In Russia, there is mourning in Dagestan and suspicions over imminent devastating attacks: NPR

MOSCOW – Mournings are being held for loved ones and funerals for the dead in Russia’s southern republic of Dagestan, as questions and theories swirl about who was responsible for an attack by gunmen over the weekend that killed 20. People died – most of them police – and dozens of others were injured. ,

Armed attackers on Sunday almost simultaneously attacked a synagogue, two Orthodox Christian church buildings and a police station in the Dagestan capital, Makhachkala, and the coastal city of Derbent. There was a negative direct declaration of duty.

The Investigative Committee of Russia, the country’s leading criminal investigation company, says it has opened a criminal investigation into “terrorist acts” and the Kremlin has cautioned against anticipating its findings.

However, to government critics, the events in Dagestan appeared to be an unconscionable security lapse by the Kremlin, which was so obsessed with its war in Ukraine that it did not see the growing extremist ultimatum at home. Not even three months had passed since these attacks when gunmen from an Islamic group attacked a Moscow concert hall, killing 145 people and injuring many.

Kremlin loyalists have embraced conspiracy theories and allege that the attack was part of a broader Western plot to subvert the country from within.

Meanwhile, local officials argue that the attackers intended to incite violence in the majority Muslim but ethnically and religiously diverse region, which has grappled with extremism in its recent past.

“This is an attempt to break our unity,” Sergei Melikov, the Kremlin-appointed head of the Republic of Dagestan, said in a social media post after the events.

The attacks coincided with the Orthodox Christian holiday of Pentecost, in which gunmen set fire to an icon in Makhachkala and killed an elderly priest in Derbent.

Dagestan’s small vibrant Jewish community dates back centuries. Its synagogue in Derbent was also set on fire and destroyed by the flames. There were no worshipers there at that time.

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In a related incident, gunmen also attacked a police station in the capital of Makhachkala.

The government says officers suffered the brunt of casualties in subsequent shootouts with the attackers in both towns – many of them captured on video by terrified local civilians and shared on social media.

A dramatic search for the gunmen also lasted all night. Federal security forces sealed To ban going on the streets.

By morning, the countrywide counter-terrorism operation team reported few highlights, except that the “active phase” of the counter-terrorism operation in the two cities had effectively ended.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has said that 5 attackers have been killed.

Left unanswered: How many gunmen were there – and was there any rule on leaving?

Islamic surrounding group praised the attack

The question is also who can be involved in such an attack and why?

Dagestan and, especially, the south of Russia were no stranger to extremist violence.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has fought two wars against separatist militants in Chechnya, the Russian republic south of Dagestan.

Earlier this time, a makeshift prison revolt in the city of Rostov by six Islamic Community-linked prisoners ended after Russian special forces stormed the complex and shot them dead.

And in late October, as Israel’s conflict in Gaza intensified, a fiercely pro-Palestinian mob of locals took over Dagestan’s main airport, searching for Jewish passengers flying from Tel Aviv.

Following the attack in Dagestan, the Russian branch of the Islamic group ISIS-OK issued a statement praising the attack, saying the gunmen had responded to “a call”.

“Our brothers in the Caucasus tell us that they are still strong,” ISIS-OK said in a post on social media. “They showed what they’re capable of.”

While the Pace government has not yet publicly identified the attackers, the faces of many of the attackers have been captured through observer films. Local media later said they had identified some of them.

One of the key gunmen killed had reportedly attended a joint martial arts combat academy in Dagestan, which was funded through one of its wealthiest voters.

Two others were identified as the sons of a local baby-kisser linked to the Kremlin’s ruling United Russia birthday party. The expert was immediately detained and removed from his post.

On Tuesday, Dagestan Premier Melikov ordered a review of all people holding leadership positions throughout the republic.

“Maybe we have more district heads where sleeper cells operate?” According to the situation media, Melikov said.

Suspicion of Western involvement

Russian President Vladimir Putin, through his spokesman, expressed condolences to all those affected by the tragedy.

As villagers awaited the investigative committee’s findings, several Kremlin allies and avowed Russian nationalists have offered their own theories.

“Nato and Ukrainian security forces are behind this,” Abdulkhakim Gadzhiev, Dagestan’s representative in the Duma, said in an interview with Situation TV channel Russia 24.

“It’s because we are having so much success on all fronts on the battlefield that they have to try to weaken our country from within.”

“The authors – were Western intelligence services,” wrote Alexander Sladkov, one of a group of nationalist conflict correspondents who gained notoriety on social media amid the conflict in Ukraine.

“This is a Western investment in underground warfare,” he said.

No evidence of any Western involvement was provided. The US, Ukraine and NATO allies have not commented on the attacks.

Echoes of Crocus Town

The Russian reactions were reminiscent of the federal government’s response to the devastating attack on the Crocus Town Live performance hall in Moscow in March. ISIS-OK claimed direct responsibility for the massacre.

A few weeks ago, the US shared the threat of an upcoming attack through the crowd. President Putin publicly denounced the guidelines as “blackmail” and aimed at “intimidating and destabilizing our society.”

For now, professionals said the security failure reflects the Russian president’s continued focus on Ukraine and jailing Russians opposed to his policies rather than evading domestic ultimatums.

This is a tool where “punishment is more important than the safety of civilians,” said Andrei Soldatov, a chief professional in the Russian security services, in an interview with NPR after the Crocus Town attack.

“To prevent a terrorist attack, you need completely different skills and abilities,” Soldatov said. “You need to know how to share intelligence with the Russian security and intelligence community as well as with your international partners. And that requires a lot of trust.”

Despite this weekend’s attack, some Kremlin allies also fear that Russia may clearly be failing to deal with problems of its own making.

“I think that if we assign responsibility to NATO and Ukraine for every terrorist act involving national or religious intolerance, this pink fog will lead us to bigger problems,” famed falcon Dmitry Rogozin wrote on social media on Sunday. Will go.”

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the unprecedented events in Dagestan signal a return to the waves of violence that swept Russia in the late nineties and early 2000s, when Islamic militants from the North Caucasus spontaneously Terrorized the citizens.

“Russia is now other, folk is truly consolidated,” Peskov said on monday, “And such criminal terrorist manifestations, as we saw yesterday in Dagestan, are not supported by society, neither in Russia as a whole nor in Dagestan.”