Deadly Attacks on Synagogue and Churches in Russia

We begin in the Russian Republic of Dagestan, where security forces have killed the gunmen responsible for an attack on synagogues, churches, and police officers, which has left at least 17 people dead. The instance took place in two cities in the region during the Orthodox Festival of Pentecost, as well as a police vehicle in a nearby village. Most of the victims were police, but also included a priest. Religious buildings were also set a blaze. Six of the attackers are reported to have been killed in what’s thought to be an Islamist attack. The governor of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov said they were trying to understand the motive behind the attack.

Of course, we understand who is behind the organization of this terrorist attacks. We understand what the organizers were trying to achieve. Subsequent operational search and investigative measures will be carried out until all participants in this sleeper cells are identified. And of course, they had been preparing for this, including from abroad. The situation is now under the control of the government authorities and law enforcement agencies.

Earlier Matthew Schmidt, an associate professor of National Security and Political Science at the University of New Haven, told us who he thinks might be responsible for the attack.

This is a region that has had extremist groups in it for quite some time. The most powerful one in this area has been something called the Caucuses Emirate. Its leaders have been successively killed by Russian security forces so it’s very unclear how much of that group exists and who they are with. But some portions of that group we know have pledged themselves to ISIS, but we don’t know if it was ISIS-K. But when you put all that together, that’s got to be the first place that everybody is looking and will have to wait and see. You’re going to see a show of force, you’ve already seen it. So they’ve declared an anti-terrorist operation, and that basically means that the police can stop. You can search, you can arrest, you can do whatever they want to do, as long as they claim that they’re seeking suspects here.

(02:05)
So you’re going to see quite a bit of a crackdown right now. I think that his concern is that something might happen in Moscow or Saint Petersburg. His concern is going to be to wrap up the network that was obviously behind an attack of this sophistication and this size in Dagestan, and make sure that this doesn’t happen in his own backyard. If he has a crocus city too, that’s what he’s really worried about. That’s where he’s concerned that ordinary Russians out there are going to start getting nervous that his government can’t do the basic thing it’s supposed to do, which is protect them.