Arrests of law enforcement officials in today’s Russia surprise no one, but what
happened in Dagestan this week is somewhat sensational. The head of the Internal
Affairs Department of the Kizlyar district, Colonel Gazi Isaev (pictured), was
arrested not for any kind of corruption, but for the 2010 terrorist attacks in the
Moscow metro, in which he allegedly personally transported a female suicide bomber.
In principle, the systemic link between terrorist attacks against civilians and law
enforcement officials does not shock or surprise any rational person — many even
assume its existence. But for the state itself to acknowledge and expose it is truly
rare.
However, Isaev’s defenders and colleagues are outraged by the charges brought against
him and categorically deny the possibility of his involvement in such acts, especially
as someone «fighting against terrorism». In fact, Isaev’s subordinates in the Internal
Affairs Department held an impromptu protest rally against his arrest, and his lawyer,
Eldar Khastinov, stated, «What is being charged against my client does not in any way
correspond to his personality. This person has received numerous departmental awards,
even a commendation from the director of the Russian FSB, Alexander Bortnikov. The most
appalling thing about this whole story is that terrorists who have been sentenced to
life imprisonment are testifying against him. One of them, Pakhirudin Akhmedov, was
sentenced to life imprisonment for the terrorist attack in Kizlyar in March 2010. Isaev
arrested him personally. And now this scoundrel is taking revenge and testifying
against him after ten years».
However, we all know very well how such testimonies are obtained in the Russian
penitentiary system, especially in places where life sentences are served. And Gazi
Isaev himself should know this better than anyone else. As they say, when the stars
are shining, someone needs them — at some point the stars were shining on Isaev’s
epaulettes because he had obtained the necessary evidence against someone, and now
someone has decided to extinguish his star.
But who exactly? Of course, we do not have an exact answer to this question, but it
seems that this someone decided to wipe out not only Isaev’s star. Today, unconfirmed
information has emerged about the arrest of Nasrulla Isaev, the head of the Gergebilsky
Special Purpose Center (SPC), who allegedly led the operation in which the Gasanguseynov
shepherd brothers were killed, falsely accused of being militants. Some have already
rushed to declare the beginning of a «cleansing of the power structures from werewolves
in epaulettes. But we would not advise believing in such myths only to be cruelly
disappointed later. Most likely, the new wave will eliminate the old one, just as it did
in the 1930s, when the Chekists, having dealt with the real enemies of Soviet power,
repeatedly purged their ranks to the extent that with each successive wave of repression,
the organizers and participants of the previous one became the victims.
Today, if we analyze the news about arrests of officials and even law enforcement
officers in Russia, there are more of them than arrests of real opposition activists and
all kinds of «extremists and terrorists». Moreover, as we have seen in the case of Isaev,
the fact that you arrested «terrorists» yesterday does not guarantee that you will not
become one tomorrow. Especially since the methods used by these «counter-terrorists,»
whether in fighting terrorism or organizing it, often make it difficult to distinguish
where one ends and the other begins.
This means that when the time comes, anyone can be labeled a terrorist. Well, let them
prepare.