Analysts explain terrorists’ interest in attacks on temples in Southern Russia

When commenting on the detention of a man suspected of preparing an attack on a temple in Maikop, analysts have noted that churches and synagogues attract terrorists as targets of their attacks due to weak security. The analysts believe that strengthening security measures can prevent attacks.

On July 11, the FSB reported about the detention of a native of Central Asia suspected of preparing an attack on an Orthodox church in Maikop. According to the FSB’s report, a knife, a Molotov cocktail, and a flag of a terrorist organization were confiscated from the detained man. In a video released by the intelligence service, the detainee said that after watching videos recorded by supporters of the “Islamic State”*, he planned to stab a security guard and set fire to a temple.

In their propaganda, terrorist organizations have not paid more attention to religious organizations, provoking attacks on them, a Russian religious scholar points out. According to his version, it is easier for single attackers to choose precisely those objects with weaker security.

The expert has emphasized that in any case, it is worth strengthening the protection of religious institutions.

It is possible that supporters of terrorists began to pay more attention to plans for attacks on religious institutions, notes Alexander Verkhovsky, the head of the “SOVA” Research Centre**.

Judging by the recent events in Southern Russia, religious institutions are under threat, suggests Sergey Goncharov, the president of the Association of Veterans of the “Alpha” anti-terror unit. “There are no security guards there who could repel terrorists or stop a terror act. In this sense, those facilities are more accessible for terrorists,” Sergey Goncharov noted.

*On December 29, 2014, the Supreme Court (SC) of the Russian Federation recognized the organization “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” (ISIL or IS) as a terrorist international organization and banned its activities in Russia.

**Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.