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Islamic terror's renewed threat to Putin’s strongman image

Vladimir Putin’s reputation was built on fighting terrorism, yet a month after the deadly Crocus City Hall attack, his policies make Russia more exposed to it.

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Vladimir Putin's address to the Russian people following the Crocus City Hall attack on March 22, 2024. | Kremlin.ru | Credits CC by 4.0

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Vladimir Putin’s reputation was built on fighting terrorism, yet a month after the deadly Crocus City Hall attack, his policies make Russia more exposed to it.

Vladimir Putin relies on his identity as a man focused on Russia's security and in particular fighting terrorism to cement the legitimacy of his control over Russia.

For the former KGB operative, it is an easy role to play. However, with the failings of Russia's security apparatus in stopping the Crocus City Hall attack one month ago, the increasingly fertile ground for jihadi recruitment in Central Asia is a growing threat to Putin.

The question remains if he can use the same card to convince the conflict-weary Russian people and organisations like ISIS-K that he is not bluffing.

In September 1999, when he was deputy prime minister to Boris Yeltsin, Putin responded to a series of apartment building bombings that killed more than 300 people, with a famous pledge to the would-be terrorists:

"We will pursue them everywhere. If, pardon me, we catch them in the toilet, we'll rub them out right there."

A few months later Putin became president and has continued a determined fight against radical militants of all stripes to the present day.

The fight has not been easy and often relied on measures of dubious legality and excessive force. However, it has been successful, at least in quantitative terms.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s Islamic radicals based in Chechnya and neighbouring southern regions of the Russian Federation were responsible for the lion's share of terrorist incidents.

Between 2000 and 2018, the Cauc

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