by Nina Achmatova

Prime Minister Putin concerned about the possible rise of radical groups that would affect the North Caucasus. Terrorism has begun to target tourists . Expert: "Attack at Domodedovo most alarming”.

 Moscow (AsiaNews) - Russia fears the disorder and violence in North Africa could spread to the northern Caucasus and a series of recent attacks in the Russian Muslim majority region, renews these fears. In less than a week, the President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have spoken on the subject. Yesterday, in Brussels, Putin admitted: "Despite the reassuring claim according to which it is unlikely that radical groups will take power or increase their influence in North African countries, we are concerned." "If that happens - he added - it will have inevitable repercussions in other regions of the world, including some of the North Caucasus."

Since the beginning of the wave of protests in the Arab world, is the first time that Russia has openly declared its fears of a "knock-on effect" in the troubled Caucasus region, where Islamic extremism is intermingled with separatist movements. Medvedev, in fact, only two days earlier, had warned that the arrival of "fanatics" in power in the Middle East would lead to the disintegration of some states in the region into "small pieces", an "explosive situation that go go on for decades" and " direct influence "on Russia, where extremists will attempt to export the North African scenario. "But it won’t work with us" assured the head of the Kremlin.

Since the riots erupted in the Arab world, Russia has sparked a debate on the possibility of a contagion effect, also facilitated by the increasing penetration of Internet in the country. Former Deputy Prime Minister and current opponent, Boris Nemtsov, speaking at a demonstration, even likened Putin to Mubarak called for people to follow their "Tunisian and Egyptian brothers." But for most analysts it is a scenario to be excluded, at least in the short term, despite some similarities in autocratic government. The Arab world is a volcano of youthful discontent, Russia is a country with few young people, the Orthodox Church is close to the government and there is a strong socio-political apathy: protests, often repressed by the police, never count more than a few hundred people.

In the North Caucasus, attacks on tourists Beyond any eventual popular uprisings what most concerns the leaders of the Federation is the turn that Caucasian-style terrorism is taking. No longer just attacks on police, security forces or civilian targets, but at the heart of Russian policies for the region's development: tourism.

After the massacre at Moscow Domodedovo International Airport, there were two more episodes of in appearance lesser severity, both in Kabardino-Balkaria, North Caucasus. On February 18, three tourists were killed in Moscow Elbrus, a place that is being promoted as a resort centre. Shortly before, however, an explosion had blown up a ski lift in the same area. In the Caucasian republic a manhunt is now underway and Russian forces say they have already found the hideout of the group that organized the attack. But according to Alexei Malashenko, one of the most renowned Russian Islamists and expert at the Carnegie Centre in Moscow, "now the situation in the region is out of control, the time for serious talks with the forces at work has passed, and there seems to be no way out or solution at the moment". "The attacks in Kabardino-Balkaria - he explains - are more worrying than the one at Domodedovo: they confirm that the government is unable to resolve the situation and can not foresee the potential effects of this throughout the country." "The terrorists have slapped Putin and Medvedev in the face, who insist on skiing in the mountains near Sochi in an effort to promote the location for the 2014 Winter Olympics and tourism in general and in particular have made it clear that they have a specific strategy: few attacks, but very sensitive and significant targets. So not only undermine events such as Sochi, but the principle itself”. 

• Russia
• Caucasus
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• Islam
• religious
• freedom
• extremist
• Islamic
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