Putin remains silent as Russia hit by series of ‘terrorist attacks’

Vladimir Putin does not yet intend to comment on the “terrorist attacks” in southern Russia and in the occupied city of Sevastopol in Crimea, the Kremlin announced Monday afternoon.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has released footage of what it says shows its investigation into Sunday’s attack in the predominantly Muslim republic of Dagestan, in which at least 19 people were believed to have been killed. Men armed with automatic weapons stormed an Orthodox church and synagogue in the coastal town of Derbent on Sunday evening, killing a Russian Orthodox priest. About 130 kilometers further north, attackers fired on a traffic police station and attacked a church in Makhachkala, the republic’s capital.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked about the Russian leader’s response to the attack, as well as Russian claims that five people were killed by falling debris when five Ukrainian missiles were shot down on Sunday in the city of Sevastopol in Crimea. News week contacted the Kremlin and the Investigative Committee for further comment.

Moscow blamed the attack on the United States, saying U.S.-supplied missiles were used. The official news agency quoted Peskov as saying that Putin “does not plan to deliver a special speech on the terrorist attacks in Sevastopol and Dagestan.”

Russian investigators said 15 police officers and four civilians were killed in Dagestan, along with at least five attackers in Sunday’s incidents, for which there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

However, the attack on Christian and Jewish places of worship has fueled fears that Russia faces a new militant Islamist threat. Just three months ago, 145 people were killed and hundreds more injured at the Crocus concert hall in Moscow, claimed by the Islamic State’s (IS-K) Khorasan province.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Wilayat Kavkaz, the Islamic State branch in the North Caucasus, was likely responsible for Sunday’s attacks. As with the March attacks, Russian officials did not blame Islamist militant groups for the attack, but instead pointed the finger at the West.

“By building on this speech, Russian authorities seek to allay public concerns that security forces are not doing enough to counter the Islamist threat,” said Markus Korhonen, senior partner at S-RM, a law firm consulting in geopolitics and cyber risk.

“Instead, blaming the main enemies in Ukraine and the West allows Russia to maintain a consistent line in portraying the war in Ukraine as an existential battle,” Korhonen said. News week. “Two major terrorist attacks in a relatively short period highlight the failures of Russia’s internal security,” he said. “The intelligence failures behind these attacks will certainly be embarrassing.

“By singling out Ukraine rather than the real culprits, the regime can claim that it is directing its security efforts in the right place, at least for now.”

North Caucasus security analyst Harold Chambers said News week that Wilayat Kavkaz’s links to the attacks are not yet known, but that cooperation between it and IS-K has strengthened. “The precise relationship seems flexible and poorly established.”

However, it is unclear whether Sunday’s attacks were part of an insurgency against Putin’s regime, Chambers said.

“There has been increasing militant activity in most of the North Caucasus republics, but this remains at low levels of activity, and it is unclear how extensive and lasting this activity will be.” , said Chambers, who holds a Ph.D. student at Indiana University.

“So far, militant cells do not last long, with their members eliminated on the same day of their first attack in all but two cases,” he added.