Ever since it came to light on Friday that the suspects behind the Boston bombings were from Chechnya — a conflict-ridden region of Russia — Russian President Vladimir Putin has remained curiously quiet.

The country’s media coverage on the Russian connection to the Boston terrorist acts has been tame and matter-of-fact: “FBI discovers Russian connection”, “Youngest Boston terrorist Tsarnaev taken alive”, “Tsarnaev now awake and talking to the authorities”. The tabloid site news.ru.com (above) reads: “Youngest Tsarnaev will be charged with using weapons of mass destruction”.

Russia has had a long and turbulent history with Chechnya. Chechnya’s move to gain independence in the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991 was met with fierce resistance, ultimately resulting in Russia assuming federal control of the territory. The lack of sensationalist media and political commentary on the Boston bombings, which could be easily inflamed by popular anti-Islamic sentiment, seems odd coming from a country that has invaded Chechnya twice and has been a victim of many a bloody terrorist act by Chechen secessionists.

Putin’s first memorable act as incoming President in 1999 was to initiate the second Chechen war following the bombing of Russian apartment blocks that killed nearly 300 people. Then, after militant Chechen rebels held a crowd in Dubrovka Theatre hostage in 2002, Putin’s resolve only got stronger:

“Russia will respond with measures that are adequate to the threat to the Russian federation on all the places where the terrorists themselves, the organisers of these crimes and their ideological and financial inspirers are.”

And following the bloody Beslan School massacre in 2004, Putin again showed his iron fist by strengthening his presidential powers and consolidating federal control over Chechnya.

Boston is different; the attacks weren’t against Russia. Official Russian sources spoke against the attack but have also distanced themselves from any relation to the bombers. Moscow puppet and Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov quickly announced Chechnya shouldn’t be held responsible, squarely laying the blame on the bombers’ American upbringing.

Russian state television site NTV with the headline: “FBI investigated Boston terrorist, but found him harmless”

Meanwhile, the Caucasus Emirates — a self-declared autonomous region that has been recognised by both Russia and the US as a terrorist organisation — has also sought to distance itself. In response to details emerging that the older brother Tamerlan had visited Dagestan (part of the Caucasus Emirates) last year, raising suspicions that this is where he was radicalised, the Mujihadeen said:

“The Caucasian Mujihideen are not fighting against the United States of America. We are at war with Russia, which is not only responsible for the occupation of the Caucasus, but also for heinous crimes against Muslims.”

Aside from some general speculation on the brothers’ motives — similar to those in the Western media — potential negative implications for Russia did immediately spring up as concerns, but died down just as quickly.

As the police search for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was in full swing after his older brother was killed, a presenter on Russian independent radio station Echo of Moscow asked her guest, Pavel Gusev, whether this could start another Cold War. Gusev dismissed the hysterical question but stressed that he hoped the US would not find a Russian connection in these acts, as it had with the Kennedy assassination.

Similarly, an opinion piece in prominent state newspaper Izvestiya noted that Russia’s swift move to apologise for the Chechens’ terrorist act is as laughable and inappropriate as mistaking them for being Czechs. This type of commentary petered out quickly. Izvestiya currently shows no top news items relating to the bombers.

So why the restraint? Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said this on Friday, offering a clue on the Kremlin’s silence:

“You can’t play games with terrorists. You cannot differentiate — negotiate with some, but not with others.”

This harks back to a comment made by a US State Department spokesman under former president George W. Bush that illustrates America’s attitude towards Russia’s conflict in the Caucasus. After Beslan, Richard Boucher indicated that Washington didn’t talk to terrorists but would continue its discussions with dissenting Chechen officials whether Moscow liked it or not. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, labelled this attitude “anti-Russian”.

While Russia has claimed its invasions of Chechnya were motivated by security concerns, the US and humanitarian bodies have long condemned Moscow’s use of force. Speculations even arose among some critics, including journalist Anna Politkovskaya (who was later gunned down under suspicious circumstances), that the 1999 apartment bombings had been staged by Putin to garner support for the second Chechen invasion. Putin and co. hoped that after September 11 the US would come onside and help Moscow’s own war on terror. That didn’t happen.

Following on from the current tensions over the US’ enactment of the Magnitsky Act, which bans certain Russian officials believed to have engaged in human rights abuses from entry into and economic dealings with the US, Russia may perceive this terrorist act as a moral victory. It’s been established that Russian intelligence had previously warned the FBI about the elder of the brothers. This helps vindicate Putin’s position on Chechen rebels. It also raises doubts, which will likely be stoked by the Kremlin in coming days, about the validity of US intelligence.

Straight after the bombings Putin phoned President Barack Obama offering help with the investigations. But his public silence may be strategic, at least until the dust settles and he can come out with what he wants to say.

It will be interesting to see how long the silence lasts. For now, the distance between Putin and the Boston bombings, committed by two of his citizens, is being maintained.