The Russian apartment bombings were a series of explosions that hit four apartment blocks in the Russian cities of Buynaksk, Moscow, and

Volgodonsk Volgodonsk ( rus, Волгодонск, p=vəlgɐˈdonsk) is a city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located in the east of the oblast on the west bank of the Tsimlyansk Reservoir. Population: 28,000 (1970). History Volgodonsk was founded in 1950 as ...

in September 1999, killing more than 300, injuring more than 1,000, and spreading a wave of fear across the country. The bombings, together with the Invasion of Dagestan, triggered the Second Chechen War. The handling of the crisis by Vladimir Putin, who was prime minister at the time, boosted his popularity greatly and helped him attain the presidency within a few months. The blasts hit Buynaksk on 4 September and Moscow on 9 and 13 September. On 13 September,

Russian Duma The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...

speaker

Gennadiy Seleznyov Gennadiy Nikolayevich Seleznyov (russian: Геннадий Николаевич Селезнёв; 6 November 1947 – 19 July 2015) was a Russian politician, the Chairman of the State Duma from 1996 to 2003. Early life and career Born at Serov ...

made an announcement in the Duma about receiving a report that another bombing had just happened in the city of

. A bombing did happen in Volgodonsk—but only three days later—on 16 September. Chechen militants were blamed for the bombings, but denied responsibility, along with Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov. A suspicious device resembling those used in the bombings was found and defused in an apartment block in the Russian city of Ryazan on 22 September.Ответ Генпрокуратуры на депутатский запрос о взрывах в Москве

machine translation
. On 23 September, Vladimir Putin praised the vigilance of the inhabitants of Ryazan and ordered the air bombing of Grozny, which marked the beginning of the Second Chechen War. Three FSB agents who had planted the devices at Ryazan were arrested by the local police. The next day, FSB director

Nikolay Patrushev Nikolai Platonovich Patrushev (russian: Никола́й Плато́нович Па́трушев; born 11 July 1951) is a Russian politician, security officer and intelligence officer who has served as the secretary of the Security Council of ...

announced that the incident in Ryazan had been an anti-terror drill and the device found there contained only sugar. The official Russian investigation of the Buynaksk bombing was completed in 2001, while the investigation of Moscow and Volgodonsk bombings was completed in 2002. In 2000, seven people were convicted of perpetrating the Buynaksk attack. According to the court ruling on the Moscow and Volgodonsk bombings, which was announced in 2004, the attacks were organised and led by

Abu Omar al-Saif Abu Omar al-Saif ( ar, أبو عمر السيف)(1968/69-2005) was an informal name or nom de guerre of a Saudi Islamist and fighter operating first in Afghanistan (1986–1988) and later in the North Caucasus (1996–2005) as the mufti of Arab fi ...

, who have been killed. Five other suspects have been killed and six have been convicted by Russian courts on terrorism-related charges. Attempts at an independent investigation faced obstruction.

State Duma The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...

deputy

Yuri Shchekochikhin Yuri Petrovich Shchekochikhin ( rus, Ю́рий Петро́вич Щекочи́хин, p=ˈjʉrʲɪj pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ɕːɪkɐˈtɕixʲɪn; 9 June 1950 – 3 July 2003) was a Soviet and later Russian investigative journalist, writer, and libe ...

filed two motions for a parliamentary investigation of the events, but the motions were rejected by the State Duma in March 2000. An independent public commission to investigate the bombings was chaired by Duma deputy Sergei Kovalev. The commission was rendered ineffective because of government refusal to respond to its inquiries. Two key members of the Kovalev Commission,

Sergei Yushenkov Sergei Nikolayevich Yushenkov (russian: Серге́й Никола́евич Юшенко́в; 27 June 1950 – 17 April 2003) was a liberal Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, trans ...

and

, have since died in apparent assassinations. The Commission's lawyer and investigator Mikhail Trepashkin was arrested and served four years in prison for revealing state secrets.Volgodonsk (Rostov region) apartment bombing; criminal investigation of Moscow and Buynaksk apartment bombings
, an interview with FSB public relations director

Alexander Zdanovich Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

and MVD head of information

Oleg Aksyonov Oleg (russian: Олег), Oleh ( uk, Олег), or Aleh ( be, Алег) is an East Slavic given name. The name is very common in Russia, Ukraine and Belаrus. It derives from the Old Norse ''Helgi'' ( Helge), meaning "holy", "sacred", or "blesse ...

by Vladimir Varfolomeyev, ''Echo of Moscow'', 16 September 1999.
computer translation
Former FSB agent

Alexander Litvinenko Alexander Valterovich "Sasha" Litvinenko (30 August 1962 ( at WebCite) or 4 December 1962 – 23 November 2006) was a British-naturalised Russian defector and former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who specialised i ...

, who defected and blamed the FSB for the bombings, was

poisoned A poison can be any substance that is harmful to the body. It can be swallowed, inhaled, injected or absorbed through the skin. Poisoning is the harmful effect that occurs when too much of that substance has been taken. Poisoning is not t ...

and killed in London in 2006. A British inquiry later determined that Litvinenko's murder was "probably" carried out with the approval of Putin and Patrushev. The attacks were widely attributed to Chechen terrorists, although their guilt has never been conclusively proven. Some historians and journalists claim the bombings were coordinated by Russian state security services to help bring Putin into the presidency. ''In Memoriam Aleksander Litvinenko'', Jos de Putter, Tegenlicht documentary VPRO 2007, Moscow, 2004 Interview with Anna Politkovskaya’’The consolidation of Dictatorship in Russia’’ by

Joel M. Ostrow Joel or Yoel is a name meaning "Yahweh Is God" and may refer to: * Joel (given name), origin of the name including a list of people with the first name. * Joel (surname), a surname * Joel (footballer, born 1904), Joel de Oliveira Monteiro, Brazili ...

, Georgiy Satarov,

Irina Khakamada Irina Mutsuovna Khakamada ( rus, Ири́на Муцу́овна Хакама́да, p=ɪˈrʲinə mʊˈtsuəvnə xəkɐˈmadə; ja, 袴田イリーナ; born April 13, 1955, in Moscow) is a Russian economist, political activist, journalist, pu ...

p.96 Others disagree with such theories or argue that there is insufficient evidence to assign responsibility for the attacks.

Bombings

Overview

Five apartment bombings took place and at least three attempted bombings were prevented. All bombings had the same "signature", based on the nature and the volume of the destruction. In each case a powerful explosive was used, and the timers were set to go off at night and inflict the maximum number of civilian casualties. The explosives were placed to destroy the weakest, most critical elements of the buildings and force them to "collapse like a house of cards". The individuals behind the bombings were able to obtain or manufacture several tons of powerful explosives and deliver them to numerous destinations across Russia.

Manezhnaya Square, Moscow

On 31 August 1999, at 20:00 local time, a bomb exploded in the amusement arcade of the Manezh Square shopping complex of Moscow.Blast rocks Moscow
, BBC News, 1 September 1999 At least 29 people were injured. According to the FSB, the explosion had been caused by a bomb of about 300 grams of explosives. On 2 September 1999, an unknown person called and claimed that the bombing was committed by the militant organization the " Liberation Army of Dagestan".

Buynaksk, Dagestan

On 4 September 1999, at 22:00, a

car bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roughly divided ...

detonated outside a five-story apartment building in the city of Buynaksk in

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North C ...

, near the border of Chechnya. The building was housing Russian

border guard A border guard of a country is a national security agency that performs border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Federal Police (Germany), Germany, Guardia di Finanza, Italy or State Border Gua ...

soldiers and their families. Sixty-four people were killed and 133 were injured in the explosion."6 Convicted in Russia Bombing That Killed 68"
. Patrick E. Tyler. ''The New York Times'', 20 March 2001 On 4 September 1999, another bomb was discovered shortly after the explosion in the city of Buynaksk in Dagestan. The defused bomb was in a car containing of explosive material. It was discovered by local residents in a parking lot surrounded by an army hospital and residential buildings.

Moscow, Pechatniki

On 9 September 1999, shortly after midnight at 20:00 GMT, a bomb detonated on the ground floor of an apartment building in southeast Moscow (19 Guryanova Street). The explosive power was equivalent to of TNT. The nine-story building was destroyed, killing 106 people inside (with early reports giving 93 dead) and injuring 249 others, and damaging 19 nearby buildings. A total of 108 apartments were destroyed during the bombing. An FSB spokesman announced that traces of

RDX RDX (abbreviation of "Research Department eXplosive") or hexogen, among other names, is an organic compound with the formula (O2N2CH2)3. It is a white solid without smell or taste, widely used as an explosive. Chemically, it is classified as a n ...

and TNT were found on items removed from the site of the explosion. Residents said a few minutes before the blast four men were seen speeding away from the building in a car. Boris Yeltsin ordered the search of 30,000 residential buildings in Moscow for explosives. He took personal control of the investigation of the blast. Putin declared 13 September a day of mourning for the victims of the attacks.

Moscow, Kashirskoye highway

RIAN archive 140276 Removing rubble at site of damaged apartment house on Kashira Highway

On 13 September 1999, at 05:00, a large bomb exploded in a basement of an apartment block on Kashirskoye Highway in southern Moscow, about from the place of the last attack. This was the deadliest blast in the chain of bombings (because the apartment was built with brick), with 119 people killed and 200 injured. The eight-story building was flattened, littering the street with debris and throwing some concrete pieces hundreds of meters away.

Moscow, prevented bombings

On September 13, 1999, the police found and defused bombs in an apartment block on Borisovskiye Prudy street and Kapotnya in Moscow. According to Litvinenko, Felshtinsky and Goldfarb, on 13 September 1999,

Achemez Gochiyaev Achemez Gochiyayev (born 1970 in Karachayevsk) is a Russian citizen who was accused of organizing the Russian apartment bombings, a series of terrorist acts in 1999 that killed 293 people and led the country into the Second Chechen War.FSB officer who asked him to rent basements "as storage facilities" at four locations where bombs were later found. After the second explosion on Kashirskoye highway Gochiyaev recognized he was set up, called the police and told them about the basements of two other buildings at Borisovskie Prudy and Kapotnya, where the explosives were actually found and explosions averted.Я Хочу Рассказать О Взрывах Жилых Домов
, ''

Novaya Gazeta ''Novaya Gazeta'' ( rus, Новая газета, t=New Gazette, p=ˈnovəjə ɡɐˈzʲetə) is an independent Russian newspaper known for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs. It is published in Mo ...

'' No. 18, 14 March 2005 In 2002 Felshtinsky and Litvinenko obtained a written testimony from Achemez Gochiyaev as well as a video recording and several photographs about it. The same statement was received by

Prima News Prima (also: The Moscow Human Rights News Agency) was a news agency in Moscow, Russia which distributed human rights-related news in both English and Russian. It had been in form of newspaper in Moscow since 1987 but was founded as an agency in Feb ...

agency.Achemez Gochiyaev: I’ve been framed up by a FSB agent
by

, 25 July 2002 According to Russian newspaper '' Kommersant'' and the public relations centre of the FSB, further bombings in Moscow were prevented with the help of a real estate agent who called the police after the second bombing in Moscow and told about his client, who rented basements in the two buildings which were blown up in Moscow. The client was identified as Achemez Gochiyaev.

Volgodonsk, Rostov Oblast

A truck bomb exploded on 16 September 1999, outside a nine-story apartment complex in the southern Russian city of

, killing 17 people and injuring 69. The bombing took place at 5:57 am. Surrounding buildings were also damaged. The blast also happened from a nuclear power plant. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a decree calling on law enforcement and other agencies to develop plans within three days to protect industry, transportation, communications, food processing centres and nuclear complexes.

Ryazan incident

At 20:30 on 22 September 1999, Alexei Kartofelnikov, a resident of an apartment building in the city of Ryazan noticed two suspicious men who carried sacks into the basement from a car.Fears of Bombing Turn to Doubts for Some in Russia
, Maura Reynolds, ''Los Angeles Times'', 15 January 2000
, Helen Womack, '' The Independent'', 27 January 2000 While the license plate indicated that the car was registered in Moscow, a sheet of paper was taped over the last two digits, and the number written on it implied that the car was local. Kartofelnikov alerted the police, but by the time they arrived the car and the men were gone. The policemen found three sacks of white powder in the basement, each weighing . A

detonator A detonator, frequently a blasting cap, is a device used to trigger an explosive device. Detonators can be chemically, mechanically, or electrically initiated, the last two being the most common. The commercial use of explosives uses electri ...

and a timing device were attached to the sacks. The detonator was reported by a Russian newspaper to be a

12-gauge The gauge (or commonly bore in British English) of a firearm is a unit of measurement used to express the inner diameter (bore diameter) of the barrel. Gauge is determined from the weight of a solid sphere of lead that will fit the bore of the f ...

shotgun shell A shotgun shell, shotshell or simply shell is a type of rimmed, cylindrical (straight-walled) cartridges used specifically in shotguns, and is typically loaded with numerous small, pellet-like spherical sub- projectiles called shot, fired thro ...

filled with powder. The timer was set to 5:30 AM. Yuri Tkachenko, the head of the local bomb squad, disconnected the detonator and the timer. Reportedly, Tkachenko tested the three sacks of white substance with a "MO-2" gas analyser, which detected

vapors. Inhabitants of the apartment building were evacuated. According to

David Satter David A. Satter (born August 1, 1947) is an American journalist and historian who writes about Russia and the Soviet Union. He has authored books and articles about the decline and fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of post-Soviet Russia. Satt ...

, residents of neighboring buildings fled their homes in terror, to the effect that nearly 30,000 residents spent the night on the street. Police and rescue vehicles converged from different parts of the city. As many as 1,200 local police officers were put on alert, the railroad stations and

the airport "The Airport" is the 52nd episode of the sitcom '' Seinfeld''. It is the 12th episode of the fourth season and aired on November 25, 1992. This episode centers on Jerry and Elaine's differing experiences in first class and coach on the same air ...

were surrounded, and roadblocks were set up on highways leaving the city. At 01:30 on 23 September 1999, explosive engineers of the Ryazan UFSB took a sample of substance from the suspicious-looking sacks to a firing ground located about away from Ryazan for testing.Таймер остановили за семь часов до взрыва: Теракт предотвратил водитель автобуса
, Sergey Topol, Nadezhda Kurbacheva, ''Kommersant'', 24 September 1999 During the substance tests at that area they tried to explode it by means of a detonator, which was also made from a shotgun shell, but the substance failed to detonate.
(1999) At 05:00, Radio Rossiya reported about the attempted bombing, noting that the bomb was set up to go off at 05:30. In the morning, Ryazan resembled a city under siege. Composite sketches of three suspected terrorists, two men and a woman, were posted everywhere in the city and shown on TV. At 08:00 Russian television reported the attempt to blow out the building in Ryazan and identified the explosive used in the bomb as

. ORTbr>newscast on 23.09.99, at 09:00

Vladimir Rushailo Vladimir Borisovich Rushailo (russian: Владимир Борисович Рушайло; born July 28, 1953 in Morshansk, Tambov Oblast) is a Russian politician. While Rushailo was Moscow City Police General of the Moscow RUOP, he was in open c ...

announced later that police prevented a terrorist act. A news report at 16:00 reported that the explosives failed to detonate during their testing outside the city. At 19:00, Vladimir Putin praised the vigilance of the inhabitants of Ryazan, and called for the air bombing of the Chechen capital Grozny in response to the terrorism acts. He said: Edward Lucas, ''The New Cold War: Putin's Russia and the Threat to the West'', Palgrave Macmillan (19 February 2008), , pages 22–28 On 23 September Natalia Yukhnova, a telephone service employee in Ryazan, tapped into a suspicious phone call to Moscow and overheard the following instruction: "Leave one at a time, there are patrols everywhere". The called number was traced to a

telephone exchange A telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a telecommunications system used in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It interconnects telephone subscriber lines or virtual circuits of digital syst ...

unit serving FSB offices. When arrested, the detainees produced FSB identification cards. They were soon released on orders from Moscow. The position of Russian authorities on the Ryazan incident changed significantly over time. Initially, it was declared by the FSB and federal government to be a real threat. However, after the people who planted the bomb were identified, the official version changed to "security training". On 24 September, FSB director Nikolai Patrushev announced that it was an exercise that was being carried out to test responses after the earlier blasts. The Ryazan FSB "reacted with fury" and issued a statement saying: FSB also issued a public apology about the incident. In a show ''Independent Investigation'' on NTV, Evgeniy Savostyanov, former director of Moscow and

Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast ( rus, Моско́вская о́бласть, r=Moskovskaya oblast', p=mɐˈskofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ), or Podmoskovye ( rus, Подмоско́вье, p=pədmɐˈskovʲjə, literally "under Moscow"), is a federal subject of Rus ...

regional FSB branch, has criticized the FSB for performing such exercise on residential buildings with inhabitants inside and without notifying local authorities. In excerpts from the planned Ryazan operation, first published in 2002, it was stated that the exercise was overseen by the head of the FSB's Center of Special Operations (CSO), Major General Alexander Tikhonov.

Detonator and explosives detection equipment controversy

In February 2000, ''

'' journalist Pavel Voloshin published an essay entitled ''What happened in Ryazan: Sugar or Hexogen?'', that was partly based on his two-hour long interview with Yuri Tkachenko, the police explosives expert who defused the Ryazan bomb. The essay noted that it's well known that a gas analyser that tested the vapours coming from the sacks indicated the presence of RDX. Tkachenko said that he was completely certain that the instrument was in correct working order. The gas analyser was of world-class quality, cost $20,000, and was maintained by a specialist who worked according to a strict schedule, making frequent prophylactic checks, because the device contained a radioactive source. Meticulous care in the handling of the gas analyser was a necessity because the lives of the bomb squad experts depended on the reliability of their equipment. Speaking of the detonator, Voloshin noted that people who disarmed the device (Tkachenko and his bomb squad) claimed that the detonator attached to the sacks was not a dummy and had been prepared on a professional level. The police warrant officer who answered the original call and discovered the bomb insisted that there were no doubts it was a combat situation. In March 2000, the newspaper ''Ryazanskiye Vedomosti'' published an interview with Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Maximov, the head of the investigative section of the Ryazan UFSB. Maximov said that the Ryazan bomb squad was equipped with explosive vapour detector "М-02", but bomb-disposal experts didn't like it and used analytical kit "Exprei", which was more accurate. Also in March 2000, the head of the Ryazan UFSB General Sergeyev appeared on TV show "Independent Investigation" commenting on the device used to detect the RDX. According to Sergeyev, it was packed in a briefcase and acted like a

litmus test Litmus test may refer to: * Litmus test (chemistry), used to determine the acidity of a chemical solution * Litmus test (politics), a question that seeks to find the character of a potential candidate by measuring a single indicator * Litmus Test ...

from school. The substance to be investigated was wiped by a collection paper, which was subsequently sprayed from an aerosol can. A change of the paper color

indicated In medicine, an indication is a valid reason to use a certain test, medication, procedure, or surgery. There can be multiple indications to use a procedure or medication. An indication can commonly be confused with the term diagnosis. A diagnosis ...

the presence of explosives. Sergeyev explained the false positive result by prior contamination of the lid of the briefcase, on which Tkachenko poured some sugar from the sacks to perform the test. At a press conference on the occasion of the

Security Agency Worker's Day Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted Coercion, coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons an ...

in December 2001, Tkachenko said that a gas analyser had not been used and the detonator was a

that couldn't detonate any known explosives. In February 2003, '' Kommersant'' journalist studied the criminal investigation file on the Ryazan incident, obtained by Russian State Duma member Sergei Kovalev. According to the proceedings, a bomb disposal expert who arrived to the scene had twice performed a test which didn't show the presence of explosive particles. The head of the bomb squad Tkachenko, who arrived soon after that, made a test himself and found the RDX. The investigator who questioned Yuri Tkachenko concluded that the detection of RDX was made possible by contamination of Yuri Tkachenko's hands, since the latter worked with explosives containing RDX on the day before the incident without wearing sterile gloves. Another detail concerned the type of a device used to detect the explosives. The report submitted by the Ryazan UFSB claimed that gas analyser "M-02" was used. However, during Tkachenko's questioning it was revealed that he had used the device "Exprel" for the analysis. The investigation has resolved the contradiction in the following way. The bomb squad in Ryazan is equipped with the gas analyser "М-02", but the latter has certain limitations. The device has a high degree of imprecision, and the analysis takes a long time. So, the bomb squad used the device "Exprel", which is more robust, accurate and easy to use. But since they were not supposed to possess that device, the bomb squad has submitted the paperwork which showed that the gas analyser "M-02" had been used.

The case of Private Alexei Pinyaev

In March 2000, ''

'' journalist Pavel Voloshin reported the account of Private Alexei P. (later identified as Pinyaev) of the 137th Regiment. Pinyaev guarded a storehouse with weapons and ammunition near the city of Ryazan. Together with a friend, he entered the storehouse to see the weapons. The friends were surprised to see that the storehouse contained sacks with the word "sugar" on them. Pinyaev and his friend were discouraged, but didn't want to leave the storehouse empty-handed. The two paratroopers cut a hole in one of the bags and put some sugar in a plastic bag. They made tea with the sugar, but the taste of the tea was terrible. They became frightened because the substance might turn out to be saltpeter, and brought the plastic bag to a platoon commander. He consulted a sapper, who identified the substance as

hexogen RDX (abbreviation of "Research Department eXplosive") or hexogen, among other names, is an organic compound with the formula (O2N2CH2)3. It is a white solid without smell or taste, widely used as an explosive. Chemically, it is classified as a n ...

. According to Felshtinsky and Pribylovsky, after the newspaper report FSB officers descended on Pinyayev’s unit, accused them of divulging a state secret and told them, "You guys can't even imagine what serious business you’ve got yourselves tangled up in." The regiment later sued publishers of ''Novaya Gazeta'' for insulting the honour of the Russian Army, since there was no Private Alexei Pinyayev in the regiment, according to their statement. A report aired by '' ORT'' in March 2000 and created by journalist Leonid Grozin and operator Dmitry Vishnevoy accused ''Novaya Gazeta'' of lying. According to Grozin and Vishnevoy, there is no storehouse at the test range of the 137th Regiment. Alexei Pinyaev has admitted meeting with Pavel Voloshin, but claimed that he was merely asked to confirm a pre-conceived story. At an FSB press conference in 2001, Private Pinyayev stated that there was no hexogen in the 137th Airborne Regiment and that he was hospitalised in December 1999 and no longer visited the test range.

Explosives in the apartment bombings

After the bombing at Guryanova Street on September 9, the Moscow FSB reported that items removed from the scene showed traces of TNT and RDX (or "hexogen"). Later FSB declared that the explosive used in the bombings was a mixture of aluminium powder, ammonium nitrate, TNT and sugar prepared by the perpetrators in a concrete mixer at a fertiliser factory in

Urus-Martan Urus-Martan (russian: Уру́с-Марта́н; ce, Хьалха-Марта, ''Ẋalxa-Marta'' or , ''Martanthi'') is a town and the administrative center of Urus-Martanovsky District of the Chechen Republic, Russia, located on the Martan River ...

, Chechnya.Two life sentences for 246 murders
, ''Kommersant'', 13 January 2004. (Russian:"в бетономешалке изготовила смесь из сахара, селитры и алюминиевой пудры"Only one explosions suspect still free
, ''Kommersant'', 10 December 2002. Also, each bomb contained some plastic explosive used as an explosive booster. RDX is produced in only one factory in Russia, in the city of Perm. According to

, the FSB changed the story about the type of explosive, since it was difficult to explain how huge amounts of RDX disappeared from the closely guarded Perm facility. According to Lieutenant General of the FSB Ivan Mironov, the precise composition of the explosive mixture was hard to determine, because no visible traces remain after the aluminium powder is consumed in a blast.

Related events

War of Dagestan

On 7 August 1999, an Islamist group, led by Shamil Basayev and Ibn al-Khattab, invaded the Russian republic of

. According to historian René De La Pedraja, the war in Chechnya was planned in advance by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, soon after the kidnapping of

Gennady Shpigun General Gennady Nikolayevich Shpigun (russian: Геннадий Николаевич Шпигун; February 5, 1947 – ca. March 2000) was the Russian Interior Ministry's special representative in Chechnya. He was kidnapped from the airport ...

. The ministry developed a plan for a limited military campaign to occupy the northern third of Chechnya up to the Terek River valley. Putin strongly supported the initial plan to occupy only the northern third of Chechnya. The invasion of militants in Dagestan accelerated the schedule for such a campaign. However, after the apartment bombings, "the usually cool and cautious Putin was swept away in the popular outrage" and decided to approve a much more ambitious campaign to subdue all of Chechnya. The

Russian Army The Russian Ground Forces (russian: Сухопутные войска �В Sukhoputnyye voyska V, also known as the Russian Army (, ), are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Gro ...

was not ready to pursue the extended campaign, which resulted in a prolonged conflict.

Advance warnings about the impending bombings

In July 1999, Russian journalist Aleksandr Zhilin, writing in the ''

Moskovskaya Pravda ''Moskovskaya pravda'' (russian: Московская правда, "Moscow Truth", in the transliteration system used by the Library of Congress spelled "Moskovskaia pravda"), is a daily morning newspaper of Russia, and formerly of the Soviet Uni ...

'', warned that there would be terrorist attacks in Moscow organised by the government. Using a leaked

Kremlin The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty, Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of th ...

document as evidence, he added that the motive would be to undermine the opponents of the Russian President Boris Yeltsin. These included Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov and former prime minister Yevgeny Primakov. However, this warning was ignored. According to Amy Knight, "even more significant is the fact that a respected and influential Duma deputy, Konstantin Borovoi, was told on September 9, the day of the first Moscow apartment bombing, that there was to be a terrorist attack in the city. His source was an officer of the Russian military intelligence ( GRU). Borovoy transmitted this information to FSB officials serving on Yeltsin's Security Council, but he was ignored."

Announcement of impending Volgodonsk bombings in the Russian Duma

On 13 September, just hours after the second explosion in Moscow, Russian Duma speaker

of the Communist Party made an announcement, "I have just received a report. According to information from

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don ( rus, Ростов-на-Дону, r=Rostov-na-Donu, p=rɐˈstof nə dɐˈnu) is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East Eu ...

, an apartment building in the city of

was blown up last night." When the Volgodonsk bombing happened on 16 September, Vladimir Zhirinovsky demanded an explanation in the Duma the following day, but Seleznyov turned his microphone off. Vladimir Zhirinovsky said in the Russian Duma: "Remember, Gennadiy Nikolaevich, how you told us that an apartment block has been blown up in Volgodonsk, three days prior to the blast? How should we interpret this? The State Duma knows that the apartment block was destroyed on Monday, and it has indeed been blown up on Thursday

ame week #REDIRECT AME #REDIRECT AME #REDIRECT AME {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ... {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...

{{redirect category shell, ...

.."Reply of the Public Prosecutor Office of the Russian Federation to a deputy inquiry

believed that someone had mixed up the order of the blasts, "the usual '' Kontora'' mess up". According to Litvinenko, "Moscow-2 was on the 13th and Volgodonsk on 16th, but they got it to the speaker the other way around". Investigator Mikhail Trepashkin confirmed that the man who gave Seleznyov the note was indeed an FSB officer. Later Seleznyov told a Russian newspaper that he actually referred to an explosion organized by criminal gangs, which took place in Volgodonsk and claimed no fatalities. In an August 2017 interview with

Yuri Dud Yury Aleksandrovich Dud (russian: Ю́рий Алекса́ндрович Дудь, ; born 11 October 1986) is a Russian journalist known primarily for his informational online videos distributed as a YouTuber. He has additionally been deputy ...

, Vladimir Zhirinovsky was asked about the incident in State Duma and claimed there was a misunderstanding. From 33:52 to 37:50.

Sealing of all materials by the Russian Duma

The Russian Duma rejected two motions for a parliamentary investigation of the Ryazan incident.Duma Rejects Move to Probe Ryazan Apartment Bomb
, Terror-99, 21 March 2000
, '' The Moscow Times'', 4 April 2000 In the Duma a pro-Kremlin party Unity, voted to seal all materials related to the Ryazan incident for the next 75 years and forbade an investigation into what happened.

Claims and denials of responsibility for the blasts

On 9 September, an anonymous person, speaking with a

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...

accent, phoned the

Interfax Interfax (russian: Интерфакс) is a Russian news agency. The agency is owned by Interfax News Agency joint-stock company and is headquartered in Moscow. History As the first non-governmental channel of political and economic informatio ...

news agency, saying that the blasts in Moscow and Buynaksk were "our response to the bombings of civilians in the villages in Chechnya and Dagestan."The explosion of an apartment house in Moscow put an end to calm in the capital
, A. Novoselskaya, S. Nikitina, M. Bronzova, '' Nezavisimaya Gazeta'', 10 September 1999
computer translation
) On 13 September 1999,

published a report by retired army major

Vyacheslav Izmailov The First Chechen War, also known as the First Chechen Campaign,, rmed conflict in the Chechen Republic and on bordering territories of the Russian FederationФедеральный закон № 5-ФЗ от 12 января 1995 (в реда� ...

, which said that the editorial board of Novaya Gazeta had received information about the planned terrorist attacks from its sources in Chechnya. In a follow-up article published on 20 September 1999, Izmailov revealed that Novaya Gazeta had received the information on 8 September, twelve hours before the bombing on Guryanova street in Moscow, and immediately relayed it to the Chief Directorate Combating Organized Crime (GUBOP) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The article has also identified the source as Alexander Kapanadze, a non-commissioned officer in the Russian Army who was taken captive by Chechens in 1995. According to Izmailov, as many as 10 terrorist attacks have been planned. In a documentary by

Alexey Pivovarov Alexey Pivovarov (Russian: Алексей Пивоваров, born June 12, 1974, in Moscow, USSR) is a Media manager, Journalist, documentary film director, and author of the YouTube Channel Redakciya. In 2020, the GQ magazine named Pivovarov ...

, editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta Dmitry Muratov commented that Kapanadze has disappeared soon after he had met with GUBOP; none of his whereabouts are known. On 15 September, an unidentified man, again speaking with a Caucasian accent, called the ITAR-TASS news agency, claiming to represent a group called the Liberation Army of Dagestan. He said that the explosions in Buynaksk and Moscow were carried out by his organisation. According to him, the attacks were a retaliation to the deaths of Muslim women and children during Russian air raids in Dagestan. "We will answer death with death," the caller said. Russian officials from both the

Interior Ministry An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

and FSB, at the time, expressed scepticism over the claims and said there is no such organization. On 15 September 1999, a Dagestani official also denied the existence of a "Dagestan Liberation Army". In an interview published in Lidove Noviny on September 9, Shamil Basayev denied responsibility for the bombings and said that it had been the work of Dagestanis. According to Basayev, the bombings were a retribution for the military operation of the Russian Army against "three small villages" in Dagestan.AUTUMN 1999 TERRORIST BOMBINGS HAVE A MURKY HISTORY
, ''Monitor'', Volume 8, Issue 27, Jamestown Foundation, 7 February 2002 In subsequent interviews, Basayev said he did not know who perpetrated the bombings. In a 12 September interview with Associated Press, Ibn al-Khattab said that "From now on they will get our bombs everywhere! Let Russia await our explosions blasting through their cities! I swear we will do it!" However, in a subsequent interview on 14 September to the Interfax agency in Grozny, Khattab denied responsibility for the bombings.Chechen president advocates joint action with Russia against terrorism
, Newsline,

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

, 15 September 1999 Chechen Foreign Ministry issued an official statement on 14 September condemning Moscow blasts, and affirming that " Ichkeria stands firmly against terrorism in any manifestation".

Domestic investigations

Criminal investigation and court ruling

In 2000, investigation of the Buynaksk attack was complete and seven people were convicted of the bombing. Russia's pre-trial investigation of the Moscow and Volgodonsk bombings was finished in 2002. According to the Russian State Prosecutor office,Results of the investigation of explosions in Moscow and Volgodonsk and an incident in Ryazan
. The answer of the Russian state Prosecutor office to the inquiry of

Gosduma The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...

member A. Kulikov, circa March 2002
computer translation
) all apartment bombings were executed under command of ethnic Karachay

, Arab militants fighting in Chechnya on the side of Chechen insurgents. Al-Khattab and al-Saif were killed during the Second Chechen War. According to investigators, the explosives were prepared at a fertiliser factory in

Chechnya, by "mixing aluminium powder, nitre and sugar in a concrete mixer",Two life sentences for 246 murders
, '' Kommersant'', 13 January 2004. (Russian:"в бетономешалке изготовила смесь из сахара, селитры и алюминиевой пудры" or by also putting there RDX and TNT. From there they were sent to a food storage facility in

Kislovodsk Kislovodsk (russian: Кислово́дск, lit. ''sour waters''; ; krc, Ачысуу) is a spa city in Stavropol Krai, Russia, in the North Caucasus region of Russia which is located between the Black and Caspian Seas. Population: History I ...

, which was managed by an uncle of one of the terrorists, Yusuf Krymshakhalov. Another conspirator, Ruslan Magayayev, leased a KamAZ truck in which the sacks were stored for two months. After everything was planned, the participants were organised into several groups which then transported the explosives to different cities. According to investigators, the explosion in Moscow mall on 31 August was committed by another man, Magomed-Zagir Garzhikaev on the orders from Shamil Basayev, according to the FSB. Court hearings on the Moscow and Volgodonsk attacks were held behind closed doors, and were completed in 2004. The process has produced 90 volumes of proceedings, 5 of which were classified.

Court rulings

According to the court ruling, Al-Khattab paid Gochiyayev $500,000 to carry out the attacks at Guryanova Street, Kashirskoye Highway, and Borisovskiye Prudy, and then helped to hide Gochiyayev and his accomplices in Chechnya. In early September 1999, Magayayev, Krymshamkhalov, Batchayev and Dekkushev reloaded the cargo into a Mercedes-Benz 2236 trailer and delivered it to Moscow. En route, they were protected from possible complications by an accomplice, Khakim Abayev, who accompanied the trailer in another car. In Moscow they were met by

Achemez Gochiyayev Achemez Gochiyayev (born 1970 in Karachayevsk) is a Russian citizen who was accused of organizing the Russian apartment bombings, a series of terrorist acts in 1999 that killed 293 people and led the country into the Second Chechen War.Hotel Altai under the fake name "Laipanov", and Denis Saitakov. The explosives were left in a warehouse in Ulitsa Krasnodonskaya, which was leased by pseudo-Laipanov (Gochiyayev). The next day, the explosives were delivered in "" vans to three addresses—Ulitsa Guryanova, Kashirskoye Shosse and Ulitsa Borisovskiye Prudy, where pseudo-Laipanov leased cellars. Gochiyayev supervised the placement of the bombs in the rented cellars. Next followed the explosions at the former two addresses. The explosion at 16 Borisovskiye Prudy was prevented. According to the court, 4 September

Buinaksk Buynaksk (russian: Буйна́кск; kum, Шура / Темирхан-Шура, ''Şura / Temirxan-Şura'') is a town in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, located at the foothills of the Greater Caucasus on the Shura-Ozen River, southwest of ...

bombing was ordered by Al-Khattab. Reportedly, since the perpetrators have managed to explode only one truck bomb instead of the two, Khattab called it a "botched job" and paid $300,000 for it, which was a part of the sum he originally promised. One of the suspects confessed having loaded the trucks with sacks in Buynaksk, but claimed he did not know what they were intended for. The explosion in the mall on Manezhnaya Square was the subject of a separate court process held in Moscow in 2009. The court accused Khalid Khuguyev (russian: link=no, Халид Хугуев) and Magumadzir Gadzhikayev (russian: link=no, Магумадзаир Гаджиакаев) of organisation and execution of the 1999 explosions in the Manezhnaya Square mall and in hotel Intourist and sentenced them to 25 years and 15 years of imprisonment, correspondingly.

Sentences

and have both been sentenced to life terms in a special regime colony. Both defendants have pleaded guilty only to some of the charges. For instance, Dekkushev acknowledged that he knew the explosives he transported were to be used for an act of terror. Dekkushev also confirmed Gochiyaev's role in the attacks. Dekkushev was extradited to Russia on 14 April 2002 to stand trial. Krymshakhalov was apprehended and extradicted to Moscow.

f the apartment block bombings of 1999 F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''. Hist ...

will not be closed."Convicted Terrorists Sentenced to Long Prison Terms
In an interview with Dmitry Gordon published on May 18, 2020, former GRU officer Igor Strelkov said that during the initial stage of the Second Chechen war, he was a part of a group which attempted to capture

Achemez Gochiyaev Achemez Gochiyayev (born 1970 in Karachayevsk) is a Russian citizen who was accused of organizing the Russian apartment bombings, a series of terrorist acts in 1999 that killed 293 people and led the country into the Second Chechen War.Dagestani Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North Ca ...

Wahhabis in the case of the Buinaksk bombing, and Karachay Wahhabis in the case of Moscow and Volgodonsk attacks. According to the official investigation, the following people either delivered explosives, stored them, or harboured other suspects:

= Moscow bombings

= * Ibn al-Khattab (a Saudi-born Mujahid), who was poisoned by the FSB in 2002. *

Achemez Gochiyayev Achemez Gochiyayev (born 1970 in Karachayevsk) is a Russian citizen who was accused of organizing the Russian apartment bombings, a series of terrorist acts in 1999 that killed 293 people and led the country into the Second Chechen War.Karachai The Karachays ( krc, Къарачайлыла, Qaraçaylıla or таулула, , 'Mountaineers') are an indigenous Caucasian Turkic ethnic group in the North Caucasus. They speak Karachay-Balkar, a Turkic language. They are mostly situate ...

,ACHIMEZ GOCHIYAYEV: RUSSIA’S TERRORIST ENIGMA RETURNS
has not been arrested; he is still at large)
on FSB web site * Denis Saitakov (an ethnic Tatar from Uzbekistan), killed in Georgia in 1999–2000 * Khakim Abayev (an ethnic Karachai), killed by FSB special forces in May 2004 in

Ingushetia Ingushetia (; russian: Ингуше́тия; inh, ГӀалгӏайче, Ghalghayče), officially the Republic of Ingushetia,; inh, Гӏалгӏай Мохк, Ghalghay Moxk is a republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. ...

Karachayev terrorists found in the morgue
, '' Kommersant'', 8 June 2004. * Ravil Akhmyarov (a Russian citizen), Surname indicates an ethnic Tatar, killed in Chechnya in 1999–2000 * Yusuf Krymshamkhalov (an ethnic Karachai and resident of

), arrested in Georgia in December 2002, extradited to Russia and sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

in January 2004, after a two-month

secret trial A secret trial is a trial that is not open to the public or generally reported in the news, especially any in-trial proceedings. Generally, no official record of the case or the judge's verdict is made available. Often there is no indictment. ...

held without a juryTwo life sentences for 246 murders
, '' Kommersant'', 13 January 2004. * Stanislav Lyubichev (a traffic police inspector, resident of Kislovodsk,

Stavropol Krai Stavropol Krai (russian: Ставропо́льский край, r=Stavropolsky kray, p=stəvrɐˈpolʲskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a Krais of Russia, krai) of Russia. It is geographically located in the North ...

), who helped the truck with explosives pass the checkpoint after getting a sack of sugar as a bribe, sentenced to four years in May 2003A terrorist has imprisoned a policeman
, '' Kommersant'', 15 May 2003.

= Volgodonsk bombing

= * Timur Batchayev (an ethnic Karachai),ПРИЧАСТНЫЕ К ВЗРЫВАМ В МОСКВЕ УСТАНОВЛЕНЫ
, FSB website killed in Georgia in the clash with police during which Krymshakhalov was arrested * Zaur Batchayev (an ethnic Karachai) killed in Chechnya in 1999–2000 * Adam Dekkushev (an ethnic Karachai), arrested in Georgia, threw a grenade at police during the arrest, extradited to Russia and sentenced to life imprisonment in January 2004, after a two-month secret trial held without a jury

= Buinaksk bombing

= * Isa Zainutdinov (an ethnic Avar) and native of Dagestan, sentenced to life imprisonment in March 2001 * Alisultan Salikhov (an ethnic Avar) and native of Dagestan, sentenced to life imprisonment in March 2001 * Magomed Salikhov (an ethnic Avar) and native of Dagestan, arrested in Azerbaijan in November 2004, extradited to Russia, found not guilty on the charge of terrorism by the jury on 24 January 2006; found guilty of participating in an armed force and illegal crossing of the national border,Jury acquitted a Buinaksk suspect
, Lenta.Ru, 2006 January 24. he was retried again on the same charges on 13 November 2006 and again found not guilty, this time on all charges, including the ones he was found guilty of in the first trial.Jury acquitted a Buinaksk suspect again
, Lenta.Ru, 2006 November 13. According to '' Kommersant'' Salikhov admitted that he made a delivery of paint to Dagestan for Ibn al-Khattab, although he was not sure what was really delivered.Khattab said: Your task is small
, '' Kommersant'', 13 November 2006. * Ziyavudin Ziyavudinov (a native of Dagestan), arrested in Kazakhstan, extradited to Russia, sentenced to 24 years in April 2002They should be blown up, not put on trial
, '' Kommersant'', 10 April 2002 * Abdulkadyr Abdulkadyrov (an ethnic Avar) and native of Dagestan, sentenced to 9 years in March 2001 * Magomed Magomedov (Sentenced to 9 years in March 2001) * Zainutdin Zainutdinov (an ethnic Avar) and native of Dagestan, sentenced to 3 years in March 2001 and immediately released under amnesty * Makhach Abdulsamedov (a native of Dagestan, sentenced to 3 years in March 2001 and immediately released under amnesty).

Attempts at an independent investigation

The Russian Duma rejected two motions for a parliamentary investigation of the Ryazan incident. An independent public commission to investigate the bombings was chaired by Duma deputy Sergei Kovalyov. The commission started its work in February 2002. On 5 March

and Duma member

Yuli Rybakov Yuly Andreyevich Rybakov (russian: link=no, Юлий Андреевич Рыбаков; born 25 February 1946) is a Russian human rights activist, a former member of the State Duma (1993–2003), a former Chairman of the Subcommittee on Human Ri ...

flew to London where they met

and Mikhail Trepashkin. After this meeting, Trepashkin began working with the commission. However, the public commission was rendered ineffective because of government refusal to respond to its inquiries.Putin critic loses post, platform for inquiry
, '' The Baltimore Sun'', 11 December 2003Russian court rejects action over controversial "anti-terrorist exercise"
,

, 3 April 2003 Two key members of the Commission,

and

, both Duma members, have died in apparent assassinations in April 2003 and July 2003, respectively.Chronology of events. State Duma Deputy Yushenkov shot dead
,

Centre for Russian Studies Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

, 17 April 2003Worries Linger as Schekochikhin's Laid to Rest
, '' The Moscow Times'', 7 July 2003 Another member of the commission, Otto Lacis, was assaulted in November 2003В Москве жестоко избит Отто Лацис
, NewsRU, 11 November 2003 and two years later, on 3 November 2005, he died in a hospital after a car accident. The commission asked lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin to investigate the case. Trepashkin said he found that the basement of one of the bombed buildings was rented by FSB officer

Vladimir Romanovich Vladimir may refer to: Names * Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name * Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name * Volodymyr for the Ukr ...

and that the latter was witnessed by several people. Trepashkin also investigated a letter attributed to Achemez Gochiyayev and found that the alleged assistant of Gochiyayev who arranged the delivery of sacks might have been Kapstroi-2000 vice president Alexander Karmishin, a resident of Vyazma. Trepashkin was unable to bring the alleged evidence to the court because he was arrested in October 2003 (on charges of illegal arms possession) and imprisoned in Nizhny Tagil, just a few days before he was to make his findings public.For Trepashkin, Bomb Trail Leads to Jail
, '' The Moscow Times'', 14 January 2004 He was sentenced by a Moscow military

closed court ''Closed Court'' (Hungarian: ''Zárt tárgyalás'') is a 1940 Hungarian drama film directed by Géza von Radványi and starring Maria von Tasnady, Antal Páger and Artúr Somlay.''Hungarian Studies Review: HSR., Volumes 20-22''. Hungarian Read ...

to four years imprisonment on a charge of revealing state secrets.Russian Ex-Agent's Sentencing Called Political Investigator was about to release a report on 1999 bombings when he was arrested
, ''Los Angeles Times'', 20 May 2004

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

issued a statement that "there are serious grounds to believe that Mikhail Trepashkin was arrested and convicted under falsified criminal charges which may be politically motivated, in order to prevent him continuing his investigative and legal work related to the 1999 apartment bombings in Moscow and other cities". In a letter to

Olga Konskaya Andrei Lvovich Nekrasov (russian: Андре́й Льво́вич Некра́сов; born 26 February 1958 in Saint Petersburg) is a Russian film and TV director from Saint Petersburg. Life and career Andrei Nekrasov studied acting and directin ...

, Trepashkin wrote that some time before the bombings, Moscow's Regional Directorate against Organized Crimes (RUOP GUVD) arrested several people for selling the explosive

. Following that, Nikolai Patrushev's Directorate of FSB officers came to the GUVD headquarters, captured evidence and ordered the investigators fired. Trepashkin wrote that he learned about the story at a meeting with several RUOP officers in the year 2000. They claimed that their colleagues could present eyewitness accounts in a court. They offered a video tape with evidence against the RDX dealers. Mr Trepashkin did not publicise the meeting fearing for lives of the witnesses and their families. According to Trepashkin, his supervisors and the people from the FSB promised not to arrest him if he left the Kovalev commission and started working together with the FSB "against Alexander Litvinenko".Interview with Mikhail Trepashkin
, RFE/RL, 1 December 2007. "давай вместе работать против Литвиненко и уйди из комиссии по взрывам домов и тогда тебя никто не тронет. Я говорил со своими шефами, совершенно точно, тебя не тронут. Кончай с Ковалевым Сергеем Адамовичем контактировать в Госдуме и так далее." On 24 March 2000, two days before the

presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pr ...

, NTV Russia featured the Ryazan events of Fall 1999 in the talk show ''Independent Investigation''. The talk with the residents of the Ryazan apartment building along with FSB public relations director Alexander Zdanovich and Ryazan branch head Alexander Sergeyev was filmed few days earlier. On 26 March,

Boris Nemtsov Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov ( rus, Бори́с Ефи́мович Немцо́в, p=bɐˈrʲis jɪˈfʲiməvʲɪtɕ nʲɪmˈtsof; 9 October 195927 February 2015) was a Russian physicist and liberal politician. He was involved in the introduction ...

voiced his concern over the possible shut-down of NTV for airing the talk. Seven months later, NTV general manager said at the JFK School of Government that Information Minister Mikhail Lesin warned him on several occasions. Malashenko's recollection of Lesin's warning was that by airing the talk show NTV "crossed the line" and that the NTV managers were "outlaws" in the eyes of the Kremlin. According to Alexander Goldfarb, Mr. Malashenko told him that

Valentin Yumashev Valentin Borisovich Yumashev (russian: link=no, Валентин Борисович Юмашев; born 15 December 1957) is a Russian journalist, politician and businessman-developer, who is the son-in-law of former President Boris Yeltsin and ...

brought a warning from the Kremlin, one day before airing the show, promising in no uncertain terms that the NTV managers "should consider themselves finished" if they went ahead with the broadcast.

Artyom Borovik Artyom Genrikhovich Borovik (russian: Артём Ге́нрихович Борови́к, p=ɐrˈtʲɵm ˈɡʲenrʲɪxəvʲɪtɕ bərɐˈvʲik; 13 September 1960 – 9 March 2000) was a Russian investigative journalist and media magnate. He was ...

was among the people who investigated the bombings. He received numerous death threats and died in a suspicious plane crash in March 2000 that was regarded by Felshtinsky and Pribylovsky as a probable assassination. Yuri Felshtinsky and Vladimir Pribylovsky ''The Age of Assassins: The Rise and Rise of Vladimir Putin'', Gibson Square Books, London, 2008, , pages 116–121. Journalist Anna Politkovskaya and former security service member

, who investigated the bombings, were killed in 2006. Surviving victims of the Guryanova street bombing asked President

Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev ( rus, links=no, Дмитрий Анатольевич Медведев, p=ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪdˈvʲedʲɪf; born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician who has been serving as the dep ...

to resume the official investigation in 2008,The bombing case. Victims ask the president to resume the investigation (Russian)
, RFE/RL, 2 June 2008 but it was not resumed. In a 2017 discussion at the RFE/RL Sergei Kovalyov said: "I think that the Chechen trace was skilfully fabricated. No one from the people who organized the bombings was found, and no one actually was looking for them". He then was asked by Vladimir Kara-Murza if he believes that several key members of his commission, and even Boris Berezovskiy and

who "knew quite a few things about the bombings" were killed to prevent the independent investigation. Kovalev responded: "I cannot state with full confidence that the explosions were organized by the authorities. Although it's clear that the explosions were useful for them, useful for future President

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

, because he had just promised to "waste in the outhouse" (as he said) everyone who had any relation to terrorism. It was politically beneficial for him to scare people with terrorism. That is not proven. But what can be stated with full confidence is this: the investigation of both the Moscow explosions and the so-called "exercises" in Ryazan is trumped up. There can be various possibilities. It seems to me, that Ryazan should have been the next explosion, but I cannot prove that."

Russian government involvement

According to

, Yuri Felshtinsky,

, Vladimir Pribylovsky and Boris Kagarlitsky, the bombings were a successful false flag operation coordinated by the Russian state security services to win public support for a new full-scale war in Chechnya and to bring Putin to power.Did Putin's Agents Plant the Bombs?
Jamie Dettmer,

Insight on the News ''Insight on the News'' (also called ''Insight'') was an American conservative print and online news magazine. It was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate founded by Unification movement founder Sun Myung Moon, ...

, 17 April 2000. Some of them described the bombings as typical "

active measures Active measures (russian: активные мероприятия, translit=aktivnye meropriyatiya) is political warfare conducted by the Soviet or Russian government since the 1920s. It includes offensive programs such as espionage, propaganda ...

" practised by the KGB in the past. The war in Chechnya boosted Prime Minister and former FSB Director Vladimir Putin's popularity, and brought the pro-war Unity Party to the

and Putin to the presidency within a few months. In February 2000, the US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright stated they have not seen any evidence that ties the bombings to Chechnya. During the testimony of David Satter in the United States House of Representatives, he stated that:

With Yeltsin and his family facing possible criminal prosecution, however, a plan was put into motion to put in place a successor who would guarantee that Yeltsin and his family would be safe from prosecution and the criminal division of property in the country would not be subject to reexamination. For "Operation Successor" to succeed, however, it was necessary to have a massive provocation. In my view, this provocation was the bombing in September 1999 of the apartment building bombings in Moscow, Buinaksk, and Volgodonsk. In the aftermath of these attacks, which claimed 300 lives, a new war was launched against Chechnya. Putin, the newly appointed prime minister who was put in charge of that war, achieved overnight popularity. Yeltsin resigned early. Putin was elected president and his first act was to guarantee Yeltsin immunity from prosecution.

According to a reconstruction of the events by Felshtinsky and Pribylovsky: * The bombings in Buynaksk were carried out by a team of twelve GRU officers who were sent to Dagestan and supervised by the head of GRU's 14th Directorate General

Nikolai Kostechko Nikolai Nikolayevich Kostechko (russian: Николай Николаевич Костечко; 25 November 1946 – 3 July 2022) was an officer of the Soviet Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) and its Russian successor, the Main Directorate o ...

. That version was partly based on a testimony by Aleksey Galkin. The bombing in Buynaksk was conducted by the GRU to avoid an "interagency conflict between the FSB and the Ministry of Defense". * In Moscow, Volgodonsk and Ryazan, the attacks were organized by the FSB through a chain of command that included director of the counter-terrorism department General German Ugryumov, FSB operatives

Maxim Lazovsky Maxim Yuryevich Lazovsky (russian: Макси́м Ю́рьевич Лазовский, nicknames "Max", "Lame"; July 31, 1965 – April 28, 2000) was a KGB and FSB officer who became involved in underground business. According to Alexander Litvinen ...

, Vladimir Romanovich, Ramazan Dyshekov and others.

Support

Historians, journalists and politicians

The view about the bombings being organized and perpetrated by Russian state security services was originally put forward by journalist

and historians Yuri Felshtinsky and Vladimir Pribylovsky, in co-authorship with

. It was later supported by a number of historians. Amy Knight, a historian of the KGB, wrote that it was "abundantly clear" that the FSB was responsible for carrying out the attacks and that Vladimir Putin's "guilt seems clear," since it was inconceivable that the FSB would have done so without the sanction of Putin, the agency's former director and by then

Prime Minister of Russia The chairman of the government of the Russian Federation, also informally known as the prime minister, is the nominal head of government of Russia. Although the post dates back to 1905, its current form was established on 12 December 1993 fo ...

. In her book '' Putin's Kleptocracy'', historian

Karen Dawisha Karen Dawisha (nee Hurst, December 2, 1949 – April 11, 2018) was an American political scientist and writer. She was a professor in the Department of Political Science at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and the director of The Havighurst Cente ...

summarized evidence related to the bombings and concluded that "to blow up your own innocent and sleeping people in your capital city is an action almost unthinkable. Yet the evidence that the FSB was at least involved in planting a bomb in Ryazan is incontrovertible." According to Timothy Snyder, "it seemed possible" that the perpetrators of the apartment bombings were FSB officers. Timothy Snyder
''The Road to Unfreedom''
, p. 45 David Satter considered the bombings as a political provocation by the Russian secret services that was similar to the burning of the Reichstag. This view has been also supported by investigative journalists. In 2008, British journalist Edward Lucas concluded in his book ''The New Cold War: Putin's Russia and the Threat to the West'' that "The weight of evidence so far supports the grimmest interpretation: that the attacks were a ruthlessly planned stunt to create a climate of panic and fear in which Putin would quickly become the country's indisputable leader, as indeed he did." In the September 2009 issue of '' GQ'', veteran war correspondent Scott Anderson wrote about on Putin's role in the Russian apartment bombings, based in part on his interviews with Mikhail Trepashkin The journal owner, Condé Nast, then took extreme measures to prevent an article by Anderson from appearing in the Russian media, both physically and in translation. Former Russian State Security Council chief

Alexandr Lebed Lieutenant General Alexander Ivanovich Lebed (russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Ле́бедь, link=no; 20 April 1950 – 28 April 2002) was a Soviet and Russian military officer and politician who held senior positions in the A ...

in his 29 September 1999 interview with '' Le Figaro'' said he was almost convinced that the government organised the terrorist acts.pp
304

389

Andrei Illarionov Andrey Nikolayevich Illarionov (russian: Андре́й Никола́евич Илларио́нов, born 16 September 1961) is a Russian economist and former senior policy advisor to Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, from April 2000 ...

, a former key economic adviser to the Russian president, said that FSB involvement "is not a theory, it is a fact. There is no other element that could have organized the bombings except for the FSB." Later Lebed's public relations staff claimed that he was quoted out of the context. Russian military analyst

Pavel Felgenhauer Pavel Eugenievich Felgenhauer (; born 6 December 1951) is a Russian military analyst known for his publications about Russia's political and military leadership. Biography Felgenhauer was born in 1951 in Moscow, the Soviet Union and graduated ...

noted that "The FSB accused Khattab and Gochiyaev, but oddly they did not point the finger at Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov's regime, which is what the war was launched against." A number of US politicians commented that they consider credible the allegations about Russian state security services as the actual organizers of the bombings. In 2003,

U.S. senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...

said that "It was during Mr. Putin's tenure as Prime Minister in 1999 that he launched the Second Chechen War following the Moscow apartment bombings. There remain credible allegations that Russia's FSB had a hand in carrying out these attacks. Mr. Putin ascended to the presidency in 2000 by pointing a finger at the Chechens for committing these crimes, launching a new military campaign in Chechnya, and riding a frenzy of public anger into office."McCain decries "new authoritarianism in Russia"
,

's press release, 4 November 2003 On 11 January 2017, senator

Marco Rubio Marco Antonio Rubio (born May 28, 1971) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the senior United States senator from Florida, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Speaker of the Florida Hous ...

raised the issue of the 1999 bombings during the confirmation hearings for Rex Tillerson. According to senator Rubio, "there's nincredible body of reporting, open source and other, that this was all—all those bombings were part of a black flag operation on the part of the FSB." On 10 January 2018, senator Ben Cardin of the

United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the U.S. Senate charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. It is generally responsible for overseeing and funding foreign aid pr ...

released a report entitled "Putin's Asymmetric Assault on Democracy in Russia and Europe: Implications for U.S. National Security"., pages 165–171. According to the report, "no credible evidence has been presented by the Russian authorities linking Chechen terrorists, or anyone else, to the Moscow bombings." According to Satter, all four bombings that occurred had a similar "signature" which indicated that the explosives had been carefully prepared, a mark of skilled specialists. There is also no explanation as to how the terrorists were able to obtain tons of hexogen explosive and transport it to various locations in Russia; hexogen is produced in one plant in Perm Oblast for which the central FSB is responsible for the security. The culprits would also have needed to organise nine explosions (the four that occurred and the five attempted bombings reported by the authorities) in different cities in a two-week period. Satter's estimate for the time required for target plan development, site visits, explosives preparation, renting space at the sites and transporting explosives to the sites was four to four and a half months. In a speech to the Oxford Union on 12th March 2022, former MI6 officer

Christopher Steele Christopher David Steele (born 24 June 1964) is a British former intelligence officer with the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1987 until his retirement in 2009. He ran the Russia desk at MI6 headquarters in London between 2006 and 200 ...

voiced support for the idea that the bombings were likely a false flag operation conducted by Russian security services in order to justify the war in Chechnya.

Books and films

The theory of Russian government involvement has been supported in a number of books and movies on the subject.

, a senior fellow of the

Hudson Institute The Hudson Institute is a conservative American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1961 in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, by futurist, military strategist, and systems theorist Herman Kahn and his colleagues at the RAND Corporat ...

, authored two books ''Darkness at Dawn: The Rise of the Russian Criminal State'' and ''The Less You Know, The Better You Sleep: Russia's Road to Terror and Dictatorship under Yeltsin and Putin'' (published by Yale University Press in 2003 and 2016) where he scrutinized the events and came to the conclusion that the bombings were organized by Russian state security services. In 2002, former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko and historian Yuri Felshtinsky published a book '' Blowing up Russia: Terror from within''. According to authors the bombings and other terrorist acts have been committed by Russian security services to justify the Second Chechen War and to bring Vladimir Putin to power.Russian editor questioned over seizure of controversial book
In another book, ''

Lubyanka Criminal Group ''Lubyanka Criminal Group'' (russian: Лубянская преступная группировка; also translated as ''The Gang from Lubyanka'') is a book by Alexander Litvinenko about the alleged transformation of the Russian Security Servi ...

'', Litvinenko and Alexander Goldfarb described the transformation of the FSB into a criminal and terrorist organization, including conducting the bombings. Former GRU analyst and historian

Viktor Suvorov Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun (russian: link=no, Владимир Богданович Резун; born 20 April 1947), known by his pseudonym of Viktor Suvorov () is a former Soviet GRU officer who is the author of non-fiction books about World ...

said that the book describes "a leading criminal group that provides "protection" for all other organized crime in the country and which continues the criminal war against their own people", like their predecessors NKVD and KGB. He added: "The book proves: Lubyanka

he KGB headquarters He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

was taken over by enemies of the people. ... If Putin's team can not disprove the facts provided by Litvinenko, Putin must shoot himself. Patrushev and all other leadership of ''Lubyanka Criminal Group'' must follow his example." Alexander Goldfarb and Marina Litvinenko published a book '' Death of a Dissident''. They asserted that the murder of Mr. Litvinenko was "the most compelling proof" of the FSB involvement theory. According to the book, the murder of Litvinenko "gave credence to all his previous theories, delivering justice for the tenants of the bombed apartment blocks, the Moscow theater-goers,

, and Anna Politkovskaya, and the half-exterminated nation of Chechnya, exposing their killers for the whole world to see." A PBS ''

Frontline Front line refers to the forward-most forces on a battlefield. Front line, front lines or variants may also refer to: Books and publications * ''Front Lines'' (novel), young adult historical novel by American author Michael Grant * ''Frontlines ...

'' documentary on Vladimir Putin also mentioned the theory and FSB involvement, citing the quick removal of rubble and bodies from the bombing scenes before any investigation could take place, the discovery of the Ryazan bomb, the deaths of several people who had attempted to investigate the bombings, as well as the defused Ryazan bomb being made of Russian military explosives and detonators. A documentary film Assassination of Russia was made in 2000 by two French producers who had previously worked on NTV's ''Sugar of Ryazan'' program. A documentary ''Nedoverie'' ("Disbelief") about the bombing controversy made by Russian director

Andrei Nekrasov Andrei Lvovich Nekrasov (russian: Андре́й Льво́вич Некра́сов; born 26 February 1958 in Saint Petersburg) is a Russian film and TV director from Saint Petersburg. Life and career Andrei Nekrasov studied acting and directin ...

was premiered at the 2004

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

. The film chronicles the story of Tatyana and Alyona Morozova, the two Russian-American sisters, who had lost their mother in the attack, and decided to find out who did it.Screening Horror; A new film seeks the truth behind the 1999 bombings.
, ''The Moscow Times''Disbelief
. The record in IMDb. on Google Video His next film on the subject was '' Rebellion: the Litvinenko Case''. The film doesn't intend to investigate the Litvinenko murder, rather than that, its goal is to put the case into a wider context of the events unfolding in post-Soviet Russia. Yuli Dubov, author of ''The Big Slice'', wrote a novel ''The Lesser Evil'', based on the bombings. The main characters of the story are ''Platon'' ( Boris Berezovsky) and ''Larry'' ( Badri Patarkatsishvili). They struggle against an evil KGB officer, ''Old man'' (apparently inspired by the legendary

Philipp Bobkov Filipp Denisovich Bobkov (russian: Фили́пп Дени́сович Бобко́в; 1 December 1925 – 17 June 2019) was a Soviet and Russian KGB functionary, who worked as the chief of the KGB subunit responsible for repressing dissent (Fi ...

), who brings another KGB officer, ''Fedor Fedorovich'' (Vladimir Putin) to power by staging a series of apartment bombings.

Criticism

In March 2000, Putin dismissed the allegations of FSB involvement in the bombings as "delirious nonsense." "There are no people in the Russian secret services who would be capable of such crime against their own people. The very allegation is immoral," he said. An FSB spokesman said that "Litvinenko's evidence cannot be taken seriously by those who are investigating the bombings". According to

Strobe Talbott Nelson Strobridge Talbott III (born April 25, 1946) is an American foreign policy analyst focused on Russia. He was associated with ''Time'' magazine, and a diplomat who served as the Deputy Secretary of State from 1994 to 2001. He was president ...

who was a United States Deputy Secretary of State during the events, "there was no evidence to support" the "conspiracy theory, although Russian public opinion did indeed solidify behind Putin in his determination to carry out a swift, decisive counteroffensive." According to Russian investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov, "From the start, it seemed that the Kremlin was determined to suppress all discussion ... When Alexander Podrabinek, a Russian human rights activist, tried to import copies of Litvinenko's and Felshtinsky's ''Blowing up Russia'' in 2003, they were confiscated by the FSB. Trepashkin himself, acting as a lawyer for two relatives of the victims of the blast, was unable to obtain information he requested and was entitled to see by law". However, Soldatov believed that the obstruction might reflect "'paranoia' rather than guilt on the part of the authorities". Consequently, Soldatov argued, that paranoia has produced the very conspiracy theories that the Russian Government intended to eradicate. In their book ''

The New Nobility ''The New Nobility: The Restoration of Russia's Security State and the Enduring Legacy of the KGB'' (2010) is a non-fiction English-language book by Russian journalists and independent security service experts Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan. T ...

'', Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan believe that the Ryazan incident had actually been a training exercise. According to the authors, such exercises are typical for

Vympel Directorate "V" of the FSB Special Purpose Center, often referred to as Spetsgruppa "V" Vympel ( pennant in Russian, originated from German , and having the same meaning), but also known as KGB Directorate "V", Vega Group, is an elite Russian ...

, a unit of the FSB whose mission is to verify the efficacy of counterterrorism measures at sites such as nuclear plants. In authors' opinion, the book ''Blowing Up Russia'' by Felshtinsky and Litvinenko contained no new evidence against the FSB, and claims by Trepashkin were highly dubious. Soldatov and Borogan noted that the main point of allegations against the FSB was that

Achemez Gochiyaev Achemez Gochiyayev (born 1970 in Karachayevsk) is a Russian citizen who was accused of organizing the Russian apartment bombings, a series of terrorist acts in 1999 that killed 293 people and led the country into the Second Chechen War.Robert Bruce Ware Robert Bruce Ware is Professor of Philosophy at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Ware earned an AB in political science from University of California, Berkeley, UC Berkeley, an MA in philosophy from University of California, San Diego, U ...

, the simplest explanation for the apartment block blasts is that they were perpetrated by Islamist extremists from North Caucasus who sought retribution for the attacks of the Federal forces against the Islamist enclave in the central Dagestan, known as the Islamic Djamaat. Ware points out that that would explain the timing of the attacks, and why there were no attacks after the date on which the insurgents were driven from Dagestan. It would also explain why no Chechen claimed responsibility. Also it would explain Basayev's reference to responsibility of Dagestanis and it would be consistent with the initial vow of Khattab to set off the bombs blasting through Russian cities. Ware also criticizes an argument that

and

Rajan Menon Rajan Menon (born 1953) is a political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, polit ...

use to support the view of Russian security services responsibility for the bombings—that the apartment block explosions involved hexogen, which is a highly controlled substance in Russia and is extraordinarily difficult to obtain. According to Ware, that's not the case, as sizable amounts of hexogen (as well as other weaponry) were readily available in Dagestan. As a proof, Ware cites the police reports of the program for voluntary surrender of arms in Dagestan which ran for a couple of months in 2003 and revealed large quantities of hexogen and ammonite. Max Abrahms, a researcher who is critical of the efficacy of terrorism in general, argued that the bombings were detrimental for the self-determination of Chechnya. He noted that the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria has achieved a de facto independence from Russia after the

Khasavyurt Accord Khasavyurt Accord ( ce, Хаси-Эвлан Барт, russian: Хасавюртовские соглашения) was an agreement that marked the end of the First Chechen War, signed in Khasavyurt in Dagestan on 30 August 1996 between Alexander L ...

, with two thirds of Russian citizens favoring the separation of the breakaway republic. However, the public opinion in Russia has changed dramatically after the bombings. Most Russians started "baying for blood" and strongly supporting the war with Chechnya that became inevitable and led to the loss of the independence as a result of the bombings. According to Abrahms, this supports his theory that attacks by terrorist organizations have been always counterproductive for the perpetrators and therefore gave rise to conspiracy theories about alternative perpetrators who actually benefited from the events. Political scientist Ronald R. Pope in his review of David Satter's book ''Darkness at Dawn'' cited Kirill Pankratov's criticism, published as a contribution to

Johnson's Russia List Johnson's Russia List (JRL) is an email newsletter containing Russia-related news and analysis in English. David Johnson is the list's editor. The JRL generally comes out one or more times per day. JRL's content includes articles syndicated from ...

. Regarding the apartment bombings, Pankratov argued that the Russian authorities did not need an additional justification to wage a war against Chechnya, in view of high-profile kidnappings and the invasion of Dagestan. One of his other arguments was that the theory of FSB responsibility for the bombings implied that it had been able to keep the lid on the operation much more effectively than the FSB had been able to execute it. Political scientist Brian Taylor believes that there is too little evidence to decide which version of the events is correct, as the available evidence is fragmentary and controversial. Taylor identifies several reasons to doubt the conspiracy version. First, while the bombings did propel Putin to power, that alone is not proof that this was the goal of the attacks. Second, there was a ''casus belli'' even without the bombings—namely, the invasion of Dagestan and multiple kidnappings in the region in the preceding years. Third, if the goal of the bombings was to justify a new war, one or two bombings in Moscow would be more than adequate; any subsequent bombings would be potentially dangerous, because they would increase the risk to expose the conspiracy. Fourth, a complex plot involving multiple players and a large number of FSB operatives could not be kept secret. According to Taylor, it is plausible that the FSB "simulated" an attack in Ryazan in order to claim credit for "uncovering" it; however, the plot was foiled by vigilant local denizens and law enforcement personnel, and the "training exercise" justification was improvised after the plot failed.

Yuri Luzhkov Yuri may refer to: People and fictional characters Given name *Yuri (Slavic name), the Slavic masculine form of the given name George, including a list of people with the given name Yuri, Yury, etc. * Yuri (Japanese name), also Yūri, feminine Ja ...

, Mayor of Moscow at the time of the bombings, believed that the bombings in Moscow were facilitated by new legislation that established

freedom of movement Freedom of movement, mobility rights, or the right to travel is a human rights concept encompassing the right of individuals to travel from place to place within the territory of a country,Jérémiee Gilbert, ''Nomadic Peoples and Human Rights' ...

within the country, which was restricted prior to 1993. According to Luzhkov, the law made it possible for Chechen terrorists to bring weapons to Moscow and store them there, as well as purchase vehicles and provide housing for their personnel who had arrived in Moscow. According to Luzhkov, "for three months, after having arrived in Moscow, a terrorist could live wherever he wanted and stay with anyone, without notifying the police", which allowed the terrorists to prepare the bombings.

Sealing information by the US government

On 14 July 2016,

filed

Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act * ...

(FOIA) requests with the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

, the CIA and the FBI, inquiring about documents pertaining to the apartment bombings, the Ryazan incident and persons who tried to investigate the bombings and were killed. The agencies acknowledged receipt of the requests, but Satter received no other response within the statutory time limit. On 29 August 2016, Satter filed suit against the Department of Justice and other agencies involved. However, the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

refused even to acknowledge the existence of any relevant records because doing so would reveal "very specific aspects of the Agency's intelligence interest, or lack thereof, in the Russian bombings." The State Department responded with a redacted copy of a cable from the U.S. embassy in Moscow. According to the cable, on 24 March 2000, a former member of Russian intelligence services told a U.S. diplomat that the real story about the Ryazan incident could never be known because it "would destroy the country." The informant said the FSB had "a specially trained team of men" whose mission was "to carry out this type of urban warfare". The informant has also said that Viktor Cherkesov, the FSB's first deputy director and an interrogator of

Soviet dissidents Soviet dissidents were people who disagreed with certain features of Soviet ideology or with its entirety and who were willing to speak out against them. The term ''dissident'' was used in the Soviet Union in the period from the mid-1960s until t ...

was "exactly the right person to order and carry out such actions." David Satter made a renewed FOIA request, and on 22 March 2017, State Department responded that documents concerning the U.S. assessment of the bombings would remain secret. A draft Vaughn index, a document used by agencies to justify withholdings in FOIA cases, said that the release of that information had "the potential to inject friction into or cause serious damage" to relationships with the Russian government that were "vital to U.S. national security".How America Helped Make Vladimir Putin Dictator for Life
by

, 29 August 2017 On 16 March 2018, the case ''Satter v. Department of Justice'' was closed.

Impact on survivors

Multiple survivors of the bombings have developed disabilities, with many of them diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. In 2006 Irina Khalai, a survivor of the Volgodonsk bombing, founded the NGO "Volga-Don", which promotes legislation for the legal recognition of victims of terrorist attacks.

Chronology of events

* 5 August 1999: Shamil Basayev enters western

from

Chechnya Chechnya ( rus, Чечня́, Chechnyá, p=tɕɪtɕˈnʲa; ce, Нохчийчоь, Noxçiyçö), officially the Chechen Republic,; ce, Нохчийн Республика, Noxçiyn Respublika is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the ...

, starting the War of Dagestan * 9 August 1999:

Stepashin Sergei Vadimovich Stepashin (russian: Сергей Вадимович Степашин; born 2 March 1952) is a Russian politician who briefly served as Prime Minister of Russia in 1999. Prior to this he had been appointed as federal security m ...

is dismissed and Putin becomes prime minister * 22 August 1999: The forces of Shamil Basayev withdraw back into Chechnya * 25 August 1999: Russian jets make bombing runs against 16 sites in Chechnya * 31 August 1999: Bombing in Moscow,

Manezhnaya Square Manezhnaya Square, russian: Манежная площадь, , links=no may refer to: * Manezhnaya Square, Moscow * Manezhnaya Square, Saint Petersburg Manezhnaya Square (russian: Манежная площадь, romanized ''Manezhnaya ploschad ...

, 29 people are injured * 4 September 1999: Bombing in Buynaksk, 64 people killed, 133 are injured * 9 September 1999: Bombing in Moscow, Pechatniki, 94 people are killed, 249 are injured * 13 September 1999: Bombing in Moscow, Kashirskoye highway, 118 are killed * 13 September 1999: A bomb is defused and a warehouse containing several tons of explosives and six timing devices is found in Moscow * 13 September 1999: Russian Duma speaker

makes an announcement about the bombing of an apartment building in the city of

that only takes place three days later * 16 September 1999: Bombing in

, 18 are killed, 288 injured * 23 September 1999: An apartment bomb is found in the city of Ryazan.

announces that police prevented a terrorist act. Vladimir Putin praises the vigilance of the citizens and calls for the air bombing of Grozny * 23–24 September 1999: According to David Satter, FSB agents who planted the bomb in Ryazan are arrested by local police * 24 September 1999: Nikolai Patrushev declares that the incident was a training exercise and frees the FSB agents * 24 September 1999: Second Chechen War begins

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* {{Chechen wars Islamic terrorism in Russia Explosions in 1999 Censorship in Russia False flag operations Vladimir Putin Building collapses in Russia Chechen–Russian conflict Events in Moscow Terrorist incidents in Russia in 1999 Mass murder in 1999 20th-century mass murder in Russia Conflicts in 1999 Massacres in Russia Murder in Moscow Federal Security Service Second Chechen War Terrorist incidents in Moscow 1999 in Moscow September 1999 events in Russia Building bombings in Russia Building collapses caused by fire 1999 murders in Russia