As rightly noted by numerous analysts, in the aftermath of its military operations in the Middle East, in the 2015, Russia has become a priority target of Islamic terrorism sponsored by ISIS and other fundamentalist organizations belonging to the galaxy of Qaeda and not only. Although today Russia, or its citizens abroad, has been the object of four successful attacks, the vigorous policy of preventive action implemented by the secret services and security forces of the Russian Federation has enabled the country to be spared so far from the bath of blood (with consequent political-institutional repercussions) occurred in most of the countries of Western Europe.
During the first 9 months since the 2018, according to data published by Nikolay Patrushev, secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, the security services have altogether foiled 15 terrorist attacks and prevented other 26 criminal acts for terrorist purposes. In October, 2018, in two different anti-terrorist operations, also dismantled two terrorist cells ready to carry out attacks in the Moscow area and in the Republic of Tatarstan. The Muscovite cell was composed of 6 members while the second one was 18 members.
Although the 2018 data, like those of previous years, demonstrate the effectiveness with which the security services are facing the terrorist threat, we must not fall into the temptation to believe that the problem has been solved or that it can not be future recrudescence. During a conference held in Novosibirsk, 24 October 2018, Patrushev in fact raised the alarm regarding the resurgence of the terrorist phenomenon in the Federal District of Siberia. In spite of the fact that, in the last 15 years, Siberia was the calmest territory of Russia, this situation could soon change due to the deterioration of the security situation in Central Asia, especially in Kazakhstan. The high number of immigrants from the former Soviet republics of Central Asia and the low level of anti-terrorism scaremongering are additional factors that could play against the Kremlin's containment strategy. The result is that while during the 2018 the crimes related to terrorist activities have decreased by 10,5% at the federal level, in Siberia increased by 70%, with 56 court cases opened by the Russian authorities and well 9.000 registered violations of the anti-terrorism laws.
However, that of Islamic terrorism is not the only headache that torments the sleep of the Kremlin residents. In recent times, something that was thought to belong to the nineteenth-century past of Russia: terrorism of anarcho-nihilist matrix, has popped up again. The 22 April 2017 a young 18 year linked to anarchist and neo-Nazi circles attacked the FSB office of the city of Khabarovsk (photo) killing two people before being killed. The 27 September 2017 another young man linked to anarchist circles blew up a bomb in a St. Petersburg supermarket wounding thirteen people. More recently, the 31 October 2018, another young radical anarchist, Mikhail Ilobitskiy, has attempted to introduce an artisanal explosive charge into the office of the FSB of Arkhangelsk (Archangel) while being killed. But the most serious anarchist attack was recorded on 17 October 2018 in Kerch, in the Republic of Crimea, when the eighteen year old Vladislav Roslyakov, a student of the local polytechnic, opened fire against teachers and students inside the structure killing 20 and wounding other 70 before taking his own life. The tragedy of Kerch, called "The Columbine Russa" has also dramatically highlighted the problem of violence in schools, since in the 2018 alone there were at least five similar cases of "school" assaults but all characterized by the use of knives or stun guns, and therefore underestimated by the authorities.
If the central authorities of the country believed that the only terrorist threat to Russia's stability came from Islamic fundamentalism, they had not yet come to terms with the modern young heirs of Mikhail Bakunin and Nikolay Chernyshevsky.
Photo: MoD Fed. Russian / euronews
