PERSPECTIVES ON TERRORISM Volume III, Issue 1 3 April 2009 Russia’s Counterterrorism Policy: Variations on an Imperial Theme By Mariya Y. Omelicheva For over a decade, Russia has struggled with persistent domestic insurgency and terrorism. The country has experienced a multitude of terrorist and militant attacks, and the turn of the century was marked by a series of high-profile terrorist incidents involving a large number of civilian casualties. In response to this threat, Russian authorities adopted extensive coun- terterrorism legislation, established and modified institutions responsible for combating ter- rorism, and streamlined the leadership and conduct of counterterrorist operations. According to recent statements by the present Kremlin administration, the terrorist problem in Russia has finally receded, and the war on separatism had been definitively won. Yet, the daily re- ports on the shoot-outs and clashes between insurgents and Russia’s security forces cast seri- ous doubts on these official claims. Despite the signs of a slow normalization of life in Chechnya, the security situation remains tense there, and terrorist incidents and guerilla at- tacks have spread into the broader Southern region previously unaffected by terrorism. Much ink has been spilled criticizing deficiencies of Russia’s forceful, excessive, and poorly-coordinated responses. The state has been blamed for the lack of a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy encompassing socio-economic approaches and an effective system of prevention and protection from terrorism. Yet, judging the Russian campaign’s excesses and failures does not improve our general understanding of why it has always favored the tactic of force and suppression as the most appropriate methods of fighting terrorism. Stress- ing the futility of a short-term reactive approach does not explain Russia’s choice of the mili- tary approach over the long-term socio-economic solutions for resolving complex security concerns. It is my conviction that many aspects of Russia’s counterterrorism policy can be explained from the position of Russia’s imperial tradition. The latter had considerable impact on the policies and security measures adopted by the Tsarist and Soviet regimes. Rekindled recently by the fear of disintegration and reduced international standing, it has been shaping security policies and perceptions of the modern Russian state. In the essay that follows, I briefly de- lineate the contours of Russia’s contemporary counterterrorism policy and demonstrate the continuity of Russian counterterrorism from pre-Soviet and Soviet, to post-Soviet regimes. Next, I define and demonstrate the endurance of the imperial tradition throughout the Tsarist, Soviet, and modern epochs, and apply the “imperial lens” for the analysis and interpretation of Russia’s measures aimed at combating terrorism. A Brief on Russia’s Counterterrorism Policy In the context of Russia, terrorism has been tightly associated with activities of Islamic mili- tants in Chechnya and the broader North Caucasus region. The latter has been an area with the highest concentration of terrorist attacks, and Chechen guerilla fighters have been impli- cated in the vast majority of hostage-taking incidents and terrorist crimes in Russia. The de- velopment of Russia’s counterterrorism legislation and institutional framework has trailed the government’s experiences with fighting the Chechen resistance and coping with the