3 Skiers Dead Following Terrorist Attack

I really do hate to say I told you so.  Within 24 hours of my post on Medvedev searching for someone to blame for any future security problems around the Sochi Winter Olympics, there is distressing news that three skiers were gunned down in Russia’s Kabardino-Balkaria region.  In addition to that, 3 undetonated explosives were found in a car at a hotel near Mount Elbrus, also in the Kabardino-Balkaria region.  From the Moscow Times:

One of the three victims of the shooting was Irina Patrusheva, who shares the same name as the daughter of former FSB director Nikolai Patrushev. Since bandits in the region do not generally kill women, according to a police source cited by Komsomolskaya Pravda, there are suspicions that this bus was targeted because of her.

And Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported that people posed as police officers and specifically asked for Patrusheva.

However, the dead woman was not a relative of the FSB man, and a police source told RG that the terrorists had been unable to confirm exactly who she was before the attack.

What makes these attacks particularly distressing is that the area around Mount Elbrus, while in the Caucasus, has traditionally avoided the types of attacks that have plagued Chechnya and Dagestan, for example.  This region relies on tourism to drive the local economy and, obviosly, some folks are concerned about the effect this will have on the industry.  In fact, just last month the federal government pledged to spend $15 billion to build up the tourism infrastructure in the region.  But even the head of the North Caucasian Federal District, Alexander Khloponin, wants to stop receiving tourists until the security issue is addressed.  However, others, such as Moscow-backed Chechen leader/strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, offer a different perspective.  From the earlier Moscow Times article:

 “But our enemies do not like it when our lives are getting better.

“This will not slow down [the development of resorts]. I want to say that we will do everything to ensure that the Caucasus is not associated with terrorist threats.”

Kadyrov added that while Russia needed to sharpen up security in general, there was a religious dimension to the issue in the North Caucasus.

“Terrorists call on Islam when they have no relationship with the religion,” he added. “Therefore we are going to the mosques, universities and schools to show the true colours of these devils.”

Huh.  Well, that's another take.

What is clear is that this issue isn't going away and that the terrorists from the North Caucasus have identified Olympic-related attacks as a primary means of garnering international attention.  The question is: will the IOC or Russia blink?