Russian democracy is under assault.

The attackers are not the terrorists who repugnantly murdered children during the siege of a school in Beslan. It’s not the rebels in Chechnya who have waged a decades-long battle for independence against Russia.

The threat comes from President Vladimir Putin, who is using the slaughter of more than 300 people as a pretext to tighten his grip on power.

Russia faces many problems. Corruption is widespread, the economy is unstable and violence reaches far beyond Chechnya and even into Moscow itself.

The former Soviet Union has been freed from the totalitarian regimes of the past. But under Putin’s leadership, many of the hard-won democratic reforms have faltered.

Opposition parties have come under constant government pressure and investigation. Dissenters have been jailed, and the media remains firmly under the government’s control.

In the most recent step, Putin has used the Beslan massacre as a pretext to abolish the popular elections of regional governors.

The response from Washington and the Bush administration has been tepid. While President Bush outlined an aggressive policy of supporting the development of democracies around the world earlier this year, his administration has been reluctant to challenge Russia’s actions.

President Bush should send a clear message that Russia should not give into authoritarian impulses.

In the short run, such a stand might alienate a nominal ally in the fight against terrorism, but over the long term, the threat of a totalitarian Russian state could be a bigger danger.