Residents of Chechnya fear that terror acts in Moscow may raise Caucasian-phobia in Russia

The morning explosions on March 29 in Moscow metro, where dozens were killed or injured, may provoke another outbreak of anti-Caucasian moods in the Russian society and lead to persecutions of Caucasian natives in Moscow and other major Russian cities. Many residents of Chechnya think so. A number of local experts believe that the explosions in Moscow metro could be backed both by militants and "certain forces in Russia."

The yesterday's tragedy in Moscow metro, when as a result of two explosions committed under the version of the investigation by two women-suicide-bombers 39 persons were lost and about 70 injured drove Chechnya into shock. People, whose relatives are in Moscow, are seriously afraid that they may be exposed to nationality-motivated persecutions and recollect, in this context, the 11-year-old events in the Russian capital.

Sovman Magomadova, a resident of Grozny, notes that in 1999, after two houses were blown up in Moscow, Chechens were literally hunted down. "They were detained in streets, their apartments were searched; in many cases arms and drugs were planted, and then Chechens were tried and convicted. I'm very much afraid that it may all repeat now, but it will touch not only on Chechens but other Caucasians," said the woman.

Another local resident - Zhalavdi Beksultanov - shares her fears. "Hardly these two terror acts were committed in Moscow, inspectors immediately found the 'Caucasian trace' in them. They announced Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and Chechnya as possible places, from where the terrorists came to Moscow. In such multinational state like Russia, it's extremely harmful and dangerous to speak about terrorists' nationalities, but for some reason Russian authorities and mass media are constantly emphasizing it," said the source of the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

As said in the statement of the working group of the Public Chamber of Russia, the goals of the initiators of these terror acts are obvious: "to sow hatred and mistrust among citizens of the Russian Federation of different nationalities and different faiths; to destroy in the bud the fragile undertakings on development of the civil society and peaceful dialogue in the Caucasus."

In the meantime, President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov has called not to link the terror acts committed in Moscow with certain Russian regions. "Terrorists are neither North-Caucasian nor Moscow-based. They have no nationality, no region, and no religion. All Russian regions have suffered from terrorists," Mr Kadyrov said on March 29.

"The Chechen people know better than anyone what terrorism is. We've lost our relatives, friends and comrades in the war on terror. We condole to casualties' relatives and are firmly confident that terrorists should be liquidated wherever they are found," Mr Kadyrov has emphasized.

Nurdi Nukhazhiev, Chechen Ombudsman, finds it inadmissible to link terror acts with certain nations and religions. "The war on terror should be run within the bounds of the law and should not be accompanied by violations of constitutional rights of citizens of the Russian Federation," he has noted.

A number of local experts believe that the Moscow metro explosions can be backed not by militants, but by certain forces in Russia; and that consequences of these two terror acts may be in further deterioration of situation with human rights in Russia.

"Blasphemously as it may sound, all most resonant terror acts in Russia, for some reason, happen right when it's most beneficial for the authorities. In 1999, when Yeltsin needed to find a successor, houses in Moscow and Volgodonsk were blown up; in 2002, when Russia was demanded to start negotiations with the authorities of Ichkeria, the "Nord-Ost" happened; in 2004, the Beslan tragedy burst out, and after that Putin cancelled governors' elections and practically introduced censorship in the country. That is, it turns out that every terror act strengthens the Kremlin regime," said one of local observers who preferred to remain anonymous.

The source could not exclude that the latest terror acts in Moscow would be again used by the authorities for solving their problems. "Protest moods scale up in Russia. People are dissatisfied with the policy pursued by the government and actually leading to further impoverishment of the population and enrichment of a narrow group of persons. And in this situation, the yesterday's terror acts are a nice fit again for diverting people's attention to other problems," the expert is convinced.

In the opinion of his colleague, who is heading a local NGO, the terror acts in Moscow metro have also revealed complete inconsistency of the statements made Russian and local authorities that the armed underground in Northern Caucasus has been practically liquidated.

At the same time he does not exclude that Caucasian militants' leaders can stand behind the terror acts in Moscow. "Two years ago Dokku Umarov announced restoration of Basaev's brigade of suicide-bombers 'Riyadus Salikhiin" (Holy Men's Gardens)," he reminds. "Then, the statement was questioned, but last year our republic saw a whole series of terror acts committed by suicide-bombers. Several weeks ago Umarov promised to spread his war to the territory of the whole of Russia; and yesterday in Moscow metro two women-suicide-bombers blew themselves up. It's quite probable that Umarov has launched materialization of his threats."