A SUICIDE attack on Russia's busiest airport shows rebel leader Doku Umarov is serious about inflicting “blood and tears” on the Russian heartland ahead of the 2012 presidential election. Umarov, a 46-year-old rebel leader, claimed responsibility for the Jan. 24 attack that killed 36 and said he had dozens of suicide bombers ready to unleash on Russian cities. Russia is struggling to contain a growing insurgency along its southern flank nearly 12 years after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rose to popularity by leading Russia into a second war against Chechen separatists. “Terrorist attacks will most certainly continue in Moscow. I don't think they are designed to be before elections, but of course they will not make Putin look good,” North Caucasus expert Alexei Malashenko, from Moscow's Carnegie Center, said. The Domodedovo airport bombing came 10 months after twin suicide bombs on the Moscow metro. “Even if Umarov is killed tomorrow he will be replaced by someone even more organized,” Malashenko said. Putin has hinted he will return to the Kremlin in 2012 or leave his protege, President Dmitry Medvedev, in place for a new six-year term – either way keeping his hands on Russia's reins of power for years to come. Umarov suggested that the North Caucasus insurgency will haunt Russia's leaders for just as long, claiming that he has a steady supply of suicide bombers. “It is believable that he has a fair quantity of people lined up as there are a lot of damaged people available to be exploited in this way,” said Oliver Bullough, an author on the region and Caucasus editor at the Institute of War and Peace Reporting in London. Local leaders say a potent mix of clan feuds, poverty and heavy-handed tactics by law enforcement agencies has driven youths into the hands of rebels who want to create a pan-Caucasus state independent from Russia. Medvedev has cited an increase in attacks and told security officials after the airport attack that terrorism is Russia's biggest threat. “We need to fight this not only with force, but in ideological terms. Otherwise, our forces will destroy one terrorist and the ideological conveyer belt will produce 20 terrorists,” Semyon Bagdasarov, from the pro-Kremlin Fair Russia party, said. But despite billions of dollars poured into the region by the Kremlin, the insurgency has attracted more young men and the violence does not abate.
