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Russian Analytical Digest No 93: Russian Nationalism, Xenophobia

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Russian Analytical Digest No 93: Russian Nationalism, Xenophobia No. 93 10 March 2011 russian analytical digest www.res.ethz.ch www.laender-analysen.de RUSSIAN NATIONALISM, XENOPHOBIA, IMMIGRATION AND ETHNIC CONFLICT ■■ANALYSIS From an Existential Threat to a Security Risk and a Conceptual Impasse: Terrorism in Russia 2 By Aglaya Snetkov, Zurich ■■OPINION POLL Russian Attitudes on Terrorism 5 ■■ANALYSIS Events in Moscow 11th December 2010: Political Crisis 7 By Emil Pain, Moscow ■■OPINION POLL Nationalism in Contemporary Russia 10 ■■ANALYSIS Recent Developments in Inter-Ethnic Relations in Stavropol’skii krai 12 By Andrew Foxall, Oxford ■■INTERVIEW The Role of the Media in Russia’s Inter-ethnic Relations: An Interview with Chelyabinsk Worker Editor Boris Kurshin 15 By Galima Galiullina, Chelyabinsk Institute for European, Research Centre Center for German Association for Russian, and Eurasian Studies Institute of History for East European Studies Security Studies East European Studies The George Washington University of Basel University University of Bremen ETH Zurich RUSSIAN ANALYTICAL DIGEST No. 93, 10 March 2011 2 ANALYSIS From an Existential Threat to a Security Risk and a Conceptual Impasse: Terrorism in Russia By Aglaya Snetkov, Zurich Abstract Russia’s war against terrorism has now been ongoing for over a decade, however as demonstrated by the recent terakt in Domodedovo airport on 24 January 2011, the threat is not going away anytime soon. This article takes stock of the way in which Russia’s position towards terrorism has evolved since 1999, suggest- ing that the threat posed by terrorism has gone from being presented as an existential threat to the Rus- sian state and nation to something more akin to a security risk in recent years. As it appears that currently the Russian authorities are experiencing a conceptual impasse over the direction of counter-terrorism policy, the author presents a pessimistic prognosis for Russia’s attempts to successfully manage the terrorism prob- lem in the next few years. Introduction: Contextualizing Russia’s war Chechen war in 1999. It is argued that during the course on Terror of the 2000s, terrorism has been reconceptualized by On 24th January 2011 Moscow was shaken by a bomb the Russian authorities from an “exceptional” threat to detonated in the international arrivals terminal of Rus- a problem that has become the “norm” in Russian pol- sia’s largest airport, Domodedovo, killing 37 and injur- itics and merely a security “risk”. ing dozens. This latest attack was yet another in a series of terakts over recent years, which have been aimed at trans- Terrorism in Russia port infrastructure and the Russian heartland, with the The terrorist bombing at Domodedovo is unfortunately slight variation that this time foreign nationals seem to not an isolated incident, but only one in a long line of have been targeted. In recent weeks, analysts have tried terrorist attacks in Russia over the last decade. Indeed, a to make sense of this attack. In accounting for this ter- number of attacks have occurred in recent years, includ- rorist act experts have identified numerous failures of ing suicide bombings on the Moscow metro on 29 March the Russian state and its policy in North Caucasus and 2010, which killed 40 people and injured another 100, have sought to examine the nature of the contempo- the derailment of the high speed train between Mos- rary terrorist threat within Russia. A variety of alterna- cow and St. Petersburg on 27 November 2009 and 13 tive responses have been advocated for preventing fur- August 2007 and a bus bombing in Togliatti in South- ther attacks, which include the need for a more efficient ern Russia on 31 August 2007. These recent attacks on counter-terrorist strategy, a more sound socio-economic transport infrastructure come on the back of the high- policy in the North Caucasus region, the need for reform profile terrorist actions of the early-to-mid 2000s, in of the political system across the country and the elimi- particular the infamous hostage taking operations: the nation of corruption, and more focus on winning hearts Dubrovka Theatre siege in October 2002 and the Beslan and minds in the North Caucasus as part of the efforts school siege in September 2004. to de-radicalize the local populations in this region. In Furthermore, in addition to these sporadic terrorist essence, most commentators argue that Russia will only incidents across Russia, a growing and ongoing trend be able to address the threat of terrorism if it first over- of insecurity and societal instability in the North Cau- comes its much broader structural, but also leadership, casus region has been evident for many years, which is challenges, which have up till now ensured that Rus- often presented as the eye of the storm for domestic ter- sia remains a weakened power with an increasing and rorism in Russia—a region where terakts have become growing terrorist threat inside its territory. the norm and are daily occurrences. Such situations Russia it thus seems is suffering both from a con- exist to varying extents in the Republics of Chechnya, ceptual failure to develop a comprehensive strategy for Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria. In addition, dealing with the terrorist threat on its soil, and a lack of societal insecurity and tension is increasingly spreading capacity to implement such a strategy effectively. This to other parts of the North Caucasus, such as to Ady- article seeks to examine the wider conceptual failure of geya, Karachay-Cherkessia and even Stavropol Krai, a the Russian leadership in relation to terrorism, by plac- predominately Slavic area (see RAD 93, Foxall article). ing this within the context of Russia’s evolving posi- Terrorist activity as well as inter-ethnic tension is there- tion towards terrorism since the re-start of the second fore not diminishing but growing in Russia today and RUSSIAN ANALYTICAL DIGEST No. 93, 10 March 2011 3 is impacting on an ever-increasing section of Russian the survival of the Russian state. The Russian authori- territory and society. ties argued that the immediate terrorist threat had been dealt with, and that their policy of normalizing the Russia’s Evolving Conceptions of Terrorism political and socio-economic spheres in Chechnya, in from an Existential Threat to a Security Risk conjunction with ongoing counter-terrorist operations Since the start of the second Chechen war in 1999, the (under the leaderships of Akhmad Kadyrov 2000–2004 Russian authorities have constructed the question of and subsequently his son Ramzan Kadyrov 2007–) were Russian instability as a fight against terrorism. Terrorism working. On the basis of the proclaimed success of this was been cited as an explanation for a range of develop- approach in Chechnya, the Russian authorities began ments, from the restart of military campaigns in Chech- to reinterpret terrorism as merely a “risk” to Russian nya to push back the rebel groups into Dagestan in the security, rather than a fundamental threat to the Rus- autumn 1999 to the way that instability across the North sian state. As part of this reinterpretation, the ongoing Caucasus region is characterized. The attempts of both terrorist activity of the so-called “Caucasus Emirate”, Western actors and domestic groups, such as Memorial, under the leadership of Doku Umarov, across the North to challenge the Russian authorities’ depiction of insta- Caucasus region and other intermittent terakty in other bility by highlighting the role of issues other than ter- cities in Russia were said to have been conducted by the rorism, such as societal instability, human rights, police remnants of the terrorist groups that had been squeezed brutality or issues of governance, has failed, with the out of Chechnya, due to the success of the policy of nor- Russian leadership clinging onto this label as an all-in- malization. The groups formerly active in Chechnya were one explanation. said to have moved predominately to Dagestan, Ingush- However, this is not to say that Russia’s official war etia and Kabardino-Balkaria. In line with this reclassi- on terror has not evolved during the last decade, in fact fication of the terrorist threat, a range of new counter- the leadership’s position and construction of the terror- terrorist legislation was enacted, such as new Counter ist threat has changed significantly, as indeed have the Terrorism law in 2006 and the creation of the National measures and policies put forward for dealing with it. Anti-Terrorism Committee with local branches through- In the initial stages of the counter-terrorist campaign out the Russian Federation, which it was claimed would in Chechnya 1999–2001, the Russian leadership secu- be capable of dealing with the downgraded “risk” of ter- ritized the terrorist threat coming out of Chechnya, by rorism through low-level operational measures. presenting it as an existential threat to both the Russian During the second half of the Putin presidency, the state, but also the wider international community, which Russian leadership refused to deviate from their rein- was said to be originating from domestic and interna- terpretation of the level of threat from terrorism or their tional Islamist inspired terrorist groups. The solution new approach. Neither ongoing criticism, from both that the Putin regime advocated was large-scale security home and abroad, over its security operations in the operations from autumn 1999 through to spring 2000 North Caucasus, ongoing sidelining of questions of in Chechnya, which was said to be the heart of the ter- human rights, persistent failure to adequately address rorist threat inside Russia. This was followed by lower- socio-economic problems and issues of political gover- scale counter-terrorist operations from the early to mid nance, nor a growth in violence across the North Cau- 2000s. These counter-terrorist operations were never casus region, was enough to force the Putin regime to about changing the fundamental nature of Russian pol- change its approach to dealing with the threat of terror- itics or altering the state’s security practices in response ism.
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