After the terrorist attack in St. Petersburg metro in the beginning of the month it became clear that traces of lead in Kyrgyzstan. The explosion killed 16 people, including the alleged bomber. Akbarjon Jalilov was originally from the Kyrgyz city of Osh. Arrested ten people involved in the attack, six of them in St. Petersburg, four in Moscow.
And they are originally from Central Asia. Among the detained brothers Abror and Akram Asimov, which, according to investigators, are the organizers of the attack. And Jalilov, they are ethnic Uzbeks from Kyrgyzstan. Their paths crossed in Osh. All three of them received Russian citizenship, all three of them now he will lose Jalilov, of course, posthumously.
In the Russian media called the name of another man from Osh, who investigators believe a customer attack sirozhiddin Mukhtarov, nicknamed Abu Salah al Uzbeks. Kyrgyz authorities accuse him of the attack on the Chinese Embassy in Bishkek in August 2016. Previously, he worked in Russia, now leads a group of Uighur extremists in Syria and affiliated with “al-Nusra Front” (banned in Russia organization — approx. ed.).
IG (banned in Russia organization — approx. ed.) also boasts of attacks on Russian security forces.
Only now the responsibility for the attack in Saint-Petersburg took the terrorist organization: “the Battalion of Imam Shamil” announced through the news Agency ANI that Jalilov was the “knight” battalion, acted on the instructions of the head of “al-Qaeda” (banned in Russia organization — approx. ed.), Ayman al-Zawahiri and performed his “heroic operation,” at a time when St. Petersburg was Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to the statement, the attack — retaliation for the Russian violence against Muslim countries such as Syria and what is happening in the Russian North Caucasus Republic of Chechnya. This operation is “only the beginning”. According to ANI, “the Battalion of Imam Shamil” was established in Afghanistan soon after the beginning of the Russian operation in Syria in the fall of 2015.
Terrorist attacks in Russia recently boasted of not “al-Qaeda” and “Islamic state”, including the recent attacks on security forces in Chechnya and Astrakhan. As noted by the Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on defense and security Viktor Ozerov, it is surprising that “the Battalion of Imam Shamil” silent for so long. He stressed that without Russia’s interference in Syria, “it might be many more such attacks”. “A large number of terrorists” — “now no one can calculate” how many — there have been destroyed, many of them were Russian citizens and citizens of former Soviet republics.
Indeed, the official figures of Russians and people from Central Asia who are fighting in Syria and Iraq for the Islamic state or other groups vary greatly. So, the benchmark can be considered as numbers that have recently called Putin — 4 thousand Russians, 5 thousand immigrants from Central Asia. Even more difficult will be the situation in view of incoming information about the success of Russian operations. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in mid-March 2016, which is the result of Russian air strikes in Syria have been destroyed “over 2 thousand bandits” from Russia, including “17 warlords”.
The attack raises a number of questions
The attack in St. Petersburg raises a number of questions. So, Jalilov and brothers Asimov have spent a long time in Turkey and probably from there went to Syria, and did not notice when they return to Russia. FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov only recognized that the operational work of the security services in the context of the terrorist threat posed by the millions of migrant workers from Central Asia, is probably not sufficient.
It’s not just about language barriers and the level of trust with the partner services in Central Asia. What is the number of migrant workers is in Moscow, is unknown. They must obtain a work permit, however you can continue to enter Russia without a visa and security checks.
Timid debate about whether Russia to abolish visa-free regime with the CIS countries, including Central Asian countries, put an end to Vladimir Putin, announcing on 12 April that the “objective reasons” not to allow to stop the migration. The President stressed the benefits of integration in the Eurasian economic Union.
