Terrorism in Russia (merged thread)

[bismark17]

I was fortunate to attend some great training yesterday put on by John Giduck. He is the author of a great book, Terror at Beslan that should be mandatory reading for anyone in L.E. or concerned with Security. His presentation was outstanding and very relevant to my day-to-day job as a Crime Analyst. He packed a great deal of information into a 1 day course and didn’t just re-hash what was in the book but built upon it. Anyone with an opportunity to attend his training should jump on it. You will not be disappointed.

http://www.antiterrorconsultants.org/training_acad.htm is a link to his company.

I have no affiliation with his company!

[Robal2pl]

Interesting...

I wonder what was influence of Beslan on SWAT/HRT units TTPs'. My masters' thesis [I've just started writing] will be devoted mostly Polish LE special units after 1990 ,but I belive that Beslan and Dubrovka - large, complicated hostage situation mark bing change in ways how hostage situations should be dealt

Regards,
Robal2pl

[Jedburgh]

Giduck has been milking that cow for a long time. Those who are better qualified to critique the event don't do the training circuit gig. There are also a few issues with his bio. Not that his piece is worthless, but him and his work needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

[Sarajevo071]

I just wonder, do John Giduck mentioning how afoul Russian SF and police performed (with absolutely no regards for life of they own civilians) and that Russian own inquiry blamed Russian “volunteers” and SF for attack and some killings? Russian forces performances in this siege and that in NorDost Theater is just amazingly bad…

[Robal2pl]

What "Special Forces" do You mean?
There was only 40 of them - advisors sent from Alpha, Vympiel and Vitiaz units. All others were soldiers form infantry, or militia officers, or simply armed citizens of Bieslan (mostly hostages' relatives).
10 operators were killed in action, mostly when they were trying to pull the children out of gym...

[mmx1]

Giduck has been milking that cow for a long time. Those who are better qualified to critique the event don't do the training circuit gig. There are also a few issues with his bio. Not that his piece is worthless, but him and his work needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

Are there better open sources available?

[Sarajevo071]

“Nord-Ost” - Investigation Unfinished

The book was published with assistance from “Terrorism Victims Support Fund”
Non-Commercial Organization.
Moscow, April 26, 2006


INTRODUCTION
“The Committee admits the seriousness of the situation with hostages and cannot help being concerned about the results of rescue operation in Dubrovka Theater. The Committee notes that various attempts to investigate the situation are sill being made, but it must express its concern about the absence of independent and unbiased estimation of the facts related to the kind of medical care given to hostages after their release, and to the killing of persons who had captured the hostages. The Committee appealed to the member-state [Russia] to ensure independent and thorough investigation into the circumstances of the rescue operation in Dubrovka and have its results published, and, if required, to initiate criminal proceedings and pay compensation to the victims and their family members”
(extract from the Statement of the UN Human Rights Committee approved at its 79th session, October 2003).


This report is related to one of the most tragic events in the history of present-day Russia – the hostage taking at Theatrical Center in Dubrovka (TC) in the city of Moscow.

The authors’ purport is not to exculpate the terrorists - their guilt is obvious and undisputable. Nevertheless, this tragedy has once again revealed the attitude on the part of the Russian authorities towards human rights both in the course of the rescue operation, and in the way how investigation into the terrorist act was held, as well as in the course of court proceedings on cases initiated by the injured and affected persons in defense of their rights and interests.

The purpose of this report is to sum up the data resulting from the examination of criminal case documents related to this terrorist attack which were made available to the authors, and testimonies given by the victims, witnesses of this event, human rights activists and journalists.

The goal of the authors was to show the results they got after summarizing factual material, to analyze the validity of various versions of grounds for the special operation, to give legal opinion on the performance of the authorities in the course of the operation, and to let the readers know the most significant, from the authors’ point of view, opinions and estimates related to those events.

...

Microsoft Word Document (33 Pages)
http://pravdabeslana.ru/nordost/dokleng.doc

[Stan]

Hey Sarajevo !

The Committee appealed to the member-state [Russia] to ensure independent and thorough investigation into the circumstances of the rescue operation in Dubrovka and have its results published, and, if required, to initiate criminal proceedings and pay compensation to the victims and their family members”

I don't disagree with the fact that the operation was handled inappropriately and the innocent victims suffered a great deal. The government sent her troops in and expected results. Soldiers they were. Yes, gas is a bit harsh, but they used what they had and I am sure they were instructed to do so. If they never went in and all the victims were later killed, the government would still be at fault. Seems there was no alternative. Or was there ?

The Estonians reaction was neutral. Actually, most said 'if they gas their own, so what ?'

Hard to argue that one !

[Robal2pl]

The gas was used to prevent detonation of explosives carried by "Black Widows" (Chechen version of female suicide bombers). The gas wasn't to kill, but to incapitate them give some time to operators. All hostages were alive when the building was seized by SF. They started dying when they were transported to the hospitals. All medical support totally failed - not the CT operation.

[slapout9]

Couple of points. It was not a gas. It was a powerful narcotic used in medicine as an anesthesia delivered in an aerosol form to increase the rapid reaction in order to incapacitate the terrorist. Robal2pl is dead on when he said It was the medical personnel. By not having enough medication on hand to bring them back once they had been put under. If the medical personnel had done this it would have ended up as one of the best mass HRT's ever done.

Below is a link that discusses this operation along with others of this kind.

"Offensive use of chemical technologies by US Special Operations in GWOT"

http://www.au.af.mil/au/aul/aupress/.../Text/mp37.pdf

[Robal2pl]

Ok, i got Your point.
But this situation was more complicated that this what can be found in some scources, including the one you mention.
On the auditorium, when suicide bombers were located, assault teams were shooting them in heads. More, there were some places where aerosol did not reach (couple of hostages tried to escape on their own)
But on the other places in the buliding (higher ones - narcotic was appiled only in lower ones) there was a series of heavy gunfights, even MGs and genade launchers were used.
There is a couple of others elements - like planning and executing entire operation almost without radio communictaions (all channels and frequencies were jammed to prevent remote detonation of explosives)
So form the tactical point of viev, it was one of the best HR operations.
Russians spent a lot of time, after crisises in Budionnovsk and Piervomaiskoie, preparing for such scenario.

Had there been field hospital deployed,and evacuation routes to other hospitals cleadred, there would be many less killed.

[Jedburgh]

RFE/RL, 14 Jan 08: Russia: Court Charges Beslan Victims' Group With 'Extremism'

....Why authorities might seek to shut down Voice of Beslan is obvious. Russian officials have shown little compunction about using the extremism legislation to crack down on their critics. What is less clear, however, is why the charges come from Ingushetia, rather than Moscow -- and more than two years after the text's publication.

Some see the case as a product of the ongoing tensions between North Ossetia's Christian population and the mainly Muslim Ingush following an interethnic conflict in 1992 that killed about 200 people and displaced tens of thousands.

But Marina Litvinovich, who runs Truth of Beslan, an information website dedicated to the case, rejects this scenario. "I closely follow the activities of the Voice of Beslan committee," she says. "Its representatives never allowed themselves any comments against the Ingush people and never raised the question of the involvement of Ingush in the hostage taking."

Whatever the motive behind the extremism charges against Voice of Beslan, stoking regional tensions in the North Caucasus will not work to the Kremlin's benefit......

[Valin]

Perspectives on Terrorism
Mariya Y. Omelicheva



For over a decade, Russia has struggled with persistent domestic insurgency and terrorism. The country has experienced a multitude of terrorist and militant attacks, and the turn of the century was marked by a series of high-profile terrorist incidents involving a large number of civilian casualties. In response to this threat, Russian authorities adopted extensive counterterrorism legislation, established and modified institutions responsible for combating terrorism, and streamlined the leadership and conduct of counterterrorist operations. According to recent statements by the present Kremlin administration, the terrorist problem in Russia has finally receded, and the war on separatism had been definitively won. Yet, the daily reports on the shoot-outs and clashes between insurgents and Russia’s security forces cast serious doubts on these official claims. Despite the signs of a slow normalization of life in Chechnya, the security situation remains tense there, and terrorist incidents and guerilla attacks have spread into the broader Southern region previously unaffected by terrorism.

[davidbfpo]

Valin,

Not an area I watch, however this might help, although a summary: http://www.iiss.org/events-calendar/...orth-caucasus/

You refer to one speaker's article, perhaps the other speakers writings can be found? I know Cerwyn Moore has written on this area: http://www.polsis.bham.ac.uk/about/Staff/Moore.shtml

davidbfpo

[Stan]

I would have to echo David's remarks.

In my skeptical opinion, contemporary Russia has yet to clearly defined terrorism. They seem to have no distinction between terrorism or other violent/political crimes.

Estonia believes that the current calm in Chechnya is largely due to the the skill of President Kadyrov and has little to do with Russian counterterrorism policy.

I tend to agree with that belief but willing to entertain more links

[Dayuhan]

For over a decade, Russia has struggled with persistent domestic insurgency and terrorism...

Over a decade? I'd have said for several centuries... Russia's Chechen problem goes back a fair way.

If "COIN literature" is ever established as a genre, Leo Tolstoy's short novel The Raid - an account of a raid on a Chechen village, based on experiences during his service in the Czar's army - will be a genre classic!

[Stan]

Indeed somewhat more than a decade... Chechnya in 1922, 1929 and 1940 for starters and yet again in 1944 with Stalin.

Over a decade? I'd have said for several centuries... Russia's Chechen problem goes back a fair way.

If "COIN literature" is ever established as a genre, Leo Tolstoy's short novel The Raid - an account of a raid on a Chechen village, based on experiences during his service in the Czar's army - will be a genre classic!

[Kevin23]

At least 37 people have been killed in a suicide bombing in Moscow that occurred this morning at 07:56 AM, according to BBC's Russian sources

Here is a link to the story,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8592190.stm

[Tukhachevskii]

Women suicide bombers 'kill 38' in Moscow Metro attacks

and

FSB Suspects North Caucasus Link In Deadly Moscow Bombings

and

Why have the Moscow bombers struck now

and

No Time to Count the Dead, Only to Save the Injured


However, as Robert Amsterdam points out;

It is certainly not difficult to conceive that the double terrorist bombing committed on the Moscow metro this morning was orchestrated by militant Muslim groups from Chechnya, Dagestan, or Ingushetia (or another part of the North Caucasus). Further, it seems irrelevant to question it given the claims of responsibility (or at least applause) already posted on kavkazcenter.com.

Still, it is strange how the FSB reached the conclusion:

The chief of the FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, told President Dmitry Medvedev: "Body parts belonging to two female suicide bombers were found...and according to initial data, these persons are linked to the North Caucasus."

I am just curious how a body part displays its geographic point of origin ... was it a tattoo, physical typology, bomb technology, or article of clothing which is unique to the area? In an earlier report I had read (and cannot find now), Bortnikov talked about DNA testing of the body parts and amazingly fast test results ... which of course made me think about the FSB's proposal to fingerprint and DNA catalog the entire population of Chechnya.

This isn't to suggest the entertainment of crass conspiracy theories, but more an observation of the Kremlin's habits in terms of disaster management - provide as little official information as possible to the public. I recall the Madrid train bombings of 2004 which were initially pinned upon the separatist group ETA, but later revelations of Al-Qaeda carrying out the attacks cost the ruling party its election and resulted in the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq.

The Kremlin most likely jumped to the right and obvious conclusion, but there was still a jump.

[bourbon]

One of the bombs was at Lubyanka Station underneath Lubyanka Square which is currently home to FSB’s HQ, and was previously the HQ for the KGB.