It seems that recent proponents of terror have their sights set on St. Petersburg, Russia as of late. On April 3rd, a bomb went off in a subway train as it went between stations. This attack was done by a suicide bomber, killing at least 14 people and injuring at least 50 more.
Believe it or not, this was not the only attack in St. Petersburg this week.
On the morning of April 6th, another bomb went off near a residential building. Thankfully nobody was hurt in this explosion, although it did cause some damages to nearby cars and buildings. Another bomb was found on the same day inside a flat, but it was defused before it could explode.
Apparently Russian police have arrested 7 suspects linked to the suicide bomber. These alleged accomplices are suspected ISIS recruiters from Central Asia, but there is no distinct evidence yet that they, or the Islamic State, were directly involved.
Could these bombings be ISIS’ response against Russia “stepping their fight up” towards them? It is very likely, considering that in August of last year, ISIS sent out a video that warned Russia that they “will come to Russia and will kill you at your homes”. Although these bombings have not been directly associated with the Islamic state, they have been the main suspect.
All of these bombings display what has been an increasing threat of terrorism in Russia since the 1990’s. In September of 1999, a series of bombs in apartment buildings in Moscow, Buynaksk, and Volgodonsk killed nearly 300 people in 12 days. In February of 2004, a suicide bomber attacked the Moscow subway system during rush hour, killing 41 people and injuring over 100. In August of 2004, twin suicide attacks on planes leaving Moscow’s Domodedovo airport killed 90 people. A few days after that, another suicide bomber killed 10 on the Moscow subway.
The most deadly strike in Russia in 2004 was in September however, where militants raided a school in Beslan, holding over 1000 people hostage, children and teachers alike. After a long standoff between the militants and the Russian army, troops stormed the school. Over 300 were killed in this fight, many of which being children.
Over a year later, in October of 2005, Islamist militants attacks buildings housing Russian security forces in Nalchik, which is the capital of the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic near Chechnya. This attack was responsible for the deaths of over 100 people, including civilians.
There were also a series of attacks in the early 2010’s. In 2009 a suicide bomber killed 28 and wounded 130 on a high-speed train from Moscow to St. Petersburg. 2 more suicide bombers hit the Moscow subways in March of 2010, killing 40. Another bombing happened in an airport in Moscow in January of 2011, where 37 people were killed and over 170 were injured. And in December of 2013, a double suicide bombing hit the public transport system in Volgograd and took 34 lives.
Including the most recent attacks, 894 people have been killed in terrorist attacks in Russia over the past 18 years (if my math is correct). According to the Washington Post, Russia has had more terrorist-related deaths (a crazy 3,541 people!) than any other country in Europe since 1970. The second most is the UK, with 2,570 deaths, although most of them came during the 1970’s-1990’s in Northern Ireland (for more info on that check out my last blog post on the IRA). It seems that terrorist attacks have shifted from dominating Western Europe and the UK into Eastern Europe and Russia over the past few decades.
Terrorism has been rampant across Europe since as of late. According to the Global Terrorism Database, terrorism-related incidents are responsible for over 10,000 deaths in almost 19,000 reported attacks since 1970, and it has only been getting worse. Since 2004, there have been 2 months where over 300 people were killed (September of 2004 and July of 2014). The attacks that occurred in 2014 and 2015 resulted in the most carnage yet.
It will be interesting to see how the Kremlin respondes to these recent bombings. Will this cause Putin and the Russian Government to have an even harsher stance against radical Islamic terror? And how will it affect other countries and their plans to handle terrorism?
Terrorism in the 21st Century 
Mike,
The rise of terrorism shows a rise of fear by terrorist organizations against those they deem a threat against them. The statistics in your blog show that ISIS and groups like them believe that Russia is on of their closest and most dangerous foes in their fighting. With Russia’s increased attacks and bombings against them, the stakes have been raised and ISIS is responding (allegedly, supposedly, it is a strong belief) to the Russian charge against them. And while that shall continue, the insanity that occurs even now in Syria shows that we are on the precipice of war with a country that is fighting terrorism with extreme force, as they stand with a tyrannical government while we stand beside dangerous rebels. Maybe this is another reason for such targeted hatred against Russia, of all European nations, to be subjected by numerous terrorist attacks against their people because of their strength and their determination to stand by their alliances and beliefs. They are closer than us, more stubborn than us. Because of this, Russia must pay the price.
LikeLike
Thanks for highlighting Russia in this piece, Mike.
LikeLike