Russia’s war on terrorism is essentially a civil war.
…An Unquestioned Strategy in Russia – Dagestan: After the metro bombings, massive ground operations were carried out in select Dagestani villages. Details are sketchy, but the local authorities are said to have used overwhelming force. Journalist Yulia Yuzik was there and said police simply blew up a house with two wanted men inside instead of apprehending them.
The Kremlin’s brute counterterrorism tactics are rooted largely in the fact that there is little free press or political opposition to hold it accountable for the deaths of civilians.…
Each terrorist attack, in fact, has been used as a pretext for even more Kremlin control. The Beslan crisis, for example, was blamed on local authorities, and since then there have been no regional elections; all governors are now loyal Kremlin appointees. Two months after the March 29 attacks, the parliament approved a broad expansion of Russia’s counterintelligence services, giving them the right to deliver warnings to people who haven’t committed a crime but are viewed as potential criminals or terrorists.