Russia intensifies pre-Olympic security precautions against ‘radical Islam’

Russia successfully sent the Olympic torch into space Wednesday morning, but the Federation’s mission to ensure safety at the Sochi Winter Olympics persists here on earth.

An October 21 suicide bombing by alleged terrorist 30-year old Naida Aiyalova from Dagestan—the epicenter of violence in the North Caucasus—killed five people and wounded another 32 in the Russian city of Volgograd, triggering security fears in Moscow ahead of the Games, neo-nationalist riots and yet another stern legislative crackdown.

Russian President Vladimir Putin first responded to the attack by accusing foreign foes of “using radical Islam to weaken Russia” in a plea made to Muslim clerics asking for help in extinguishing the consequent frictions.

“Some political forces use Islam, the radical currents within it… to weaken our state and create conflicts on Russian soil that can be managed from abroad,” Putin told the clerics in southern Russia. “Tensions between the West and the Islamic world are rising today, and someone is trying to gamble on that by pouring fuel on the fire.”

But this Saturday Putin signed a new anti-terrorism bill into law, under which relatives and acquaintances of a militant can be held accountable for all damages—including “moral damages”—caused by the individual’s actions. The law also heightens penalties for initiating, participating in, or financing militant groups, increasing jail time from up to seven years to up to 10, and including a fine of up to $15,700.

All damages, according to the law, must be compensated “at the expense of the means of the person committing the terrorist act and also at the expense of the means of his [or her] family, relatives and close people.”

Russian media outlet RT defined “close people” as “those whose lives, health, and well-being are valued by the terrorist, due to the terrorist’s personal relationships with individuals.” Family, relatives and close people may additionally face the seizure of property if they cannot present documents proving that the property was “rightfully acquired.”

Other reports have recently surfaced that the Kremlin is requiring blood samples from North Caucasus residents as a preemptive measure, in order to facilitate the body identification of any suicide bombers that may attack February’s Sochi Olympics.

Extreme security efforts are already being extended to journalists in Sochi who have been caught in the dragnet.

The Russian Foreign Ministry, in a statement to Reuters on Wednesday, apologized to two Norwegian journalists who were repeatedly detained and threatened by police while covering the preparations in Sochi last week. The Ministry called the incidents a “series of unwarranted actions towards the citizens of Norway,” and said the situation would be “worked out in detail,” and that the “guilty will receive the corresponding punishment.”

The statement concluded with the Ministry saying it “would like to assure you that the executive authorities of the Russian Federation will take all necessary measures to avoid the repetition of similar cases in the future.”