "contain Islam" could backfire andcause groups to move underground, "radicalizing people who are not yetradicalized."