In hindsight, perhaps former Prime Minister Tony Abbott should have been more cautious when issuing his threat to ‘shirt front’ Russian leader Vladimir Putin, as it becomes ever more likely that it was a bomb that brought down the Russian jet, carrying holidaymakers from Egypt back to St Petersburg.

Putin, ex-KGB Lieut. Colonel, leader of the United Russia Party, ultra-nationalist, supporter of the Russian Orthodox Church, and most powerful person in the world, as ranked by Forbes magazine for the years 2013, 2014 and 2015, may now be the only politician in the world who can deal with the threat of Isis.

The Russians, you see, have been dealing with warring Muslim states and tribals – Chechen, Azar, Tartar, Cossack – since their days under the Tsars and, despite their ill-advised adventure in Afghanistan, have probably got a better handle on how to deal with turbulent minorities than the western-oriented nations.

Russia’s frontier against Chechnya – the so-called Cossack Line – was turbulent territory since 1819, when General Yermolov was despatched by the Tsar to the Caucasus, an event celebrated by Pushkin with the lines ‘Submit and bow your snowy head, O Caucasus, Yermolov marches’.

The General’s first act was the building of the fort of Grozny (‘formidable’ in Russian), to counter the night raids of Chechen tribesmen. He also deliberately, temptingly, abandoned a field gun, which was swooped upon by the raiders, who were then met by volleys of Russian grape shot. ‘Two hundred dead and as many wounded…[it] served as a good lesson and… took away the appetite for night attacks’ the General wrote to Moscow.

When Grozny gained its independence as the Chechen capital, Yermolov’s statue was the first marked for demolition. The Chechens hadn’t forgotten.

The story is re-told in Nicholas Griffin’s account of his expedition to the Caucasus Badlands, Caucasus –Mountain Men and Holy Wars, and it underlines the ancient, less-known struggles for dominance Russia has always had with its outlying regions.

If, as it seems more and more likely, it was terrorist action that killed the Russians aboard the flight from Sharm el-Sheikh, it’s unlikely that Mr Putin will not act against Isis, unlike the Malaysian jet brought down with a Russian-made Buk missile. Russia’s spetsnaz,the special purpose forces, have something of a reputation.

The Jerusalem Post reported that when Hezbollah abducted four Russian diplomats and murdered one, the spetsnaz kidnapped a relative of the Hezbollah chief holding the Russians, castrated him, shot him in the head and sent the parts back to Hezbollah with the promise that more retribution would follow.

The remaining diplomats were released.

Russia’s policy to fight terrorism has been to localise, to appoint anti-terrorist officers, wherever possible, from their home enclaves, making infiltration by foreign fighters less likely, wherever possible.

Lessons have been learned, it would appear, after the tragedy of Beslan where unnecessary hostage deaths occurred largely due to the bumbling through various police and military echelons before action was finally taken.

Putin enjoys immense popularity at home, particularly among ethnic Russians who see him as someone who restored not only morale and certainty but also social and economic stability to the country, and it is unlikely he will fail to take action as required against terrorism against his people. His approval rating in 2007 was 81 per cent, the second highest of any world leader (the first was Tony Blair).

There’s a Russian proverb that goes, ‘If you live with wolves, you must howl with them’. Vladimir Putin, it seems, has certainly learned to howl with the wolves.