How Moscow Terror Attack Exposes the Farce of Russia’s ‘Security Theater' - The Moscow Times

Well, that apartment bombing terror attack and the invasion of Dagestan by the Mujahideen (1999) was completely staged by Putin and his pals so that Putin could get into the presidential office running on the "law and order" campaign promise. He's used it since then to maintain his power. He has focused the news on the wrong "terrorists", those being the people who could/would pose a threat to his presidency. From Prigozhin to Navalny to others, he simply has them fall out a window, fall up a basement apartment stairs that happen to have bullets in the air, polonium tea, etc. This helps him to keep the population under his thumb. Thus if he (and RT/Pravda/other news shows) says nothing about ISIS or other terrorist organizations, they do not exist as a threat to the population. This provides cover for Putin.
Moscow does have the most surveillance outside of cities in China, North Korea, and a few other places. However, those who watch the surveillance cameras are not looking for terrorists, they are looking for dissenters. Because that is exactly what they are told to look for and nothing else. And ffs, the FSB building is directly across from the Crocus Center. Yet it took over an hour for the SWAT team to show up? There is a rat in the woodpile that is dead and stinking in this whole episode. Most likely Putin was well aware of what was going to happen, but it helps to fit his narrative to move his Special Operation in Ukraine to full on war in Ukraine. Thus increasing his ability to start up the draft in some more areas that would not be popular otherwise (think Moscow and St. Petersburg).

Patricia Overmeyer - thanks for the history & opinion... your woodpile theory is spot on...