By Jaime Ortega.
Russians woke up on Monday surrounded with panic at the jihadist resurgence : another suicide bomber blew a trolleybus and claimed 16 lives in Volgograd, the same city where just 24 hours before an attack had caused 18 deaths in the train station. The government is preparing to deploy 40,000 troops and police to protect the Olympic city of Sochi.
Today, Russian President Vladimir Putin, during his New Year message, broadcast from the city of Khabarovsk, said he will “vigorously fight against terrorists to annihilate them completely.” Also added that it will support “all those affected by these inhumane acts ” and rebuild “everything ” in his first public comments on the attacks .
Fear has been installed on the public transport system and the Russian people avoid it if they can. Again the terrorist attack in Volgograd was during rush hour and on a scenario riddled with civilians. Over 30 dead in two days is too much of a number to feel secure for the inhabitants of the old Stalingrad, which this year celebrated the 50th anniversary of his heroic victory over the Nazi siege.
People are afraid, stay at home waiting for the imminent and long Russian Christmas holiday saved them from their daily routines, which suddenly have become dangerous. And in Moscow psychosis remembers the killings, of the Metro in 2010.
This time , the target was a trolleybus. In addition to the 16 deaths , 23 people were injured. Although no group was vindicated last night for the last two attacks, strokes suggest another blow of Islamist terrorism in the North Caucasus . “You can ensure that the explosive device was activated by a suicide bomber, probably a man ,” said the deputy governor of the region, Valisi Galushkin.
It is the fourth terrorist attack in southern Russia in the last three months: a bus blew up in October in Volgograd, a car bomb exploded last Friday in a nearby town and on Sunday and Monday, public transport in the city woke dyed with blood. The connection between the recent attacks seems clear: ” The fact that the shrapnel of both devices has an identical version confirms that both actions are related to each other ,” said Galushkin. The Russian government yesterday appealed for international solidarity against a terrorist enemy “that can only be defeated together.”
With these attacks Putin looks to revive his worst enemy in the most delicate moment. Among the measures to be set to protect the Olympic Games in Sochi would be creating spectator passes, that will be needed to get around the area and allow the Russian government to collect data on passports from visitors, whose identities will be checked before arrival. The area is already fully militarized , there is no freedom of movement and demonstrations are prohibited .
A challenge for Putin
Volgograd is the largest city in southern Russia entity , a region where the next February plucks Winter Olympics in Sochi, located on the Black Sea. The main leader of the terrorists, the self-proclaimed emir of the Caucasus Doku Umarov , had threatened last July celebration of the Olympic Games , which are the big bet of the Kremlin this year to project the image of modern Russia and abroad. In that video a threatening Umarov claimed against the great sporting event to be held “on the bones of many Muslims killed.” The terrorist leader, who was wrongly declared dead by the Chechen authorities a few weeks ago, concerned burials fighters against the Russian Empire in the nineteenth century, which have built sports facilities. But the main motivation for terrorists to put Sochi on the target is to challenge the power of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin chief met with the head of the secret service, Alexander Bortnikov, and issued instructions to a committee which coordinates the fight against terrorism. The goal is to ” strengthen security in Russia and specifically in the Volgograd region.” After 18 months in which reigned a flimsy moratorium of jihadists, the radicals have launched a lethal attack.
The bomb exploded inside a trolleybus inside the public transport system in the city as it passes through the outdoor market of the Dzerzhinsky district. The vehicle was destroyed as a result of the explosion, which occurred at 08.10 local time. Some Russian media claimed that the author of the massacre is Pavel Pechyonkin , originating in the Mari region.
According to ‘ Voice of Russia ‘ , he joined the resistance forces in 2012. Was 32 and used to work as a paramedic until the spring of last year when he adopted the Islamic name of Ansar ar – Rusi and started fighting in Dagestan. If he is, it would be a man of Slavic origin, which is a worrying development for the Kremlin, which looks in discontent and marginalization in some regions where Russians have problems pushing some radical groups .
