Who are the usual suspects in the bombings?
The region from which is located in the mountainous south, including in Chechnya - the rebel movement at home to carry out attacks at the local level and throughout Russia, as a hospital hostage crisis in Budyonnovsk in 1995, the siege of a theater Moscow in 2002, the bombing of a Moscow rock concert in 2003, the siege of a school in Beslan in 2004 several bombings in the Moscow metro, and during the flight of suicide bombings of two Russian planes in 2004.
History of Russia and the North Caucasus region dates back to czarist times. Conquered by the Russian Empire, which is a very independent region. Is predominantly Muslim and ethnic diversity.
When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, Chechnya declared its independence. In the first Chechen war, which lasted from 1994 to 1996, Russian troops tried to recapture, but without success and in the region was outside the direct control of Moscow.
The second Chechen war began in 1999, and this time the Russian forces managed to subdue the rebels. But violence has continued, with kidnappings, killings and human rights violations.
The violence in the region rose again in 2009, with the rebels have killed hundreds of officers and civilians.
This is the theme of an important debate. The Russian government and security services say it is directly linked to al-Qaeda and the insurgents, and they call the insurgents "terrorists".
Some Western security authorities have been reluctant to provide a direct link, but the person designated by the rebels as terrorists last Doku Umarov, head of the Chechen rebellion, which has approved the participation of 2009, the Nevsky Express train derailment that killed 28 people and in 2010 the Moscow subway bombing that killed 40
The U.S. State Department has designated June as the Umarov terrorist threat that both Russia and the United States.
The rebels are not a homogeneous group. Their activities have spread from Chechnya in the neighboring Russian republics such as Dagestan, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria.
terrorist groups in several countries have found inspiration for his cause in Chechnya, citing Moscow's brutal repression of the rebel movement there and the search for leaders and create an emirate Umarov founded the Islamic law in the North Caucasus. Some international terrorists have traveled to Chechnya as volunteers in the fight for global jihad. Chechen fighters have gone to other countries and conflict zones to fight Islamic insurgencies.
Chechnya has never managed to break away from Russia. It is a republic of the Russian Federation with a president, Ramzan Kadyrov, son of the assassination of former president Akhmad Kadyrov.
Ramzan Kadyrov, a former warlord, has achieved some stability to Chechnya. Rebuilt the capital, Grozny, but has been accused by human rights groups of widespread torture killings and other violations - charges he denies.