Chechen Rebels Lose Their Voice
The Kremlin has skillfully used the “Nord Ost” hostage-taking to discredit those who support Chechen independence in the eyes of Russians and the international community, but little has been done over the past year to address the underlining sources of terrorism that continue to spill over Chechnya’s borders into the rest of Russia, analysts said Thursday. The Dubrovka theater siege does appear to have prompted President Vladimir Putin to finally take steps — however controversial they might be — to bring some form of stability to Chechnya. “The political process had been planned all along, but Dubrovka expedited it,” said Igor Roshchin, senior researcher at the Oriental Studies Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Full Story