, an independent analyst. I fear that the opposition protest planned for March 31 will be beaten back by police or [the pro-Kremlin youth group] Nashi. The Kremlin certainly has a track record of using terror as a justification for political crackdowns: in 2004, after a spate of attacks, Putin scrapped elections for regional governors. Tatyana Lokshina, of Human Rights Watch, says that the authorities reaction will be a bellwether of how far Medvdev has managed to change the system. This is going to be a test for Medvedev s liberal views-hopefully he will let his people speak their mind out on March 31, she said.himself appeared on Russian television today looking visibly angry and vowed to bring the culprits to justice and stamp out terror. But Putin came to power on the same promise in 2000 after four horrific bombings in Moscow and southern Russia demolished apartment buildings and left more than 300 dead. A decade later, his words ring a little hollow-all the more so because the tactics Russian police and the FSB have used against Islamic rebels have brought terror to the local population. Russian police death squads have admitted tosystematic torture of suspected rebels and their families. And according to Human Rights Watch, more than 20,000 people-mostly young men-have been disappeared by the security forces since the supposed end of the Chechen war in 2002. Kadyrov s troops have even been filmed torturing their own men to maintain a medieval brand of discipline. s not clear is what Putin can do to stop the attacks. As Israel found before its security barrier, it s almost impossible to secure a city against suicide bombers-especially if they have access to high explosives. Unlike failed bombers in London and more recently on transatlantic aircraft, this morning s attackers did not have to rely on homemade explosives but instead used arounda kilo of TNT, which is more compact and more devastatingly reliable than homemade fertilizer explosives.Israel, though , Putin does not have the option of building a wall across the North Caucasus to keep out bombers. The likely reaction will expanded surveillance powers for the FSB and stop-and-search powers for the police-thereby cutting off a fledgling civil-society movement to crack down on corruption and institute wholesale reforms of both those institutions. Most worryingly of all for the Kremlin, if the state continues to fail to provide security to its citizens, popular protests will only grow-putting opposition groups on collision course with a strengthened police.
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«El Pais»: «Fantasmas chechenos en el Kremlin»
El? ltimo golpe de terroristas chechenos contra la sociedad rusa no ha podido llegar en peor momento. Rusia est? sufriendo las consecuencias de una crisis econ? mica que est? atacando duramente a su d? bil econom? a. La poblaci? N, mayoritariamente desempleada, reclama trabajo, soluciones a la corrupci? Ny el fin de la inseguridad ciudadana. A nivel internacional, la posici? N de Rusia se ha visto mermada por una guerra con Georgia que ha debilitado la imagen de un pa? S en declive comprometiendo las relaciones con sus aliados (China, Venezuela, Ir? N etc? Tera ...). Los rusos se? Alan al presidente Medv? Dev como culpable y recuerdan con nostalgia los a? Os de presidencia de Putin. Por si todo esto fuera poco, el atentado del lunes de la pasada semana debilita a? Nm? Sa Medv? Dev cuya cuestionada pol? Tica con Chechenia ha estado centrada en ir a las causas profundas del conflicto frente a la opci? N defendida por Putin que abogaba por una mayor contundencia. Por ello, podemos afirmar que los fantasmas chechenos merodean por los pasillos del Kremlin quitando el sue? Oa sus dirigentes.
Los nokhchi o chechenos son un combativo y correoso pueblo de las monta? as cauc? sicas emparentados, tanto? tnica como ling ?? sticamente, con los inghuses. Se agrupan en teips o clanes que articulan las relaciones de poder en la zona, siendo el Malkoy del autop roclamado Emir Um? Rov el m? S importante de ellosienzos del siglo XIX los zares fundan Grozny -la terrible- con el? nico fin de lanzar ofensivas siguiendo el curso del r? o Terek para controlar el C? ucaso. Aunque en тисяча вісімсот п'ятьдесят дев'ять Chechenia fue formalmente conquistada por los zares sus habitantes nunca se plegaron y bajo las? Rdenes de sus l? Deres -Mansur, Shamil, Dudayev, Bassayev ...- han combatido a los rusos hasta nuestros d? As. Durante los a? Os de la URSS, la mano de hierro de Stalin logr? desmontar el entramado nacionalista checheno gracias a acciones tales como limpiezas? tnicas y deportaciones a Asia Central. De hecho, importantes l? Deres como Kadyrov o Khasbulatov nacieron en las estepas centroasi? Ticas. Sin embargo, lejos de solucionar el problema, se...
