in the aftermath of March’s suicide bombings in the Moscow metro, Kremlin-faithful politicians seem to have decided that the best defense is to go on the attack. Instead of questioning why security forces failed to prevent the explosions, leading to the murder of dozens of innocent people, many politicians reacted by blaming dissenting voices, journalists, and even YouTube.
The United Russia party once again took top honors for the most extreme remarks. “Attempts to ‘shake up’ the political situation, the exacerbation of negative trends in society, is what, in the end, leads to such tragic events,” said United Russia deputy Irina Yarovaya. “With their actions, the terrorists have shown the value of these negative forces permeating our country’s political space.”
Boris Yakemenko, a leader of the pro-Kremlin Nashi movement, all but equated the “opposition” (which he said includes everything from drug addicts to ‘protectors of human rights’ to fascists, and which “greets Russia’s every stumble with vengeful glee”) with the terrorists. “If it’s not the terrorist underground,” Yakemenko wrote on his blog, “then it’s these organizers of protests, anti-police campaigns and other ‘oppositionists’ who can take credit for the 20+ innocent victims. It’s their first success.”
Meanwhile, some of Russia’s most respected publications argued that society got the short end of the stick when freedoms were exchanged for increased security (e.g. with President Vladimir Putin’s decision after the Beslan massacre to appoint governors instead of holding regional elections), since the security services are not delivering on their part of the bargain. Security analyst Alexei Soldatov wrote that the security services have focused on siege operations rather than intelligence gathering, which shows that the government is not willing to bargain with the terrorists, yet little has been accomplished to prevent attacks.
The ruling party did not take the criticism constructively. United Russia leader Boris Gryzlov stated that the newspapers Vedomosti and Moskovsky Komsomolets and the terrorists “are all part of the same circle. One suspects that these publications and the actions of the terrorists are connected.” A Just Russia party leader Sergei Mironov chimed in that “Some publications have played into the terrorists’ hands by convincing our citizens that our security services are ineffective.”
As if that were not enough, United Russia deputy Robert Schlegel proposed amending legislation regulating the media in order to punish publications that report terrorists’ demands or speeches. “News about fighters (boyeviki) should only report on their elimination,” Schlegel said. He also lashed out at YouTube and Google for allowing terror boss Doku Umarov to upload a video in which he claimed responsibility for the attacks and promised more to come. “If Google doesn’t support the terrorists, they should take the video down,” Schlegel said.
Schlegel is known for introducing new laws to limit press freedoms by way of testing the political waters. And while it is not clear how far Schlegel is willing to go, it is not the first time the press has been blamed when things got out of control. Previous amendments limiting journalists’ coverage of terrorism were passed after NTV’s particularly pervasive coverage of the Nord-Ost hostage crisis.
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