Russia's National Security at Worst Level Since Putin's First Term

Terrorism attacks have more than tripled in Russia in 2023, compared to the previous year, and were the highest in two decades, according to figures analyzed by an independent Russian-language news outlet.

Verstka examined annual data from Russia's Internal Affairs Ministry starting from 2003, three years into Vladimir Putin's first term as president. That year, 561 terrorist attacks were registered, including more than a dozen explosions in crowded sites, which left hundreds of people dead.

By 2005, registered terror attacks had more than halved to 203. Over the 20 years analyzed by Verstka, 15 had fewer than 50 terrorist attacks, reaching a low of 15 in 2015.

However, since the start of Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, that number has spiked significantly, suggesting that Russia is much less safe from terrorism than since before the war he started. Newsweek has emailed the Kremlin for comment.

In 2022, during the first year of the war, there were 127 terror attacks, but last year, this rose more than threefold to 410.

Many military enlistment offices have been set alight, particularly after Putin announced a partial mobilization in September 2022, and these incidents are classified by the authorities as terrorist acts. Also, the many drone and missile strikes, which Moscow has accused Kyiv of carrying out on Russian targets, are also recognized as terrorist attacks.

Russian military facilities across the country have been struck in what Moscow has called Ukrainian terror attacks. One of the highest-profile strikes was on the Kerch Bridge between occupied Crimea and Russia, which was struck several times throughout last year, as well as in 2022. A key supply route for Russia's military in Ukraine, the bridge has been the scene of repeated strikes over the course of the war, as have military facilities in Crimea.

A strike on Russia's Black Sea Navy headquarters in Sevastopol, the symbolic heart of Russia's Navy in September, which was claimed by Kyiv, raised concerns among Kremlin propagandists about an escalation of Ukraine's attacks using missiles and drones.

On December 25, 2023, Russia's Investigative Committee said that the head of Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, had been involved in 104 terrorist acts and has charged him in absentia, according to state news agency TASS.

So far in 2024, there has been several drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure such as at an oil refinery in Volgograd on February 3, only days after a drone caused an explosion at the Nevsky Mazut refinery in St. Petersburg.