Recently in Russia Category

And a convert to and Misunderstander of Islam, who characterized a barrel of explosives as "a small present for our apostates and infidels," was apparently killed in a Russian raid last week. "Islamic militants blamed in deadly November attack on Russian train," by Philip P. Pan for the Washington Post, March 6 (thanks to Davida):

MOSCOW -- Russian authorities on Saturday blamed a group of Islamic militants killed and captured in an offensive last week for the November bombing of a luxury train to St. Petersburg, the deadliest terrorist attack on Russian soil outside the volatile North Caucasus in years.

Alexander Bortnikov, director of the Federal Security Service, said explosive components recovered in the raid in the troubled Ingushetia province, located west of Chechnya, and DNA taken from the alleged rebels matched those found after the attack on the Nevsky Express train, which left 28 people dead and more than 90 others injured....

Speaking in a televised meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev, Bortnikov said the group is also suspected in 15 other attacks, including bombings and the slaying of security officers.

Among those killed in the raid, he said, was Alexander Tikhomirov, a young preacher who had emerged as a major figure in the violent radical Muslim insurgency that has evolved from the Chechen separatist movement and spread across the mountains of Russia's southwest frontier.

Tikhomirov's death could represent an important victory for Russian forces in the North Caucasus, because he was considered an effective propagandist and seemed to play a key role in rallying the insurgency's ethnic and local factions around the goal of establishing a fundamentalist Caucasus Emirate.

A convert to Islam from Siberia who studied in Egypt and was thought to be in his late 20s, he had appeared in Internet videos taking credit for suicide attacks on the Ingush governor's motorcade and on a police station in Ingushetia's largest city, Nazran. The latter showed him sitting with what appeared to be a barrel of explosives, which he described as "a small present for our apostates and infidels."...

"An FSB spokesman said Shaaban, who went by the name of Seif Islam (the sword of Islam), had seen action in Afghanistan in the 1990s, and 'was also in Sudan, Somali, Libya and Georgia.'" Indicating once again the international and unitary character of the global jihad.

"Russian police kill al-Qaeda's 'sword of Islam,'" from RIA Novosti, February 3 (thanks to Sr. Soph):

A militant shot dead by police in the south Russian republic of Dagestan was one of the co-founders of al-Qaeda in the North Caucasus, a security service spokesman said on Wednesday.

Egyptian national Mohamad Shaaban, 49, was killed during a shootout with police in the tiny republic's mountainous Botlikhsky District on Tuesday. A Dagestani militant and a police officer also died.

An FSB spokesman said Shaaban, who went by the name of Seif Islam (the sword of Islam), had seen action in Afghanistan in the 1990s, and "was also in Sudan, Somali, Libya and Georgia."

"In 1992, he arrived in Chechnya to take part in operations against federal forces," the spokesman said, adding that Shaaban had organized the North Caucasus branch of al-Qaeda with Saudi-born Islamic radical Ibn Al-Khattab....

Against whom will Libya use these weapons? And to what end? Russia continues its short-sighted aid for states that are now enabling or abetting jihad activity, or that are likely to do so if events keep moving in the direction they're moving in now.

"Libya strikes arm deal with Russia," from Al-Jazeera, January 31 (thanks to Loganswarning):

Libya has struck a deal to buy Russian arms worth almost two billion dollars, Russian news agencies quoted Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, as saying.

"Yesterday (Friday), a contract worth $1.8bn was signed. It does not only involve firearms", Putin was quoted as saying by Ria Novosti and Interfax on Saturday.

The Russian prime minister did not specify the type of arms or military equipment involved in the deal.

But a Russian diplomatic source told Interfax on Tuesday, however, that Libya wanted to acquire 20 fighter planes, at least two S-300 air defence systems, several dozen T-90C tanks and other arms....

As could have been foreseen by anyone who understood the jihad doctrine, Russia's complicity with jihad activity elsewhere has not won hearts and minds among the Muslims in the North Caucasus. "6 police killed in S Russia suicide attack," for Xinhua, January 6 (thanks to Twostellas):

MOSCOW, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Six police were killed and about 10 others were injured in an explosion in Russia's restive North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, Russian new agencies reported on Wednesday.

A suicide bomber detonated his car laden with explosives outside the traffic police headquarters in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, local police source said.

The blast completely destroyed the building's alert center, a spokesman for Dagestan's law enforcement services was quoted as saying by Interfax....

Dagestan and the other mainly Muslim regions of Russia's North Caucasus have been plagued by instability and violence recently. Skirmishes between troops and militants, and attacks on police and other officials have been reported daily....

Somehow, Moscow fails to see this trend as the direct threat to its sovereignty that it is. "Muslim revival brings polygamy, camels to Chechnya," by Amie Ferris-Rotman for Reuters, December 16:

GROZNY, Russia (Reuters) - Adam, 52, keeps his three wives in different towns to stop them squabbling, but the white-bearded Chechen adds he might soon take a fourth.

"Chechnya is Muslim, so this is our right as men. They (the wives) spend time together, but do not always see eye to eye," said the soft-spoken pensioner, who only gave his first name.

Hardline Kremlin-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov is vying with insurgents for authority in a land ravaged by two secessionist wars with Moscow. Each side is claiming Islam as its flag of legitimacy, each reviles the other as criminal and blasphemous.

Wary of the dangers of separatism in a vast country, Moscow watches uneasily as central power yields to Islamic tenets. It must chose what it might see as the lesser of two evils.

It's really just limiting itself to a choice between a faster or slower version of the same thing.

Though polygamy is illegal in Russia, the southern Muslim region of Chechnya encourages the practice, arguing it is allowed by sharia law and the Koran, Islam's holiest book.

By Russian law, Adam is only married to his first wife of 28 years, Zoya, the plump, blue-eyed mother of his three children, with whom he shares a home on the outskirts of the regional capital Grozny.

His "marriages" to the other two -- squirreled away in villages nearby -- were carried out in elaborate celebrations and are recognized by Chechen authorities.

The head of Chechnya's Center for Spiritual-Moral Education, Vakha Khashkanov, set up by Kadyrov a year ago, said Islam should take priority over laws of the Russian constitution.

"If it is allowed in Islam, it is not up for discussion," he told Reuters near Europe's largest mosque, which glistens in central Grozny atop the grounds where the Communist party had its headquarters before the Soviet Union fell in 1991.

"As long as you can feed your wives, and there's equality amongst them, then polygamy is allowed in Chechnya," he added.

Islam is flourishing in Chechnya which, along with its neighbors Dagestan and Ingushetia, is combating an Islamist insurgency which aims to create a Muslim, sharia-based state separate from Russia across the North Caucasus. [...]

Animals are also being used to reintroduce Islam at Chechnya's round-the-clock Muslim television channel, where 60 young bearded men and headscarved women create children's programs in large studios adorned with photos of Mecca.

A bevy of bumble bees joyfully scream "Salam Alaikum" (Peace be with you) upon entering the studio of Ruslan Ismailov, who is making a full-length cartoon on hi-tech Apple computers for the channel, which is called "Put," meaning "The Way" in Russian.

"The bees appeal to children, and they will teach them how to live properly by the Muslim faith," Ismailov said.

Set up two years ago by the state and broadcast to thousands across the North Caucasus, instantly becoming one of the top channels in the region, it also features programs for women on how to keep home and reading of the Koran throughout the night.

"It's no secret what Chechnya has been through," said the channel's general director Adam Shakhidov, sporting a ginger beard and traditional black velvet cap.

"Two wars, the Soviet Union and today's Muslim extremism... it's time to show the true beauty of Sufism and install the basis for sharia," he said.

You guessed it, it was more Misunderstanders of Islam -- the "Caucasian Mujahadeen," which of course means they're from the Caucasus, not that they're white (although they are). If opposition to jihad is white supremacist, shouldn't the "Caucasian Mujahadeen" be just fine with anti-jihadists?

"North Caucasus group in Russia train bomb web claim," from the BBC, December 2 (thanks to Alan of England):

A North Caucasus Islamist group has claimed responsibility for a bomb that killed 26 people on a Moscow-to-St Petersburg train, a website says.

The website claim on Kavkazcenter.com said last Friday's attack was carried out by the "Caucasian Mujahadeen" on the orders of its leader, Doku Umarov.

He is described as one of Russia's most wanted rebels, but it was not possible to verify the claim's authenticity.

Moscow had earlier described the Nevsky Express attack as an act of terrorism.

Doku Umarov, a Chechen, is considered the leader of the Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus. He says he is fighting to expel Russian forces, and to turn the region into an Islamic emirate.

Wednesday's web statement said Friday's attack was an "act of sabotage", and part of a series of operations targeting strategic sites in Russia.

"Today, we carry out sabotage operations on electricity transmission lines, oil-and-gas-wires. Many of the operations are under preparation status.

"We intend to conduct such diversions in future, which are the just acts of vengeance... These diversions will continue for as long as the occupants in the Caucasus will not stop its policy of killing ordinary Muslims purely on religious grounds."...

Aiding the jihad and being victimized by it almost simultaneously. Iran is believed to be aiding the Chechen jihad. Of course, Russia is not the only country that is doing that. From our bulging Suicidal Short-Sightedness File: "Russia, Iran agree on new gas, oil projects," from the Tehran Times, November 30 (thanks to Maxwell):

TEHRAN - The Russian energy minister and officials from the Iranian Oil Ministry have agreed on a gas swap, the implementation of 15 new oil and gas projects, the construction of a oil refinery near the Caspian Sea, and the establishment a joint oil company.

The agreements were made as Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko arrived in Tehran on Sunday to attend the eighth meeting of Iran-Russian Joint Economic Commission.

The visiting Russian minister also held talks with Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on expanding cooperation in various other fields.

At the meeting Iran and Russia expressed satisfaction over the holding of the joint commission meeting, which would help bolster bilateral cooperation in the fields of transportation, telecommunication, energy, commerce, economy and banking.

Foreign Minister Mottaki said this is a very good opportunity for both sides to further exchange views and broaden mutual relations and cooperation.

Iran and Russia play a very significant role in regional and global developments, the Iranian foreign minister added....

The "rebels," of course, are Islamic jihadists -- holding to the same ideology and belief-system as the Iranians whom the Russians have been foolishly and short-sightedly aiding. "Murder on the Nevsky Express," by Matthew Campbell and Anna Voutsen in the Sunday Times, November 29:

The first sign of something wrong as the Nevsky Express raced through the night came when the train began to "tremble". Then the carriage gave a violent lurch to the left and Igor Pechnikov was hurled from his seat.

He was one of the lucky ones. At least 30 other passengers aboard the luxury express from Moscow to St Petersburg were killed and scores more injured when a bomb went off, derailing the last three carriages, including Pechnikov's, at 130mph.

"I flew through half of the carriage," he said yesterday after being led from the twisted wreckage.

Rescue workers searching the mangled debris for 18 people still unaccounted for escaped injury when a second bomb partially detonated nearby yesterday afternoon.

There was no claim of responsibility but suspicion immediately fell on rebels fighting Moscow's rule over the mountainous republic of Chechnya in the northern Caucasus region. They have carried out similar attacks....

It was Islamic jihadists again, oddly enough. Everyone knows that all religions have their fanatics and extremists and they're all equally dangerous, yet those Christian beheaders remain inconveniently quiet. "Russian officials beheaded in N. Caucasus-Ifax," from Reuters, November 24 (thanks to Islam In Europe):

MOSCOW, Nov 24 (Reuters) - A police investigator and a court bailiff were found beheaded in a car trunk in Russia's mainly Muslim region of Kabardino-Balkaria, Interfax said on Tuesday, underscoring spreading violence on Russia's southern flank.

The killings follow a spate of attacks on power stations and police posts in Kabardino-Balkaria, which is close to the Ingushetia region where rights group say Islamist militants and government forces are effectively at war.

The two beheaded men were discovered in a Mercedes late on Monday in the town of Chegem, about 10 km (six miles) north of the regional capital Nalchik, the news agency reported, citing law enforcement services....

"A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a crowded commuter train in southern Russia today, killing at least 40 people in what President Vladimir V. Putin denounced as a terrorist act intended to disrupt parliamentary elections here this weekend." So says the New York Times.

"The explosion, which occurred at 7:42 a.m., wrenched apart the second carriage of the train only moments after it left the station in Yessentuki, near the foothills of the Caucasus, not far from Chechnya. . . .

"While there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, Sergei N. Ignatchenko, chief spokesman for the Federal Security Service, said in an interview that it bore all the characteristics of terrorist acts by Chechnya's separatist fighters. . . .

"Over the spring and summer Russia suffered a wave of terrorist attacks, many of them carried out by suicide bombers. The attacks -- at a rock concert in Moscow, a bus stop and military hospital in Mozdok and government buildings in Chechnya -- killed more than 250 people. . . .

"Officials have attributed the attacks -- as well as the siege of a theater in Moscow last October that ended with the deaths of 129 hostages and 41 guerrillas -- to Chechens aided by international Islamic extremists."

Here is their motivation: traditional jihad theology.