After the recent terrorist attack on the Saint Petersburg underground, the Archbishop of Moscow published a short but eloquent statement which sums up the Christian response concisely and eloquently: “Together with all faithful Catholics and believers of other faiths and religions, I turn to God with a burning prayer for deliverance of Russia and the world from the curse of terrorism.”
For the last few years the “curse of terrorism” has not made itself felt on Russian soil, though in the decades before that, the Russians have suffered more than almost anyone from terrorist attacks. Let's not forget the Beslan school siege in 2004, nor the Moscow theatre hostage takings in 2002, or the more recent shooting down of a Russian airliner over Sinai in 2015. At the same time, we have to remember the context of these outrages (which is not to make excuses for them): namely Russia’s wars in Chechnya, and its recent involvement in Syria. Russia can with good reason see itself on the front line in the struggle against global Islamic terror. In this light, incidents like the child beheading in Moscow in 2016 seem even more sinister.
