More Cruel

Very late to this game, but I'm still amused by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev claiming that Russia needs to get "more cruel" with the Chechens after the subway bombings last week. Regardless of the immorality of the attacks, has Russian foreign policy ever revolved around being less cruel?

Isn't treating surrounding ethnic minorities with more cruelty just a matter of course in Russia? And isn't that kind of what helped lead the Chechens to these desperate measures to begin with?