Terrorism in Russia (merged thread)

[Tukhachevskii]

...Medvedev makes a surprise visit;

We must deal sharp dagger blows to the terrorists; destroy them and their lairs," Mr Medvedev said. "The list of measures to fight terrorism must be widened. They must not only be effective but tough, severe and preventative. We need to punish".

While Dagestan’s president, Magomedsalam Magomedov, sends mixed messages.

“[There was] a chance for terrorists to return to a peaceful life, but they have not taken it,” Magomedov said. “We will continue eliminating them until we eradicate them all. However, this does not mean that we will only use methods of force,” Magomedov added.

And...in Chechnya the internal situation slides further into the centre-periphery/patron-client dolldrums with the Chechen parliament criticising Medvedev's man, Aleksandr Khloponin, who was appointed Plenipotentiary Representative to the North Caucasus if only because...

it would have been both a fitting moral gesture and one of "political literacy" if Khloponin had acknowledged the devastation inflicted on Chechnya by making it the first of the North Caucasus republics he visited in his new official capacity. In fact his first visit was to North Ossetia.

...but also because...

rumors that have been circulating in Grozny for some weeks. Those rumors predict the imminent appointment to Khloponin's staff of two highly controversial figures: former Grozny Mayor Bislan Gantamirov and Interior Ministry Colonel Akhmed Khasambekov.