If one of those stations hit was the one underneath Lubyanka Prison (home of the former KGB and its modern successor, FSB), then yes, I have been there... it is very near the Kremlin itself, and a "spoke" of the hub that circles Moscow city center and the Kremlin.
I don't have an answer to what Putin or Medvedev should do. The separatists are a thorn, no question, but repressive strikes and occupations aren't a good response to these kinds of insurgent-terror movements. Allowing the local and regional authorities as much autonomy and latitude as they can to root out and destroy these cells seems like a good start, while those elements working outside of the region (in Moscow, for example) can be dealt with in the most extreme and expedient manner available.
Russians aren't backwater peasants. Given enough information about the nature of the situation, I think anyone there would rapidly come to see the injustice and inhumanity of such violence and how it is counter-productive to the goals of the separatists. Hopefully, this will cause the support and sympathy that the local populations in Chechnya and southern Russia to dry up, much as it did during the surge in Baghdad and Fallugah. Insurgencies don't work without support... and if the Chechyns feel "represented" by the Russian authorities, then the support for the radicals and terrorists dries up, at least on a local level.
Monday, March 29, 2010
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