Disrupting Escalation Of Terror In Russia To Prevent - Belfer Center ...

The preparedness on the part of the Russian public to trade freedoms and liberties for
security is rooted not only in the traumatizing experience of past terrorist attacks such as Beslan,
but also in their growing concern that the threat of nuclear terrorism is becoming increasingly
real and imminent
The authors of this report believe that the repressive laws and practices presented by
authorities as the price that the public has to pay in the war on terror can bring only limited short-
term gains in this war, while producing a lasting detrimental effect on freedoms and civil
liberties in Russia. Moreover, given the fact that Russia is in a state of transition, the intended
and unintended effects of the authorities’ anti-terror policies in the researched period, and
beyond, could determine the course of Russia’s political development.
Being fully aware of the limited range of research, the authors can nonetheless discern
from studying the trade-offs between liberties and security in Russia that Russian policy-makers’
formula of suppressing liberties for the sake of enhancing security is flawed. The absence of
stringent official and public oversight allows law enforcement agencies to put in play illicit
excessive violence, which not only fails to diminish the existing terrorist threat, but also
radicalizes those groups and individuals who might have otherwise limited themselves to non-
violent means.
Even in a veritable police state like Chechnya, terrorism persists after a four-year “anti-
terrorist campaign” that has involved a suspension of basic freedoms and an expansion of the law
enforcement’s powers. Such an approach can put a check on terrorism in the region in the short
to medium term, but cannot provide a long-term solution. Down the road, such heavy handed
methods of suppression could backfire because they generate more resentment and radicalize a
greater number of people, making it increasingly difficult to do battle with radicalism.
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