The cause of terrorism in Russia is not as clear as it may seem at first sight. Islamic terrorism against the U.S. or separatist terrorism in India are absolutely different from terrorism in Russia. They differ in causes, sources, motives, and goals.

       Terrorists always try to choose symbolical targets to make a greater impression or to pass a message. During terrorist acts in Russia, the target is not always clear if the cause or initiators are unknown. The reasons for that can lie in different information providers, misrepresentation of information, or in Russian mess media's tendency to interpret points of view as actual facts.

       The theory about black widows' terrorists is widely spread in the Western media. Black widows are believed to be Chechen women who lost their husbands and children in the Chechen war and try to take revenge for that. However, some representatives of Russian media deny that this organization of “black widows” is the source of recent terrorist attacks (March, 2010). Besides, during the recent explosions in Kizlyar, Dagestan, one of the explosions was carried out by a male suicide bomber.

       Now that the responsibility for these explosions was taken by Chechen terrorists from Ciscaucasia - the part of Caucasia north of the Caucasus Mountains, the cause of terrorism in Russia is clearer. Terrorists in Russia are not necessarily very religious people turned into lethal weapons who are ready to kill themselves for the sake of Allah. They are widows, young people and other desperate people who are simply used by terrorist organizations. Their motives for killing people lie much deeper within the social, national and political relations between the Russian government and the Chechen Republic. Therefore, the primary cause of  terrorism in Russia are the two Chechen Wars that took place in Russia within the last two decades and brought to light many problems in Russia.