The image of the terrorist threat in the official Russian press: the Moscow theatre crisis (2002) and the Beslan hostage crisis (2004)

Abstract

This article explores the evolution of the official Russian discourse on Chechnya during two major recent terrorist acts: the Dubrovka Theatre crisis in Moscow (2002), and the Beslan school siege (2004). By tracing the changes in the official image of the ‘threat’, this article challenges the assumption that this discourse has remained constant in the last few years. Instead, it characterises the dynamic of change at times of terrorist acts and beyond as an ongoing attempt by Russian officials to remove the Chechen issue from the political agenda, which precludes a real dialogue about or solution to the ongoing Chechen crisis.

Notes

Although Rossiiskaya gazeta is the official newspaper of the Russian government, it remains a part of the free press and may deviate from the official line; therefore I indicate whether an opinion is expressed by a commentator from Rossiiskaya gazeta or by a Russian official.

Personal interview with Alexander Verkhovsky, head of the SOVA-Center, 27 April 2007.

For a more extensive coverage for the two terrorist attacks see Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: for the Moscow Theatre Crisis 2002 see: http://www.rferl.org/specials/beslan-anniversary/Default.aspx; for the Beslan School Crisis 2004 see: http://www.rferl.org/features/2002/10/29102002152016.asp, accessed 12 March 2007.

In August 2003, terrorists hijacked and exploded two planes from Domodedovo Airport, and a suicide bomber blew herself up outside a Moscow Metro station.

It should be noted that many of the children involved in the production of Nord-Ost died as a result of the gas used to end the siege. However, this was not the prevalent image in the government discourse about the siege.

For more details about the exact demands, see reports from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. For the terrorist demands during the Dubrovka siege see: http://www.rferl.org/features/2002/10/24102002072459.asp, 24 October 2002; for the demands during the Beslan siege see: http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2004/9/7898E9D4-9756-4010-B2A0-7EA30380EDBE.html, 3 September 2004, accessed 13 April 2007.

Vremya MN, 25 October 2002.

Memorial and Demos January 2006, ‘“Counterterrorism Operation” by the Russian Federation in the Northern Caucasus throughout 1999 – 2006’, Memorial, available at: http://www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/N-Caucas/dkeng.htm, accessed 14 April 2007.

Lord Judd was a rapporteur on Chechnya for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe during the Dubrovka and Beslan terrorist attacks.

Novaya gazeta, 28 October 2002.

‘Nalchik Leaves a Painful Legacy’, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 12 October 2006, available at: http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/10/2478A0B5-1E24-4879-BFAB-2D99B2671126.html, accessed 14 April 2007.

‘Heavy Fighting is Reported in Russia's Southern Stavropol Krai’, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 10 February 2006, available at: http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/02/E14B9F7C-E094-4B9C-9403-AC68CB502BD6.html, accessed 14 April 2007.

Vladimir Putin, ‘Address to the Nation’, 4 September 2004, available at: http://president.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2004/09/04/1958_type82912_76332.shtml, accessed 16 June 2005.

Vladimir Putin, ‘Vystuplenie na vstreche c predstavitelyami chechenskoi obshchestvenosti’, 10 November 2002, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/text/appears/2002/11/29549.shtml, accessed 22 June 2005.

Vladimir Putin, ‘Address to Leaders of Parliamentary Groups of the State Duma’, 25 October 2002, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/appears/2002/10/25/2042_type63374type63376type63378_29530.shtml, accessed 21 June 2005.

Vladimir Putin, ‘Po vertikali’ (Speech at the Enlarged Government meeting with the Government and Heads of the Regions), 13 September 2004, reported in Rossiiskaya gazeta, 14 September 2004.

See footnote 14.

See footnote 14.

In June 1995 Chechen insurgents took hundreds of hostages in a small town of Budennovsk in southern Russia. Over 100 people died during the rescue operation. A similar incident took place six months later in Dagestani city of Kizlyar in January 1996. This time, Chechen rebels under the command of Salman Raduyev took 3,000 people hostage in a local hospital.

Vremya Novostei, 28 October 2002.

See footnote 14.

The Washington Post, 8 September 2004.

For more information see the reporting of these clashes on BBC website, 13 October 2005, available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4337100.stm.

For a longer discussion of the changing situation on the ground in Chechnya and the North Caucasus, see Memorial Center (2007).

For a discussion of the ongoing problems in Chechnya, see the report by the Demos Center, ‘Situatsiya v Chechenskoi respubliki’, No. 16, January 2007 and No. 17, February 2007; see also Lokshina (2007).