Extremism as a threat to Russia's national security is directed against the unity and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, at destabilizing the situation (domestic political and social). This is an extremely dangerous phenomenon that gives rise to terrorist activity (an extreme manifestation of extremism). Next, consider such concepts as terrorism, extremism and society, a threat to the country's security. The most high-profile terrorist crimes, signs, causes of extremism and terrorism, countermeasures, and so on will be listed.
The concept of extremist activity
The spread of extremism poses a threat to the internal security and integrity of the country. Terrorism as a phenomenon is rejected by society, butextremism - the main element of the destruction of constitutional foundations, is perceived by citizens as an acceptable way in political confrontation. Today, manifestations of this dangerous phenomenon are found in interethnic and interfaith relations, culture, politics and other spheres of society. This concept is multifaceted, therefore it is the main destabilizing factor in the life of society and the state.
The concept is formulated in the Russian Federal Law "On Counteracting Extremist Activity". Extremism as a threat to the national security of the Russian Federation is a commitment to extreme views and methods of action. Among the political manifestations of this phenomenon, one can note the provocation of riots, the conduct of guerrilla warfare, and even terrorist acts. Radical extremists often reject all negotiations, agreements and compromises as a matter of principle.
The growth of extremism as a threat to Russia's national security is facilitated by socio-economic crises, a decline in the standard of living of the population and a deterioration in the general quality of life, totalitarian regimes with the suppression of opposition and dissent, and external intervention. In some situations, extremist measures can be the only effective way for individuals and organizations to influence the situation, especially if the state is engulfed in civil war or a revolutionary situation is emerging. In this case, we can talk about forced extremism.
Nationalism and religious extremism
Extremism is a very complex phenomenon. There is no single definition in international practice; in different states and in different periods, many legal and scientific definitions of this concept have been given. Extremism as a threat to Russia's national security is in most cases directly linked to terrorism, religious contradictions and nationalism.
An event from the history of new Russia showed that the preachers of the non-traditional for Russian Muslims movement of Islam - Wahhabism pose a significant threat. The leaders and ideologists of the movement are actively engaged in propaganda work (especially among young people), which is the main direction of their activity. Among the political associations that operate on the territory of Russia and aim to change the constitutional order of the Russian Federation, is RNU - Russian National Unity. This is a large right-wing organization.
There are also radical left associations. For example, the Revolutionary Communist Youth Union, the Vanguard of the Red Youth or the National Bolshevik Party, which appeared after the split of the RKSM. Organizations unite youth of a pro-communist orientation, set as their goal the struggle against the established regime of power, and have a pronounced extremist orientation. The activity of associations consists mainly in participating in mass events, during which banners are shown calling for a violent change of power, slogans are shouted out.
Threats to Russia's national security
In such a multi-confessional and multinational state as the Russian Federation, the internal threat comes from terrorist, separatist and extremist organizations. The activities of radical individuals and organizations are aimed at changing power by force, changing the constitutional foundations, violating the integrity of the Russian Federation, undermining security, inciting national, social, racial and religious hatred, and creating gangster armed formations. Extremism and terrorism as a threat to national security are indeed very dangerous phenomena.
Terrorism as an international threat
Extremism as a threat to the national security of the Russian Federation is rarely considered, because society is still ready to put up with some of its manifestations. From international practice: the moral assessment of the use of tactics of guerrilla war by N. Mandela against the government of South Africa may vary depending on the general opinion of the world community, leadership, crises, and so on. Thus, views on extremism form to some extent a modern and historical context.
But terrorism is regarded differently - it is a major national threat that is rejected by society. Terrorism is an extreme form of extremism, which today has acquired enormous proportions. Previously, this phenomenon was perceived mainly as a kind of political violence (for example, the assassination of Alexander II by Narodnaya Volya), used on a limited scale. At presenttime is a specific form of violence that can be carried out on an almost unlimited scale, a national threat. The boundaries between international and national terrorism are blurring, organizations are expanding ties with cartels in human trafficking, drug trafficking, and illegal arms trafficking.
Extremism and terrorism as a threat to the national security of the Russian Federation and other countries choose religious and political concepts as their ideological cover: distorted interpretations of world religions, forcible imposition of democracy "according to the American model" and so on. The international nature of this threat in the modern world is evidenced by the establishment by terrorists of close mutually beneficial ties with transnational organized crime. As mentioned above, here we are talking mainly about organizations involved in drug trafficking.
Terrorist crimes
In Russia, there has recently been a trend in the dynamics of extremist and terrorist crimes. This is a serious threat to the national security and territorial integrity of Russia. Extremism is mainly manifested in public calls for extremist activity, incitement of enmity and hatred, humiliation of human dignity, organization of activities. With regard to terrorism, society is constantly confronted with this wide-ranging non-human phenomenon, diverse in its modes of action and forms:
- 1999Explosions in Volgodonsk, Buynaksk and Moscow claimed 307 lives, more than 1,700 people were injured or suffered in one way or another.
- 2001. The well-known attack on the World Trade Center in the United States, which resulted in the death of several thousand people, the seizure of four passenger liners. The attacks were carried out by Al-Qaeda.
- 2002. Terrorist attack on Dubrovka in Moscow. A group of terrorists led by Movsar Barayev seized and held hostages in the building of the Theater Center. According to official figures, 130 people died, about 700 were injured, and there were 40 terrorists.
- 2004. Hostage-taking at a school in Beslan. More than 300 people died, mostly children. Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for organizing the attack, and his statement was published on the Kavkaz Center website of the Chechen terrorists.
- 2010 year. Explosions in the Moscow metro claimed the lives of 41 people, injured 88 people. The leaders of the "Caucasian Emirate" claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings.
- 2011 year. Explosions in the Minsk metro. As a result of the explosion of a device stuffed with nails, metal balls and rebar, 15 people died and more than 200 were injured. The organizers were citizens of Belarus, but the ambassadors of Cuba and Venezuela believed that the attack was organized by US forces.
- 2013 year. An explosion in the spectator area at the finish line of the marathon in Boston. The main suspects were the Tsarnaev brothers, former citizens of Kyrgyzstan. Their actions were motivated by the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Islamic extremism. At the same time, the terrorists did not belong to anyor a known group.
- 2014 year. Attack of militants on Grozny. As a result of an armed attack, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation and one civilian were killed. Members of the "Caucasian Emirate" claimed responsibility for the attack. The terrorists said they were taking revenge for the oppression of Muslim women.
- 2015 year. Russian plane crash over Sinai. As a result of the bomb explosion, all 217 passengers and 7 crew members of the plane, which flew from Egypt to St. Petersburg, were killed.
- 2016 year. Attack in Paris. The victims of several terrorist attacks were 130 people, more than 350 were injured, of which 99 were in critical condition. Mostly people aged 20-30 years old died. The Islamic State group, banned in Russia, claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Extreme manifestations of extremism are a threat to the security of Russia and other states. As a result of attacks in the Russian Federation since 1999, 1,667 people have died. Most of the victims are in the capital, the republics of the South Caucasus and the southern regions of the country. Actual losses in terrorist attacks are comparable to those in war. For example, during the period of hostilities in Afghanistan (12 years), the United States lost 2.3 thousand soldiers.
Signs of terrorism as a criminal act
The opinions of the researchers of this phenomenon coincide with respect to such signs of terrorism: the use of extreme forms of violence or the threat of violence, the expansion of the targets of terrorist attacks beyond the limits of harm, physical injury or death,achieving goals by psychologically influencing non-victims (relatives of victims, society in general, political and public figures), victims are usually selected for symbolic, and not actual significance. In modern literature, one can find such distinctive features of terrorism and extremism - threats to national security, constitutional foundations and state integrity of countries:
- creates a high public danger;
- is of a public nature, terrorism does not openly exist without publicity and a list of demands;
- deliberately creating an atmosphere of fear, tension and depression;
- violence is used on some persons and property, and psychological influence in order to induce certain behavior (beneficial to terrorists and extremists) behavior - on other persons.
Extremism as a threat does not arise only from the desire to harm the population, commit murder and destroy any objects. Everything is subject to common goals. Terrorism is a means of psychological influence. The object is not the victims, but those who survived. The purpose of terrorist attacks is to intimidate and demoralize society, and not to kill in itself. This distinguishes terrorist activity from sabotage, the purpose of which is the destruction of an object or the elimination of the enemy. However, in some cases the goals overlap. As for extremism, the main threats are the destruction of the existing constitutional order, the violation of territori althe integrity of the Russian Federation, undermining national security.
Main causes of terrorism and extremism
Extremism has been inherent in many peoples throughout history, and the degree of activity of radical movements depended on the nature of the political regime, social and spiritual life. A qualitatively new period in the development of extremism fell on the second half of the last century. Organized movements emerged in Europe, the United States, and Russia that used radical action to influence their governments. In Russia they were populists, in the USA, Spain, France, Italy - anarchists. Other examples include fascist and national separatist movements in Italy, Germany, France and Hungary.
The UN named poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, lack of affordable housing, imperfection of training and education systems, lack of life prospects, negative consequences of migration, lack of cultural and community facilities, dissemination of ideas and views by the media as the main causes of extremism and terrorism, which lead to the growth of inequality, intolerance and violence, the weakening of social and family ties, the destruction of cultural national identity, and so on. In the domestic literature, the following reasons are distinguished:
- decrease in living standards with increased social differentiation, which causes anger, hatred, envy, nostalgia for the past and so on;
- economic crisis, energy, rising cost of basic goods and depreciation of money;
- crisis situation of some social and/or professionalassociations, especially those with experience in working with explosives and devices, combat experience;
- growing unemployment, which causes problems of vagrancy, psychological degradation, problems of migration, disorientation of the individual in a free economy and so on;
- wide distribution and availability of weapons, specific military mindsets, military training;
- undermining the authority or overthrowing the government;
- national self-affirmation;
- spreading views leading to the growth of inequality, violence and intolerance, instilling in the population the permissiveness and omnipotence of terrorist groups.
The causes of extremism as a threat to national security are usually divided into social (low living standards), political (political instability, lack of measures to ensure internal security, the influence of political regimes, long-standing conflicts between West and East, South and North), religious (radical currents that promote violence), spiritual (crisis of society, distortion of accepted moral, moral, universal and spiritual values) and economic (today terrorism brings income comparable to the income from the drug and oil business).
Peculiarities of international terrorism
Extremism is a threat to society that leads to terrorism. Modern extremism and terrorism are well organized and have a structured nature of activity. Radical organizations create a centralized systemmanagement, unified management and control units. In addition, they are serious factors in the formation and destabilization of a military threat in a number of regions. There used to be a line between war and terrorism. It is now conditional. There is a substitution of the causes and goals of terror and war. This is confirmed by the latest events in Libya, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, Georgia, in the conflict zone between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, and so on.
Principles of countering extremism
Currently, an extensive regulatory and legal framework has been developed in matters of countering Russia's national threats. Extremism and terrorism are condemned, and administrative and criminal liability is provided for actions of this nature. The main principles of counteraction are:
- cooperation of the state with religious and public organizations;
- the priority of ensuring the state security of the country (the freedoms of citizens are limited by the Federal Law only to the extent necessary to ensure security);
- recognition, observance and protection of human rights and freedoms, legitimate interests of various organizations, publicity;
- advantage of measures aimed at preventing extremism and terrorism;
- inevitability of administrative or criminal punishment (depending on the article) for carrying out extremist and terrorist activities.
Respect for the rights and freedoms of a citizen and a person is guaranteed by the Constitution of the state. The general principle islegality, that is, the activities of the state, persons in power and organizations must comply with the adopted regulatory legal acts. Glasnost assumes that the results of the activities of organizations that counteract extremism should be made public in the media and available to the public. The priority of measures aimed at preventing dangerous activities means that the fight against such phenomena should be carried out even before their first manifestations: terrorist attacks or mass actions.
Combating extremism as a threat to Russia's national security (essays on this topic are often written by schoolchildren and students, which is a preventive measure, which will be discussed in more detail below) is carried out in the following areas:
- Identification, suppression and prevention of extremist activities of public, religious associations and individuals, other organizations and individuals, elimination of the causes that contribute to the implementation of dangerous activities.
- The adoption of preventive measures and conditions that contribute to the prevention of extremist activities. This includes identifying the causes and conditions that contribute to extremism and terrorism and their further elimination.
Prevention measures
Extremism is a threat to security, territorial integrity and constitutional foundations. An extremely dangerous phenomenon must be prevented, which is served by preventive measures. Prevention is carried out in schools and other educational institutions,businesses and through the media. According to law enforcement agencies, this helps to prevent some crimes.
Thus, a particularly important area of countering extremism as a threat to Russia's national security are preventive measures. For these purposes, patriotism is brought up, tolerance, peacefulness and religious tolerance are promoted, the desire for a peaceful settlement of emerging conflicts is carried out. In Russia, this is of particular relevance, which is caused by high social tension, ongoing inter-confessional and inter-ethnic conflicts, and the growth of national extremism and separatism.
There are enough threats in Russia, so the work is being carried out on a large scale. Citizens receive most of the information through the media, and young people - in the classes on the UCP, social science, during conversations in educational institutions.
Public-Public Training (CPT)
Extremism as a threat to Russia's national security is considered in the UCP and social science classes. The main goals are the education of patriotism, the formation of a sense of love and devotion to Russia, pride in belonging to the Russian people. During the course, the history of the emergence and development of terrorism, the classification of modern extremism and terrorism, countermeasures, actions in case of detection of a threat, and so on are considered. At the UCP, extremism as a threat to the national security of Russia is considered in military units, in schools and other educational andIn special institutions, young people are brought up in social science lessons.
