MOSCOW—The Islamist leader who has claimed responsibility for the deadliest terrorist bombings in Russia in recent years is calling for an end to attacks on civilians now that they are protesting the 12-year-old rule of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
In a video posted on an Islamist website, the fugitive rebel leader Doku Umarov said that recent street protests show that Russians no longer support Mr. Putin and that they are hostages of his regime.
"So I order all special groups that are carrying out operations or planning operations in Russia to limit these if it means peaceful civilians will suffer," said Mr. Umarov, head of the Caucasus Emirate group. "This population definitely does not support Putin."
Mr. Umarov's group has claimed responsibility for a string of atrocities over the years, including a suicide bombing of a Moscow airport terminal in 2011 that killed 37 and two suicide bombings on Moscow subway platforms in 2010 that killed 40.
The attacks have done little to dent Russia's resolve to rule the North Caucasus, where rebels in Chechen rebels have twice fought wars since the collapse of the Soviet Union to create a separate state. Russian security services have lately tracked down rebels living abroad and assassinated them, and Mr. Umarov's own whereabouts are unknown.
Mr. Putin's popularity has been shaken by mass protests in recent months. More protests are planned in Moscow and across the country in the run-up to the March 4 presidential elections in which he is seeking a third term as president.
Before the last wave of terror attacks in Moscow, Mr. Umarov promised Russians that "the war will come to your street, God willing, and that you will feel it in your own life and on your own skin." He declared himself emir of the Caucasus in 2007, declaring his aim to impose Islamic rule across a swath of mostly Muslim Russian regions in the area.
Mr. Umarov's turnabout appears to be an attempt to curry favor with some of the protest movement, as well as cave into demands among fellow Islamists for an end to terror acts, said Grigory Shvedov, editor of the Caucasian Knot news service, which covers the region.
"There is a powerful group in the Chechen rebellion that wants to fight more within Chechnya and Northern Caucasus, and less outside of it," Mr. Shvedov said. Mr. Umarov, he added, "has been on the side of international jihad."
In the videotape released Friday, Mr. Umarov appeared in military fatigues in a snowy wood and was flanked by two bearded comrades. "If this peaceful population does not take part in the war against Islam, our religion tells us to take care of this peaceful population and not to touch them," he said.
Write to Alan Cullison at alan.cullison@wsj.com
Doku Umarov, Russia, Prime Minister Vladimir, peaceful population, terror attacks, Moscow, Caucasus, Islamist website
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