On Tuesday, Russians observed a day of mourning for the 39 dead and more than 70 wounded Muscovites following the suicide bombing of Metro stations Lubyanka and Park Kultury. 

The fact that the unsolved war in the North Caucasus has come back to Moscow’s doorstep once again raises some big questions for the leadership – and these questions will not be answered by more of the same tough talk from Vladimir Putin to “destroy” the terrorists.  Instead attention should be focused on having a serious conversation with the public about the Kremlin’s conflict management tactics in the Caucasus.