Vladimir Putin blames an Islamist attack on Ukraine and America
How to use a disastrous security failure to bolster dictatorship
![Crocus City Hall near Moscow in the aftermath of the terrorist attack](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20240330_EUP503.jpg)
Few Russian leaders apart from Stalin have been as obsessed with their own security, while failing so spectacularly to provide it for their people, as Vladimir Putin. From the bombings of apartment blocks in various cities in 1999, to the terrorist attack on March 22nd at Crocus City Hall, a concert venue in Moscow, his main concern has always been his own grip on power. Predictably, Russia’s president has tried to turn the latest security failure into a justification for his dictatorial rule and for his war against Ukraine, which has already cost hundreds of thousands of lives.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “The uses of terror”
Europe March 30th 2024
- Ukraine is in a race against time to fortify its front line
- Vladimir Putin blames an Islamist attack on Ukraine and America
- Why the French are drinking less wine
- Carles Puigdemont aims to reignite Catalan separatism
- Turkey’s opposition hopes for a shake-up in local elections
- How Europe’s fear of migrants came to dominate its foreign policy
Discover more
![Miners work underground near the city of Pokrovsk, Ukraine.](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20241012_EUP503.jpg)
Why Russia is trying to seize a vital Ukrainian coal mine
Without it, the country’s remaining steel industry will be crippled
![](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20241019_EUP502.jpg)
The search for Ukraine’s missing soldiers and sailors
The families of missing loved ones are trying to find them, alive or dead
![A big truck emblazoned with the US flag on the side and the words MAGA above the cab (which resembles Donald Trump's face) flies over the brow of a hill. A startled deer is caught in the headlights](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20241012_EUD000.jpg)
Europe could become Trump’s geopolitical roadkill
A second dose of MAGA will put the EU in a pickle
Russia continues to advance in eastern Ukraine
But it is encountering growing problems
Turkey’s long hard struggle with inflation
High interest rates are starting to do the trick
Delays on Italy’s spruced-up trains have got worse
Matteo Salvini is making feeble excuses