Russia’s response to last week’s terrorist attack in Moscow could create high tensions between the Putin-led state and one of its historic allies, Insider writes.
After multiple attackers opened fire at the Crocus City Hall concert hall, killing 137 people and injuring at least 145 others — an attack claimed by ISIS-K, a group in the global jihadist network led by the Islamic State — media Russian news agency revealed that the four main suspects are citizens of Tajikistan.
The Central Asian country has close historical ties to Russia and was once part of the Soviet Union. It is now a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which Putin hoped would be a sort of NATO of the ex-Soviet space.
Information that the attackers in Moscow are from Tajikistan could create new tensions between the two countries.
Tajikistan has already tried to distance itself from the terrorist attack. The foreign minister said on Saturday that the media reports were “false”, according to the Moscow Times.
The Tajik interior minister said two of the suspects named by Russian media were in Tajikistan at the time of the attack. Meanwhile, the country’s president, Emomali Rahmon, told Putin that “terrorists have no nationality, homeland or religion.”
While relations with China and North Korea have become increasingly close of late, Russia has been increasingly isolated internationally since it launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Even some of its oldest allies, including Tajikistan, have shown their frustration with Moscow.
In October 2022, Rahmon appeared to personally criticize Putin, asking him to show more respect for his country. Rahmon said Tajikistan had to “beg” Russia to attend a forum held on the territory of the Central Asian country, according to Mail Online.
“We are never treated as strategic partners. No offense, but we want to be respected!” Rahmon would have said.
Russia’s relations with other CSTO members are not very good either. Several Russian and ex-Soviet space experts have said in the past that the alliance is collapsing.
Some CSTO members did not take kindly to the invasion of Ukraine and fear that Russia will no longer protect them and may even decide to attack them as well.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said earlier this year that Armenia had suspended its participation in the CSTO after repeatedly criticizing both the alliance and Russia, which he accused of failing to intervene when it was fighting with Azerbaijan for the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Experts say ISIS likely took advantage of the inattention of Russian authorities, who are preoccupied with the war in Ukraine, to launch the attack in Moscow.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested that Russia could have stopped the attack if it had not attacked Ukraine. “Those hundreds of thousands of Russians who are now killing on Ukrainian soil would certainly have been enough to stop any terrorist,” Zelenskiy said.
Editor: Raul Nețoiu
