This was the first editorial in the October 28 issue of the Sakhalin Times.

Sakhalin and Russia marked the second anniversary of the Dubrovka theatre siege. A group of 41 Chechens took 912 people hostage at the theatre in Moscow during a performance of the musical ‘Nord Ost’ on the evening of October 23, 2002. As we know the crisis came to an end in the early hours of October 26 when commandoes pumped in a knockout gas into the building and stormed it. While all hostage-takers were shot, most of the 130 victims died as a result of the gas. The world hailed President Putin for his stern action against the terrorists. Such a terrorist attack was unprecedented in Russia at the time.

As Russia looks back at that sad page in history, we need to think about how little has been done to address the threat of terrorism in Russia. Since the Dubrovka tragedy, Russia has witnessed one set of attacks after another other culminating in the Beslan tragedy last month. After every attack, the authorities have promised to step up security measures. Unfortunately stepped up security has resulted in nothing but harassment of innocent people. Do the police forces in some Russian cities actually believe that by checking documents of students from Ghana or Kenya, they are preventing terrorist attacks? Knowing that a 500 rouble bribe was enough for one Chechen ‘black widow’ to board a flight at Domodedovo airport, makes many of us break into a cold sweat.

As documented by the Russian media, trained terrorists (skinheads) have been attacking and killing foreigners at random in St Petersburg and Moscow. These terrorists seem to be operating with the backing of the authorities. It’s difficult to imagine that a typical Moscow cop who can spot a foreigner from miles away wouldn’t notice the movement of a group of large bald drunken thugs. These terrorists have spread their network all the way from Archangelsk to Vladivostok. It might just be a matter of time before this ideology is imported into Sakhalin.

Like one of our columnists wrote last week, routine attacks and murders go unnoticed when the victims are Russians. However, any form of vicious attack or murder should be classified as terrorism. Clampdowns on democracy and restrictions on people’s movements aren’t the answer to solving Russia’s terrorism menace.

The police in any Russian cities including Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk have a perfect network of informers and have the power to prevent many violent attacks from taking place. Unfortunately police negligence or even apathy has led to several terrorist attacks in Russia. The future of fighting terrorism in Russia lies in proper police reform. We’re not suggesting the disbanding of the police force and a new system. Instead what Russia needs is to morally educate the police as well as provide them with better pay. They definitely need better financial incentives to serve and honour the people. Politicians and leaders need to take a stand and convince the police that their priority doesn’t lie in checking documents, but protecting the person on the street. If the people have more confidence in the police a united effort can be made to defeat terrorism in Russia.