CoD: Day of Terrorism Threat

On January 16 the National Anti-Terrorist Committee warned that Russia is under the threat of a possible terrorist attack on public transportation. Officials announced broad, unprecedented security measures in Moscow and around the country on Wednesday. Security remained high in Moscow and other big cities on Thursday, even though a nationwide security alert had been called off after one day.

Police with sniffer dogs could be seen guarding Moscow metro stations. Mobile phone service have been shut off in the metro all day Wednesday as a security provision, and was restored on Thursday. Mayor Yury Luzhkov also ordered the police presence boosted on streets and near electricity, water-supply and gas-distribution facilities.

The unusual efforts taken to inform the public of the possible security threat resulted in 72 reports from citizens of suspicious activities and items left in public places on Wednesday, almost four times more than on regular days, a Moscow police said.

When they say 'national security', I would reach for the Code of Human Rights. 'Security' has become a very nice reason to deprive people of some of their freedoms, whether in Russia, the US, the UK, or anywhere else in the world. Restriction of movement, restriction of communication, interventions into private life... Unprecedent security measures in airports led one of my friends to suggest we will all soon fly naked in transparent overalls, just for the sake of being 'secure'.

Publically reported violence is convinient because people don't trust each other anymore. And as communal links are broken, and level of trust towards stranges falls, people become more dependent on their government - for the provision of security, for the provision of information, for resolution of their fears.

There must be some good measure to security measures - but there is none. Measures become more and more tense. In Russia, they are surprisingly unbalanced with the demand of situation: e.g. after the tragedy in Beslan, President Putin decided to remove election of governors Russia-wide, as if it has anything to do with terrorist attacks. In the same manner, in 2008, for the sake of national security, President elections can be cancelled, keeping Putin in his place as long as security concerns demand.

The main problem is that, despite all the efforts, Russia has not become a more secure place, and Moscow a safer city. People know that terrorists will have no significant problem infiltrating any big city, getting near any large infrastructural site. People know that freedom of movement, freedom of communication, freedom of anything can be bought - and those who arrange terrorist attacks will have money to buy that. Finally, from contacts between authorities and radical North Caucasian leaders (typical organizers of such attacks) people can guess that some attacks can be run in the interest of authorities, or be blessed by authorities, or be used by authorities as an excuse for their actions.

So what was going on in Russia? Was there a real threat that was heroically prevented? Was it a nation-wide security excercise? Was it an excercise of the state of emergency that could be introduced by present authorities if 'something goes wrong' during the upcoming elections? The question remains open.