Umarov's rebels claim responsibility for numerous bloody attacks in Moscow and elsewhere. Umarov provides Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, and the criminal gang that controls Russia's vast energy resources with a scapegoat villain. Fear works, and in Russia the Chechen people are cast as the perfect enemy: Islamist radicals who celebrate the 9/11 attacks and pay homage to Al Qaeda. In the next few days, the Putin government will point to the Boston bombings as the result of any and all Chechen opposition to Russian rule.

This has been Putin's game for the past 15 years. After rising to power in 1999 on a promise to crush Chechen separatists, he exploited a series of terrorist attacks known as the "apartment bombings" to bolster his electoral chances. Almost 300 people died in explosions across three Russian cities. The tumultuous attack was purportedly carried out by Chechen rebels. However, a recently published book about the events by a Stanford University academic indicates that the horrific attack was most likely organized and financed by Putin and his henchmen -- to stir up nationalistic fervor, paving the way for the subsequent Russian invasion of Chechnya and cementing his reputation for being "tough on terror."

In the 2000 elections, Putin ran on a successful platform of restoring national pride and identity, and taking back the former colony of Chechnya was a major talking point. Reopening the Chechen conflict gave him the opportunity to play tough, to show strength, and to exercise his military might while voters cheered for a post-Soviet champion. Even President Bush praised Putin's "strong hand" against terrorists in Chechnya.

The result is that the world perceives Chechens as troublesome Islamist terrorists, and is willing to accept the thug-like Kadyrov as a bulwark against extremism.

Not everyone is fooled by Putin's bloody opportunism, however, and a number of Russians knew the truth. Anna Politkovskaya, an internationally celebrated investigative journalist, was one of them. Natalya Estemirova, a human rights activist, was another. They were both assassinated with the preponderance of evidence pointing to the Kremlin. Alexander Litvinenko, a KGB colleague of Putin, also knew the truth, especially the details relating to the apartment bombings. Litvinenko defected to the West and settled in London where he was murdered after Putin apparatchiks poisoned him with Polonium 210, a radioactive chemical.

The goal of these executions? To silence those trying to expose Putin's crimes in Chechnya. Until his dying breath Litvinenko kept warning anyone who would listen: Putin is a criminal and the key to his undoing is his abuses in Chechnya. Putin understands this very well, which is part of the reason why, in Chechnya, he rigs the votes with comedic results, recently winning 99.82 percent of the presidential vote. One Chechen precinct even registered a voter turnout of 107 percent.