Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov is vowing to carry out more terrorist attacks on Russia, and says Moscow faces "a year of blood and tears" if it does not relinquish control of the largely-Muslim North Caucasus.
Umarov leveled his latest threats in an undated Internet video aired Sunday on a Chechen rebel website (kavkazcenter.com). Dressed in military fatigues, the bearded Umarov also said a "brother" was being dispatched to Moscow to carry out an unspecified "special operation." He said "other blows will follow." Moscow has not commented on the video, which shows Umarov flanked by an unidentified male.
The recording made no direct reference to the Moscow airport bombing that killed 36 people and wounded nearly 200 others late last month. No one has claimed responsibility for that attack, but Moscow says it has identified a 20-year-old from the North Caucasus as the person who blew himself up January 24 in a crowded passenger area of Moscow's Domodedovo airport.
As the self-proclaimed Emir of the Caucasus, Umarov has sought to create an independent pan-Caucasus state governed by Muslim Sharia law. The proposed state would include Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia and other mainly Muslim territory in Russia's south.
Russia has fought two wars since the early 1990s to suppress the rebellion in Chechnya.