Will the Moscow Attacks Help Putin?
By THE EDITORS
Denis Sinyakov/Reuters Near the Park Kultury metro station in Moscow after the rush hour bombing on Monday. View slide show.“The terrorists will be destroyed,” Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of Russia vowed on Monday, after two female suicide bombers set off blasts that killed dozens in two Moscow subway stations at rush hour.
It had been six years since the last suicide bombers hit the city’s metro, and suspicion fell on pro-Chechen militants, who carried out the previous explosions.
As president and prime minister, Mr. Putin has been credited with reducing the terrorist violence in recent years after a consolidation of power from 2004 onward. Does this attack call into question the effectiveness of the government’s approach, or will it allow Mr. Putin to exert a stronger hand? What are the factors now at play?
- James Collins, former U.S. ambassador to Russia
- Paul A. Goble, Window on Eurasia
- Mark N. Katz, professor of government, George Mason University
- Kathryn Stoner-Weiss, research scholar, Stanford University
- Andrew C. Kuchins, Center for Strategic and International Studies
- David Satter, Hudson Institute
