Analytical service station of radio "Liberty" has devoted a big article of its correspondent Liz Fuller about attack on the ringleader of Ingush apostates Yevkurov. The article in particular notes:
"Both the timing of the elimination attempt -- 5 years to the day after Ingush and Chechen rebels staged multiple attacks on the republic's Interior Ministry, elimination up to 80 policemen -- and the modus operandi suggest that it was the work of the North Caucasus Resistance.
In a video address in late April, resistance commander Dokka Umarov announced that the notorious Riyad-us-Saliheen Martyrs Brigade has been revived, and he warned that "this will be a year of offensives."
Federal Security Service (FSB) chief Aleksandr Bortnikov, who met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev after the attack, appeared to lay blame for the operation on Ingushetia and Chechnya rebels.
The resistance website Kavkaz Center reported the attack on Yevkurov two hours after it occurred, but neither Kavkaz Ñenter nor the Ingush resistance website has claimed responsibility for it.
The fresh attack appeared to cast doubt once again on the efficacy of Moscow's counterinsurgency strategy in the North Caucasus."
For his part, the Moscow based correspondent of London's "Daily Telegraph" newspaper Adrian Blomfield told readers about the Ingush Jamaat.
"Although it linked to the Chechen rebels and dominated by firm Muslim, the Ingush Jamaat has increasingly drawn one-time moderates into its ranks, according to a western diplomat who follows the region.
Freshly emboldened, and with its ranks swollen, the rebels could now drawn Russian security forces into a quagmire of the sort Mr Putin had convinced his people had ended many years ago."
The British correspondent has also asked some Russian patriots to comment on attack on Yevkurov:
"The Caucasus is not just smoking or smoldering, it is flaring up," said Alexander Prokhanov, a writer who follows the region.
"It is clear that in the past few months, Ingushetia has essentially fallen under the control of criminal and anti-government groups," said Viktor Baranets, a military analyst.
Correspondents of AP in Nazran Shamsudin Bokov and Vladimir Isachenkov asked Alexei Malashenko, a North Caucasus expert at the Carnegie Moscow Center, to share his opinion regarding the operation. Malashenko said:
"The attack demonstrated the federal government's inability to stem the spread of Islamic rebellion in the region. The Kremlin can't control anything in the Caucasus".
Moscow based correspondent of London newspaper "The Guardian" has also talked with Malashenko. Malashenko said the following to the readers of this newspaper:
"The Jihad continues. Earlier this month, the former vice-president of Ingushetia was killed. This morning, at 1am, one more policeman was eliminated. Two weeks ago, the head of the court system in Ingushetia was killed. It's a process.
Malashenko has especially emphasized that the attack on Yevkurov took place on the 5th anniversary of a famous large-scale raid on Nazran by Chechen and Ingush fighters.
The Mujahideen seized the town on the night of 21-22 July 2004 and systematically executed all those working in the punitive bodies - around 98 people.
Operation on June 22, 2009 - emphasizes that they can do anything on the same day," Malashenko added.
The Moscow based correspondent of American newspapers "Wall Street Journal" Alan Cullison addressed to Pavel Baev, a security expert with the Oslo-based International Peace Research Institute, and asked him to share his impressions on the attack on Yevkurov. Alan Cullison writes:
"Baev said that the attack on Yevkurov is a blow to Kremlin moderates advocating a measured approach to unrest in the Caucasus.
The attack, he said, was apparently timed to coincide with the five-year anniversary Monday of a daring rebel raid on the Ingush capital of Nazran, when Chechen and Ingush rebels briefly seized the city and killed nearly 100 police and FSB agents.
The purpose of the 2004 raid, like the attack Monday, was to demonstrate the fragility of Kremlin authority in the region."
"There have been other attacks on officials recently, but they have been soft targets, people who were not so well protected," said Mr. Baev. "This one was much more difficult to accomplish. They are showing that Kremlin authority is unstable and unreliable."
Department of Monitoring,
Kavkaz Center
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