Prevention of Terrorist Crimes in the North Caucasus Region

Abstract

The relevance of the topic is dictated by the fact that in recent decades, the threat to international security emanating from terrorism has increased many times. Terrorist organizations have become full-fledged subjects of politics on a par with political parties. In addition, enormous power and resources are concentrated in the hands of terrorist groups. Terrorist activity has become the usual way of leading a political struggle, expressing social protest. In addition, terrorism has become a tool in economic competition. Each terrorist action entails more and more human casualties. It breeds instability, fear, hatred, and distrust in society. The authors pay special attention to counter-terrorism activities in the North Caucasus Region.

Full text

PREVENTION OF TERRORIST CRIMES IN THE NORTH CAUCASUS REGION
Ivan Kucherkov,
Associate Professor, Russian University of Transport,
Moscow, Russia
Mattia Masolletti,
Associate Professor, NUST University
Rome, Italy
Abstract
The relevance of the topic is dictated by the fact that in recent decades, the threat to
international security emanating from terrorism has increased many times. Terrorist
organizations have become full-fledged subjects of politics on a par with political parties. In
addition, enormous power and resources are concentrated in the hands of terrorist groups.
Terrorist activity has become the usual way of leading a political struggle, expressing social
protest. In addition, terrorism has become a tool in economic competition. Each terrorist action
entails more and more human casualties. It breeds instability, fear, hatred, and distrust in society.
The authors pay special attention to counter-terrorism activities in the North Caucasus Region.
Key words: terrorism, prevention, North Caucasus, counter-terrorism.
JEL codes: K-14.
1. Introduction
Currently, the actions of extremist and terrorist organizations constitute one of the most
likely and actual threats to security in the modern world. For instance, in the National Security
Strategy of the Russian Federation till 2020, terrorist activities are recognized as one of the most
serious threats to the national security of a country. In the second part of this document, which is
devoted to the security of the state and society, Article 37 lists the main sources of threats to
Russia. ‘The main sources of threats to national security in the sphere of state and public security
are: ... activities of terrorist organizations, groups and individuals aimed at forcibly changing the
foundations of the constitutional system of the Russian Federation, disrupting the normal
functioning of state bodies (including violent actions against state, political and public figures),
the destruction of military and industrial facilities, enterprises and institutions, ensuring the

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functioning of society, intimidation of the population, including through the use of nuclear and
chemical weapons or dangerous radioactive, chemical and biological substances ....’ [1].
2. Main part
Terrorism today has become an integral companion of our lives, causing worldwide fear,
insecurity in the future and a huge political and economic damage. However, the phenomenon of
world scale and the global threat of modernity, terrorism can be called only from the beginning
of the 90s XX century, when he went beyond the local phenomena and became international. Let
us turn to statistical data: while in 1980, 500 were recorded in all countries of the world, by 2006
there were 14,338 acts of terrorism. As we see, terrorism is now time is transnational.
Fig. 1. Russia and Eurasia Global Terrorism Index score, rank and change in the period of 2002-2018
Source: Global Terrorism Index, 2002-2018.
Many scientifically based predictions about the development of mankind in the next few
decades are already being made, and many scientists point out that the main sources of
international terrorism will be countries with insufficiently strong government, ethnic, cultural or
religious friction, weak economies and poorly guarded borders. At the same time, the threat of

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using new high-speed transmission of information and other technological advances to unite the
illegal activities of transnational terrorist networks, and the assumption made by Russian experts
Ursul and Romanovich that international terrorism is capable of provoking a war of civilizations
with its disastrous consequences is quite reasonable, especially considering the modern realities
of terrorism [2].
Terrorism is a programmatically implemented sequence of violent destructive actions to
achieve certain political and other goals, aimed at destabilizing and intimidating society [8-13].
There are various definitions of this phenomenon, but they all prove that terrorism, first
of all, is intimidation, instilling fear, creating an atmosphere of horror to achieve any goals, in
particular, making certain decisions by a third party, although. In some cases, the requirements
are not formulated and even a demonstration of oneself, one's strength and capabilities can take
place, and thus deterrence is achieved.
The act of terrorism of an international character could be understood as:
1. violent acts in the form of an attempt or commission of an attack, seizure, abduction,
bodily harm, murder or actions that pose a threat to officials and their families in the field
of political, economic, technical, commercial and cultural relations between subjects of
international law;
2. the seizure, damage and destruction of property necessary for the implementation of
political, economic, technical, commercial and cultural relations between states, as well
as means, equipment and facilities for air, water, rail and road transport, if these actions
were characterized by the presence of an international element.
Professor Zhdanov emphasizes that an international element means the commission of a
terrorist act [3]:
1. on the territory of one or several states or on a territory not falling under the jurisdiction
of any state;
2. a foreign citizen or nationals or the complicity of a foreign citizen or national takes place;
3. in relation to a foreign citizen or property of a foreign natural, legal person or state.
Based on the above material, it can be concluded that international terrorism is the
organization and implementation of deliberate, unlawful violent acts (actions) or the threat of
their use, carried out with the aim of violating international security, intimidating the population
or influencing government decisions that satisfy interests of terrorists.
The main object of international terrorist acts is public (international) security.
According to Zhdanov [3], it is advisable to divide all the objects of terrorist actions into
primary and secondary. Primary objects include individual individuals, groups of individuals, or

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material objects. To the secondary should include the objects of management, which can be
called as social relations in general.
The main objects of international terrorism are:
1. individual individuals, groups of persons or material objects;
2. individual states, unions and associations of states;
3. international organizations;
4. the world community as a whole.
The main subjects of international terrorism are:
1. non-state terrorist structures, as a rule, extremist international movements of the left and
right orientation, nationalist or religious-political sense;
2. organized criminal associations engaged in illegal foreign trade activities, such as drug
trafficking, international criminal mercenaries;
3. individuals or groups of individuals acting independently or according to state
instructions;
4. state officials, as well as state structures of various countries, carrying out secret or
obvious terrorist actions against other states or against citizens of another state, as well as
supporting terrorist groups whose activities are aimed at opposing those or other political
or economic systems.
It should be noted that international terrorism occurs when [4]:
1. a terrorist and persons suffering from a terrorist act are citizens of the same state or of
different states, but the crime is committed outside these states;
2. a terrorist act directed against internationally protected persons;
3. preparation for a terrorist act is conducted in one state, and carried out in another;
4. having committed a terrorist act in one state, a terrorist takes refuge in another, and the
question arises of his extradition (extradition).
Thus, the goal of individual terrorist acts can be provocation of international conflicts,
violent change or undermining the socio-political system of sovereign states, destabilization and
overthrow of their legitimate governments, violent opposition to peoples' self-determination,
establishing more favorable conditions for national and transnational corporations by eliminating
economic competitors.
Terrorists act systematically: at the beginning of a terrorist action, the purpose of which is
to intimidate the population, and then comes the stage of manipulating the consciousness and
behavior of people to realize their selfish goals.

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In a broad sense, terrorism is a combination of extremist ideology, a set of organizational
structures and special practices for carrying out actions that destabilize public order.
The extremist ideology underlying international terrorism sets the following objectives:
1. drawing attention to the problems of a large social group or social stratum of other states and
peoples and the world community as a whole, unsatisfied with their position;
2. to force the authorities of individual countries or a union of states to take into account the
interests of terrorists;
3. in order to develop the activities of international terrorist organizations against the
authorities both at the national and international level, to strengthen and expand their ranks,
it becomes necessary, with the help of ideology, to win over a large number of active
supporters;
4. an attempt to justify their terrorist actions by the rest of the world community.
It is necessary to understand that the globalization process has expanded the so-called
working space for terrorists: obtaining open access to new transport, information and
communication and other resources has ensured the commission of terrorist acts on any continent
or territory.
The transformation of the problem of international terrorism into one of the most acute
global problems of our time is due to the following reasons:
- first, the goals of international terrorists and transnational organized crime coincide - the
elimination of the existing mechanisms for the functioning of the world system and the
construction of a new world order based on violence and fear;
- secondly, classical terrorist groups, realizing that during the acceleration of the
globalization processes they will not be able to quickly adapt to the new realities of international
relations, they join a more organized, highly professional transnational terrorist network with its
own infrastructure, logistics and sources of financing;
- thirdly, international terrorism applies radical religious and political concepts as its
ideological ‘feed’ and method of recruiting new militants; in addition, terrorists use religious
tenets to justify their actions and sacrifice the meaning of the terrorist acts committed by them;
- finally, in modern conditions the so-called border between state and international
terrorism has been almost completely eliminated.
The phenomena of international terrorism and extremism are closely interrelated. Both
international terrorism and extremism are characterized by a commitment to extreme views and
measures. It should also be noted that terrorism itself is most often the ultimate form of
extremism.

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The interrelation and mutual influence of international terrorism and extremism, in our
opinion, are manifested in the following:
1) The territories where extremism develops become a fruitful ground and a springboard
for the development of international terrorism;
2) Both international terrorism and extremism are phenomena that are used as ‘political
weapons’ by various countries to realize their geopolitical and other interests;
3) International terrorism feeds the forces of extremists in certain regions through
financial investments and the creation of a network for the training of professional fighters;
4) Both international terrorism and extremism are based on such motivational
characteristics as ethnicity and religiosity. Interethnic and interfaith contradictions help the
development of both extremism and international terrorism.
Extremist organizations are not independently operating groups in isolation from the
‘basic’, theoretical fundamentalist organizations, but they are their ‘combat wings’. It is Islamic
organizations that have created their own alternative to secular civil society in the form of
institutions such as ‘private mosques, professional associations, trade unions, hospitals, Islamic
banks and schools that provide Islamic fundamentalism with an inexhaustible source of recruits
and allow it to spread its influence almost everywhere’. The central formula of fundamentalism:
the cause of all evils lies in the imperfection and corruption of all secular modernists, and the
only way out is in the Islamic model of society based on Sharia.
Extremism and terrorism have national roots, but they develop and survive, relying on
international support. The extremists in the North Caucasus would not have been able to fight the
federal center for such a long time if they had not received support from various international
terrorist organizations.
The North Caucasus today is a complex system of relations between peoples and states.
The Caucasus is not only a natural geographical boundary between Europe and the Asian and
Middle Eastern regions, the oldest transport artery (the Small Silk Road, the Road of Spices and
Incense) connecting the two continents, but also a source of strategic natural energy resources-oil
and gas. And, finally, the Caucasus is the junction of two civilizations-Western (Christian) and
Muslim, two world ideologies that declare different spiritual values and world order.
Since in the new geopolitical conditions, the main redistribution of the world is carried
out for the establishment of control over natural resources, geostrategic and naval routes, the
main strategic goal of the major world powers is to push Russia to the northeast of Eurasia, away
from one of the main communication approaches to the center of world resources-the
Mediterranean - Black Sea-Caucasus – Caspian region [5]. The immediate goals are to make the

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existing Russian main gas and oil pipelines uncompetitive and costly by bypassing Russia's own
transport arteries that deliver cheap raw materials from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Iran to Europe
and America.
Therefore, the internal political instability in the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia is
largely beneficial to a number of state and interstate entities that pursue exclusively their national
(political and economic) interests.
Many countries have announced their strategic claims to this region, called the ‘solar
plexus of Eurasia’, and, first of all, the United States, Great Britain, and Turkey.
How to prevent terrorist crimes in the North Caucasus region? First of all, the law
enforcement agencies and special services of Russia need to take comprehensive measures to
destroy the infrastructure for training ‘suicide bombers’ both in Russia and abroad, additional
measures to prevent potential terrorist acts at important and high-security facilities of the
military-industrial complex (MIC), ‘Rosatom’, transport, life support facilities, other critical
facilities, places of mass stay of civilians throughout Russia [6].
Also, it is necessary to use more widely, including on distant approaches to the transport
infrastructure, video systems of domestic and foreign developers with intelligent detection of
images (photos) of wanted participants in organized terrorist activities and their accomplices,
with the output of information to the monitors of situational crisis centers (SCC) for making
immediate management decisions to neutralize terrorist threats.
It is important to prevent crimes of a terrorist nature, including terrorist acts, and first of
all by increasing the effectiveness of the operational-search, intelligence and counterintelligence
activities of the subjects of the ORD (the Federal Security Service of Russia, the Ministry of
Internal Affairs of Russia, and etc.), improving agent work and undermining the financial
foundations of organized criminal activity, including terrorist. The terrorist infrastructure in the
North Caucasus has not been completely destroyed, the military organizational and staff
structure, which has a hierarchical-network character, has been preserved in the activities of
organized criminal formations (OСF), and its members have switched to guerrilla methods of
fighting against law enforcement agencies and special services of Russia, striking at the most
vulnerable places, and also partially penetrated into state structures [7].
3. Conclusion
Officials who carry out operational and combat prevention and suppression of terrorist
financing solve these tasks through personal participation in it, by organizing and conducting
operational and combat events, using the help of officials and specialists with scientific,

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technical and other special knowledge, as well as individual citizens with their consent on a
public and secret basis.
Operational-combat prevention and suppression of terrorism can be carried out both by
conducting operational-combat measures by special police units, and by operational
implementation units. Special police units are suppressing the financing of terrorist groups,
destroying underground oil refining plants, crops of drug-containing crops, stopping the
transportation of seafood, large sums in foreign currency and rubles. When freeing hostages
taken for ransom, as well as suppressing the slave trade.
The implementation of such measures for the operational and combat prevention and
suppression of terrorist financing, such as the prompt detention of couriers with money, the red-
handed capture of leaders and active participants of terrorist groups during settlements during
criminal transactions, during an operational strike and the seizure of money intended for
terrorism, makes it possible to oppose new, more daring and dangerous manifestations of
terrorist financing, new forms and methods of power decisions on the part of internal affairs
bodies. The model of the organization of operational and combat prevention and suppression of
terrorist financing developed within the framework of this theory allows solving a number of
applied tasks:
- to develop a set of system basic methods of operational and combat prevention and
suppression of the financing of terrorist activities, operational search measures to detect
financing channels and capture (eliminate) terrorist groups controlling the financing channel, to
promptly detain (capture) their leaders and the most active members, to withdraw funds from
them intended for the financing of terrorism;
- to develop proposals on the implementation of the methods of operational and combat
prevention and suppression of terrorism in the practical activities of the Department of Internal
Affairs;
- to prepare methodological recommendations for the operational and combat prevention
and suppression of the internal affairs of terrorist financing;
- to develop proposals for a number of organizational and legal internal departmental
documents regulating operational and combat prevention and suppression of terrorist financing
by internal affairs bodies and the practice of training employees of special forces of internal
affairs bodies to carry out this activity.
The definition of the general provisions of the organization of operational-combat
prevention and suppression of terrorist financing and the essence of the organization of a single
operational-combat event to suppress a specific channel of terrorist financing shows that the
tactics of combating terrorism are filled with operational measures. The latter allow you to

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coordinate the efforts of employees, individual functions and elements of an operational and
combat unit in solving a number of issues.
The Federal Law ‘On Operational Search Activities’ has established an exhaustive list of
operational search activities. The list of operational and combat measures has been developed by
the theory of operational and combat activities of the internal affairs bodies, and it includes:
operational detention; special events; special actions-the capture (destruction) of leaders and
other (if necessary) gang members, the destruction of warehouses with weapons and
ammunition; special operations; operational environment; operational strike.

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