As Moscow saw one of its deadliest terror attacks in decades, with nearly one hundred people killed as gunmen opened fire at a concert hall, questions have come to the forefront on social media why the Islamic State targeted Russia. The attack which comes days after Russian president Vladimir Putin won his fifth term in office was carried out by the ISIS-K (Islamic State of Iraq and Khorasan) an affiliate of the ISIS in Afghanistan.
The attack comes months after a long standing and persistent conflict between Russia and the Islamic State ever since the Russian president Vladimir Putin intervened in the Syrian Civil war in 2015. Russia favours and supports the regime of Bashar-al-Assad against the Islamic State.
This is not the first time the ISIS-K has targeted Russia. In 2022, the ISIS carried out a suicide attack on the Russian Embassy outside Kabul killing eight, including two embassy employees. The development comes as the ISIS-K got a second wind following the withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan and is seeking new targets outside the Taliban controlled country.
The ISIS-K was formed in 2015 by the members of Pakistan Taliban. It quickly raised its international profile by carrying out attacks on Afghan security forces, ministries and religious minorities. According to the Institute of Economics and Peace, ISIS-K was labelled one of the top four deadliest terror organisation in 2018 receiving funds worth 100 million USD and training from the parent branch of ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
The group has now started to ramp up its operations outside Afghanistan. ISIS-K has a cadre of foreign fighters from South Asia, West Asia and parts of Europe. In January 2024, the ISIS carried out a suicide bombing in Iran during a memorial procession of the slain IRGC Commander Qasim Sulemani, killing eighty-four people. Days later, the masked ISIS assailants attacked a Roman Catholic Church in Istanbul, killing one person.
While there has been no recent precedent of the Islamic State carrying out attacks in Russia, experts noted how the outfit opposed Putin in the recent years. “ISIS-K has been fixated on Russia for the past two years, frequently criticising Putin in its propaganda said Colin Clarke of the Soufan Centre, a Washington based American think tank, reported an international media agency.
Russia has found itself in the cross-chairs of the ISIS-K for several reasons. Russia’s growing ties with Taliban has come as a setback to the ISIS-K. The ISIS-K and the Taliban are bitter enemies of each other due to certain sectarian and ideological beliefs. For Russia, Afghanistan provides access to new trade routes amid crippling Western sanctions. In return, the Taliban has not criticised Russia for the Ukrainian conflict.
Another expert from Washington based Wilson Centre told an international media agency that ISIS-K sees Russia as being complicit in activities that regularly oppress Muslims. Over recent years, human rights organisation like Amnesty International have highlighted cases of Muslims being denied employment, education and housing opportunities.
The Muslims of Russia are estimated to be around 20 million. Most of the Muslim population in Russia resides in North Caucasus region which includes Chechnya. The region which has experienced two wars since the collapse of the USSR has seen the emergence of extremist groups, including those affiliated with the Islamic State.
Human rights groups have flagged abuses against Muslims, including rape, torture, murder, restrictions of religious practises, surveillance, arbitrary arrests and targeted violence in the region. Moreover, the Russian government has enforced several policies targeting religious groups under the guise of combating extremism in Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
An Amnesty International report said Russia has introduced a new law according to which praying, preaching or disseminating religious materials outside specially designated places was a punishable offence. The report also mentions instances when Russian forces have disrupted Friday prayers in Crimean mosques.
Moreover, the remarks by Putin that the Hijab was not a part of traditional Islam and was borrowed from an alien tradition has given birth to resentment. In 2012, the wearing Hijabs at schools was first banned in Russia’s Stavropol Region.
