1999 Russian apartment bombings

Terrorist bombings in Russia October 2025 Russian apartment bombings Apartment bombing.jpg Buynaksk, Moscow, and Volgodonsk Residential apartment buildings in Russia 4–16 September 1999 Time bombs RDX 307 1,700+ Disputed: Russian government (FSB and GRU) Achemez Gochiyayev and accomplices In September 1999, a series of explosions hit four apartment blocks in the Russian cities of Buynaksk, Moscow, and Volgodonsk, killing more than 300, injuring more than 1,000, and spreading a wave of fear across the country. The bombings, together with the 1999 war of Dagestan, triggered the Second Chechen War.Yeltsin 2000 335–338 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. Another bombing happened in Volgodonsk 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 https://web.archive.org/web/20120210221753/http://vip.lenta.ru/doc/2002/05/14/prosecutors/ 10 February 2012 ru, machine translation https://web.archive.org/web/20210225215131/https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fvip.lenta.ru%2Fdoc%2F2002%2F05%2F14%2Fprosecutors%2F 25 February 2021.September 1999 Russian apartment bombings timeline - Blog - The Fifth Estate CBC 2015-01-08 https://www.cbc.ca/fifth/blog/september-1999-russian-apartment-bombings-timeline 2020-07-02 15 September 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200915042302/https://www.cbc.ca/fifth/blog/september-1999-russian-apartment-bombings-timeline live On 23 September, Vladimir Putin even praised the vigilance of the inhabitants of Ryazan and ordered the air bombing of Grozny, which marked the beginning of the Second Chechen War.Goldfarb Litvinenko 2007 190, 196 Three Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agents who had planted the devices at Ryazan were arrested by the local police. The next day, FSB director Nikolai Patrushev announced that the incident in Ryazan had been an anti-terror drill and the device found there contained only sugar, and freed the FSB agents involved.http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9909/24/russia.bomb.01/ Russian bomb scare turns out to be anti-terror drill CNN 24 September 1999 20 August 2019 20 August 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190820111509/http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9909/24/russia.bomb.01/ dead The official investigation of the Buynaksk bombing was completed in 2001, while the investigations of the Moscow and Volgodonsk bombings were 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 organized and led by Achemez Gochiyaev, who remains at large. All bombings, the court ruled, were ordered by Islamist warlords Ibn Al-Khattab and Abu Omar al-Saif, 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 from the Russian government.Two Decades On, Smoldering Questions About The Russian President's Vault To Power https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-russia-president-1999-chechnya-apartment-bombings/30097551.html 2022-02-18 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 20 August 2019 en 18 February 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220218104829/https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-russia-president-1999-chechnya-apartment-bombings/30097551.html live Eckel Mike Knight Amy Finally, We Know About the Moscow Bombings New York Review of Books en https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/11/22/finally-we-know-about-moscow-bombings/ 2022-02-18 0028-7504 18 February 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220218104830/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/11/22/finally-we-know-about-moscow-bombings/ live State Duma deputy Yuri Shchekochikhin 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.Russian Federation: Amnesty International's concerns and recommendations in the case of Mikhail Trepashkin https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur46/012/2006/en/ Amnesty International 23 March 2006 22 November 2018 22 November 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20181122054145/https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur46/012/2006/en/ live The commission was rendered ineffective because of the government's refusal to respond to its inquiries. Two key members of the Kovalev Commission, Sergei Yushenkov and Yuri Shchekochikhin, have since died in apparent assassinations.http://mn.ru/issue.php?2003-35-30 Московские Новости MN.RU 29 January 2012 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20120229133157/http://mn.ru/issue.php?2003-35-30 29 February 2012http://beta.echo.msk.ru/programs/beseda/19169/ Радиостанция 'Эхо Москвы' / Передачи / Интервью / Четверг, 25 July 2002: Сергей Ковалев Beta.echo.msk.ru 25 July 2002 29 January 2012 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20120216093631/http://beta.echo.msk.ru/programs/beseda/19169/ 16 February 2012 The commission's lawyer and investigator Mikhail Trepashkin was arrested and served four years in prison "for revealing state secrets".ru Volgodonsk (Rostov region) apartment bombing; criminal investigation of Moscow and Buynaksk apartment bombings https://web.archive.org/web/20110429021305/http://www.echo.msk.ru/programs/beseda/11242/ 29 April 2011, an interview with FSB public relations director Alexander Zdanovich and MVD head of information Oleg Aksyonov by Vladimir Varfolomeyev, Echo of Moscow, 16 September 1999. computer translation https://web.archive.org/web/20210308075027/http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.echo.msk.ru%2Fprograms%2Fbeseda%2F11242%2F 8 March 2021 Although the bombings were widely blamed on Chechen terrorists, their guilt was never conclusively proven.Petersson Bo Hutcheson Derek Language and Society in the Caucasus. Understanding the past, navigating the present 2021 Lund: Universus Press 978-91-87439-67-4 https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1557806&dswid=-7713 Rising from the ashes. The role of Chechnya in contemporary Russian politics 149 Even if their guilt was never conclusively proven and the circumstances of the bomb blasts were shrouded in mystery, the attacks were widely attributed to Chechen terrorists (Dawisha 2014, 207–223). Together, these events provided Putin with the casus belli that he needed to initiate the Second Chechen War. 30 June 2021 9 July 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210709181719/http://mau.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:1557390&dswid=-2698 live A number of historians and investigative journalists have instead called the bombings a false flag attack perpetrated by Russian state security services to win public support for a new war in Chechnya and to boost the popularity of Vladimir Putin prior to the upcoming presidential elections.https://www.nationalreview.com/2016/08/vladimir-putin-1999-russian-apartment-house-bombings-was-putin-responsible/ The Unsolved Mystery Behind the Act of Terror That Brought Putin to Power Satter David David Satter National Review 17 August 2016 none 31 March 2018 26 April 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180426185847/https://www.nationalreview.com/2016/08/vladimir-putin-1999-russian-apartment-house-bombings-was-putin-responsible/ livehttp://www.hudson.org/files/publications/SatterHouseTestimony2007.pdf David Satter – House committee on Foreign Affairs 29 January 2012 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20110927065706/http://www.hudson.org/files/publications/SatterHouseTestimony2007.pdf 27 September 2011Felshtinsky Pribylovsky 2008 105–111PnkYo9TuBIQ 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, Georgiy Satarov, Irina Khakamada p.96Salter Lamar Lopez Linette Kakoyiannis Alana How a series of deadly Russian apartment bombings in 1999 led to Putin's rise to power https://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-1999-russian-apartment-bombings-led-to-putins-rise-to-power-2018-3 Business Insider 22 March 2018 7 May 2020 17 April 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200417140025/https://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-1999-russian-apartment-bombings-led-to-putins-rise-to-power-2018-3 liveStein Jeff 2022-02-07 Russian 'False Flag' Ukraine Plot Wouldn't Be Its First https://www.military.com/daily-news/opinions/2022/02/05/russian-false-flag-ukraine-plot-wouldnt-be-its-first.html 2022-02-18 Military.com en 18 February 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220218104830/https://www.military.com/daily-news/opinions/2022/02/05/russian-false-flag-ukraine-plot-wouldnt-be-its-first.html live Former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko, who blamed the FSB for the bombings and was a critic of Putin, was assassinated in London in 2006. A British inquiry later determined that Litvinenko's murder was "probably" carried out with the approval of Vladimir Putin and Nikolai Patrushev.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35370819 President Putin 'probably' approved Litvinenko murder BBC News 21 January 2016 23 February 2021 9 September 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210909202035/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35370819 live Preceding events Advance warnings about the impending bombings In July 1999, Russian journalist Aleksandr Zhilin, writing in the Moskovskaya Pravda, warned that there would be terrorist attacks in Moscow organised by the government. Using a leaked Kremlin 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.Knight Amy Amy Knight 22 November 2012 Finally, We Know About the Moscow Bombings http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/11/22/finally-we-know-about-moscow-bombings/ New York Review of Books 7 December 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20211207194054/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/11/22/finally-we-know-about-moscow-bombings/ liveSatter 2003 63 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."Satter 2003 267 War in Dagestan War in Dagestan On 7 August 1999, an Islamist group, led by Shamil Basayev and Ibn al-Khattab, invaded the Russian republic of Dagestan. The war in Dagestan was allegedly planned in advance by the Russian government to justify starting the war in Chechnya. However, the initial plan included only a limited campaign to occupy the northern third of Chechnya up to the Terek River valley. After the apartment bombings, Putin approved a more ambitious campaign to subdue all of Chechnya.De La Pedraja 2018 147–148 Bombings List of people allegedly involved in the 1999 Russian apartment bombings List of deaths related to the 1999 Russian apartment bombings Overview Four apartment bombings took place and at least three attempted bombings were prevented.Satter 2003 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.Goldfarb Litvinenko 2007 196 The explosives were placed to destroy the weakest, most critical elements of the buildings and force them to "collapse like a house of cards".Satter 2003 66 The individuals behind the bombings were able to obtain or manufacture several tons of powerful explosives and deliver them to numerous destinations across Russia.http://www.da.mod.uk/colleges/arag/document-listings/russian/J21%20-%20Complete.pdf Dr Mark Smith, A Russian Chronology July 1999 – September 1999 https://web.archive.org/web/20090305100638/http://www.da.mod.uk/colleges/arag/document-listings/russian/J21%20-%20Complete.pdf Conflict Studies Research Centre October 1999 5 March 2009 28 June 2017 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.2010-03-29 Timeline - Bomb attacks in Moscow en Reuters https://www.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-47291020100329 2022-12-14 6 November 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20201106205930/https://www.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-47291020100329 live Blast rocks Moscow, BBC News, 1 September 1999Всего лишь 200 грамм тротила http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/224711 Kommersant 1 September 1999 Sergey Topol Oleg Stulov 17 September 2013 27 September 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20130927114356/http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/224711 live At least 29 people were injured.Satter 2003 64Теракты в Москве в 1995-2010 гг. https://www.rbc.ru/society/24/01/2011/5703e2a39a79473c0df196fc RBK 24 January 2011 ru 20 August 2020 23 January 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210123105048/https://www.rbc.ru/society/24/01/2011/5703e2a39a79473c0df196fc liveTIMELINE - Bomb attacks in Moscow https://www.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-47291020100329 Reuters 29 March 2010 20 August 2020 6 November 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20201106205930/https://www.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-47291020100329 liveLaTourette Tom Howell David R. Mosher David E. MacDonald John Reducing Terrorism Risk at Shopping Centers: An analysis of Potential Security Options 20 March 2007 RAND Corporation 978-0833040404 64 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".Теракт в ТК "Охотный ряд" в Москве 31 August 1999 года. Справка РИА Новости http://ria.ru/society/20090831/183078731.html RIA Novosti 18 September 2013 6 November 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20181106214315/https://ria.ru/society/20090831/183078731.html live Buynaksk, Dagestan On 4 September 1999, at 22:00, a car bomb detonated outside a five-story apartment building in the city of Buynaksk in Dagestan, near the border of Chechnya. The building was housing Russian border guard soldiers and their families.https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/438691.stm Russia hit by new Islamic offensive BBC News 5 September 1999 29 January 2012 26 May 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120526213323/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/438691.stm live Sixty-four people were killed and 133 were injured in the explosion.Goldfarb Litvinenko 2007 177"6 Convicted in Russia Bombing That Killed 68" https://web.archive.org/web/20170321085952/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/20/world/6-convicted-in-russia-bombing-that-killed-68.html 21 March 2017. 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.Non-Fiction Reviews https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/3672012/Vladimir-Putin-and-his-corporate-gangsters.html Vladimir Putin and his corporate gangsters The Daily Telegraph 21 March 2008 29 January 2012 2 January 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120102122553/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/3672012/Vladimir-Putin-and-his-corporate-gangsters.html live The defused bomb was in a car containing 2,706 kg lb of explosive material. It was discovered by local residents in a parking lot surrounded by an army hospital and residential buildings. Moscow, Pechatniki thumb|A photo of the bombing at Guryanova St. shows a collapsed section of the building{ "type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [ { "type": "Feature", "properties": {}, "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ 37.719208, 55.688403 ] } }, { "type": "Feature", "properties": {}, "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ 37.625985, 55.667414 ] } }, { "type": "Feature", "properties": {}, "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ 37.748015, 55.635951 ] } } ] }On 9 September 1999, shortly after midnight at 20:00 GMT,https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/443161.stm Russia mourns blast victims BBC News 9 September 1999 29 January 2012 3 August 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120803124301/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/443161.stm live a bomb detonated on the ground floor of an apartment building in southeast Moscow (19 Guryanova Street). The explosive power was equivalent to 300 - 400 kg 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 and TNT were found on items removed from the site of the explosion.Felshtinsky Litvinenko 2007 85 Residents said a few minutes before the blast four men were seen speeding away from the building in a car.Russian blast deaths blamed on terrorism https://web.archive.org/web/20170930180149/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/russian-blast-deaths-blamed-on-terrorism-1117552.html 30 September 2017, Helen Womack, The Independent, 10 September 1999 The FSB declared the bombing a terrorist attack the following morning, 10 September 1999. That day, Vladimir Putin was due to fly to Auckland for the 1999 APEC summit; after a brief consultation with Boris Yeltsin, it was decided that the trip go ahead as planned. Yeltsin had originally intended to go himself, but reasoned to Bill Clinton that Putin would almost certainly be president himself by the year 2000, contrary to speculation over Yeltsin's successor. Prior to his flight, Putin telephoned Clinton and claimed he had "every reason to believe" that Chechen extremists were not only behind the attacks but had links to the Al-Qaeda group which had perpetrated the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam the previous year. Putin and Clinton would have their first face-to-face meeting in Auckland the following day, and Putin flew back shortly afterward.Short Philip Putin Henry Holt and Company 2022 9781627793667 2nd New York, N.Y. 279–280 en Yeltsin ordered the search of 30,000 residential buildings in Moscow for explosives.Satter 2003 65 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 thumb|Rescuers digging for survivors after Kashira road bombing. 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 6 km mi 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.Goldfarb Litvinenko 2007 189 The eight-story building was flattened, littering the street with debris and throwing some concrete pieces hundreds of meters away.https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/445529.stm Dozens dead in Moscow blast BBC News 13 September 1999 29 January 2012 At least 49 bodies, including children, have been found. Dozens more may be still trapped under the rubble. ... It is thought that few of the 120 people who lived in the block – situated on Kashirskoye Shosse – will have survived. ... The police are linking the blast to the bomb which killed 93 people in another block of flats in Moscow last Thursday. 26 May 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120526213512/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/445529.stm live Moscow, prevented bombings thumb|Apartment on Borisovskiye Prudy street, Moscow, where one of the bombs was found and disarmed in September 1999. On 13 September 1999, a local businessman Achemez Gochiyaev called to police and reported about bombs located in apartment blocks on Borisovskiye Prudy and Kapotnya in Moscow. The police found and defused two bombs.Murphy 2004 104Pokalova 2015 94 Gochiyaev claimed that he was framed by his old acquaintance, an 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 realized 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.Felshtinsky Litvinenko 2007 205–206ru Я Хочу Рассказать О Взрывах Жилых Домов https://web.archive.org/web/20070108190014/http://2005.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2005/18n/n18n-s08.shtml 8 January 2007, Novaya Gazeta 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.https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2154100.stm Russia hits back over blasts claims BBC News 26 July 2002 29 January 2012 3 August 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120803130951/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2154100.stm live Felshtinsky Litvinenko 2007 201–202ru Сюн Юрий Террористы всегда платили наличными https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/226142 Kommersant 24 September 1999 21 August 2017 22 August 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170822053010/https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/226142 live The statement by Gochiyaev was also received by Prima News agency.Achemez Gochiyaev: I’ve been framed up by a FSB agent https://web.archive.org/web/20070104164048/http://www.prima-news.ru/eng/news/articles/2002/7/25/16413.html 4 January 2007 by Prima News, 25 July 2002 Announcement of a Volgodonsk bombing in the Russian Duma On 13 September, just hours after the second explosion in Moscow, Russian Duma speaker Gennadiy Seleznyov of the Communist Party made an announcement, "I have just received a report. According to information from Rostov-on-Don, an apartment building in the city of Volgodonsk was blown up last night."Goldfarb Litvinenko 2007 265https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfQBM2z2a5A1 Video of the Incident Арсений Горюнов 5 January 2014 8 March 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210308204929/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfQBM2z2a5A1 liveHaunting Yushenkov Lecture Broadcast http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=13&issue_id=576&article_id=4218 The Jamestown Foundation https://web.archive.org/web/20070930192310/http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=13&issue_id=576&article_id=4218 30 September 2007 12 June 2003http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/2006-25-32.cfm CDI CDI 29 January 2012 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20120310020501/http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/2006-25-32.cfm 10 March 2012http://www.newsru.com/russia/21mar2002/seleznyov.html Геннадия Селезнева предупредили о взрыве в Волгодонске за три дня до теракта ("Gennadiy Seleznyov was warned of the Volgodonsk explosion three days in advance") Newsru.com 21 March 2002 ru 11 March 2007 19 March 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070319205359/http://www.newsru.com/russia/21mar2002/seleznyov.html live When the Volgodonsk bombing happened on 16 September, Vladimir Zhirinovsky questioned Seleznyov in the Duma the following day, but Seleznyov turned his microphone off. Later, Seleznyov said it was a misunderstanding,ru:Жириновский - о драках, мемах и фашизме / вДудь https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTVDu2rrG90 YouTube 29 August 2017 ru 10 September 2017 30 August 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170830222053/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTVDu2rrG90 live From 33:52 to 37:50.Womack Helen The future of Russia's media is in the hands of young and tech-savvy vloggers https://www.smh.com.au/world/the-future-of-russias-media-is-in-the-hands-of-young-and-techsavvy-vloggers-20170906-gyblw9.html The Sydney Morning Herald 10 September 2017 31 March 2021 11 November 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20201111210347/http://www.smh.com.au/world/the-future-of-russias-media-is-in-the-hands-of-young-and-techsavvy-vloggers-20170906-gyblw9.html live and he actually referred to an explosion organized by criminal gangs which took place in Volgodonsk on 12 September.Satter 2003 269Адмирал пережил четвертое покушение https://dlib.eastview.com/browse/doc/2070183 Segodnya 15 September 1999 ru 1 April 2021 29 October 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20201029172312/https://dlib.eastview.com/browse/doc/2070183 live According to Philip Short, Seleznyov made an announcement based on a wire service message about an explosion which took place in Volgodonsk on 12 September and killed one person. At the time it was thought that this (smaller and eventually found to be unrelated) explosion was another in the same series as the preceding ones in Moscow and Buynaksk. Alexander Litvinenko 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 said that the man who gave Seleznyov the note was indeed an FSB officer.Goldfarb Litvinenko 2007 266 Volgodonsk, Rostov Oblast thumb|Volgodonsk bomb partially destroyed an apartment block. A truck bomb exploded on 16 September 1999, outside a nine-story apartment complex in the southern Russian city of Volgodonsk, killing 17 people and injuring 69. The bombing took place at 5:57 am.https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00EFDC123CF934A2575AC0A96F958260&scp=6&sq=russia%20apartment%20bombings&st=cse Another Bombing Kills 18 In Russia The New York Times 17 September 1999 29 January 2012 Michael R. Gordon 7 March 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220307135904/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/17/world/another-bombing-kills-18-in-russia.html live Surrounding buildings were also damaged. The blast also happened 9 mi km flip on 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. Prevented bombings in Ryazan 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 https://web.archive.org/web/20240713072049/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jan-15-mn-54302-story.html 13 July 2024 , Maura Reynolds, Los Angeles Times, 15 January 2000Did Alexei stumble across Russian agents planting a bomb to justify Chechen war? https://web.archive.org/web/20110512225457/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/did-alexei-stumble-across-russian-agents-planting-a-bomb-to-justify-chechen-war-727330.html 12 May 2011, 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.Evangelista 2002 81 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 50 kg lb on. A detonator and a timing device were attached to the sacks. The detonator was reported by a Russian newspaper to be a 12-gauge shotgun shell 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 RDX vapors.Satter 2003 26–27 Inhabitants of the apartment building were evacuated. According to David Satter, 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 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 1 mi km flip on away from Ryazan for testing.Таймер остановили за семь часов до взрыва: Теракт предотвратил водитель автобуса https://web.archive.org/web/20220307135944/https://gum.criteo.com/syncframe?origin=publishertag&topUrl=www.kommersant.ru 7 March 2022, Sergey Topol, Nadezhda Kurbacheva, Kommersant, 24 September 1999Allenova Olga Гексоген занесли на грязных перчатках https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/362812 Kommersant 5 February 2003 ru 23 June 2020 7 July 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200707211531/https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/362812 live 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.Новости дня, Четверг, 23 сентября https://web.archive.org/web/20170821214049/http://old.russ.ru/politics/news/1999/09/23.htm 21 August 2017 (1999)http://www.chas-daily.com/win/1999/09/24/v_42.html Hour №222 (641). Daily Newspaper. Petit 9 February 2014 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20120214012306/http://www.chas-daily.com/win/1999/09/24/v_42.html 14 February 2012Сизова Ирина В Рязани с антитерроризмом, кажется, перестарались https://www.ng.ru/events/1999-09-25/riazan.html Nezavisimaya Gazeta 25 September 1999 ru 16 August 2020 14 September 2000 https://web.archive.org/web/20000914204010/https://www.ng.ru/events/1999-09-25/riazan.html live Kots Aleksandr Терроризм. Рязанцы не дали взорвать свой дом https://dlib.eastview.com/browse/doc/3255972 Komsomolskaya Pravda 24 September 1999 ru 16 August 2020 1 September 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200901073634/https://dlib.eastview.com/browse/doc/3255972 liveТерриториальный акт https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/226256 Kommersant 25 September 1999 ru 16 August 2020 1 September 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200901090602/https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/226256 live 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 RDX.ru ORT newscast on 23.09.99, at 09:00 https://web.archive.org/web/20110429021519/http://terror1999.narod.ru/ryazan/press/ort230999.html 29 April 2011 Vladimir Rushailo 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.http://www.lenta.ru/russia/1999/09/23/ryazan/ Рязанский сахар гексогена не содержит Lenta.ru 29 January 2012 23 September 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120923110040/http://lenta.ru/russia/1999/09/23/ryazan/ liveСоколов Дмитрий ru:Рязань, сентябрь 1999: учения или теракт? Расследование Политком.ру http://politcom.ru/2002/aaa_skandal20.php https://web.archive.org/web/20031116135819/http://politcom.ru/2002/aaa_skandal20.php 16 November 2003 dmy-all ru 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), 0-230-60612-1, pages 22–28 If the sacks which proved to contain explosive were noticed, that means there is a positive side to it, if only the fact that the public is reacting correctly to the events taking place in our country today. I'd like ... to thank the public. ... No panic, no sympathy for the bandits. 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".https://dlib.eastview.com/browse/doc/3473430 Проверка на сахар. Человек человеку - собака Павлова. Подобные учения проводили бы в Кремле Novaya Gazeta - Ponedelnik 4 October 1999 Pavel Voloshin 20 August 2019 19 August 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190819163207/https://dlib.eastview.com/browse/doc/3473430 livehttps://www.sovsekretno.ru/articles/id/830/ А город не знал, что ученья идут Rustam Arifdzanov ru June 2002 20 August 2019 31 March 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190331042619/https://www.sovsekretno.ru/articles/id/830/ liveFelshtinsky Litvinenko 2007 55 The called number was traced to a telephone exchange unit serving FSB offices.https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-mar-04-fg-powder4-story.html Russians wonder: Bomb plot or drill? 2007-03-04 2019-12-06 en-US 6 December 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20191206124434/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-mar-04-fg-powder4-story.html live When arrested, the detainees produced FSB identification cards. They were soon released on orders from Moscow.http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-satter043002.asp The Shadow of Ryazan: Is Putin's government legitimate? Satter David David Satter National Review Online 30 April 2002 https://web.archive.org/web/20100106115537/http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-satter043002.asp 6 January 2010https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/mar/12/chechnya.johnsweeney Take care Tony, that man has blood on his hands John Sweeney The Guardian 12 March 2000 20 August 2019 21 June 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190621205229/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/mar/12/chechnya.johnsweeney livehttp://euromaidanpress.com/2019/06/03/evil-empire-revives-in-putins-regime-fsb-methods-of-fighting-terrorism/ Evil empire revives in Putin's regime and FSB methods of "fighting terrorism" Bohdan Ben 3 June 2019 20 August 2019 9 August 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190809050603/http://euromaidanpress.com/2019/06/03/evil-empire-revives-in-putins-regime-fsb-methods-of-fighting-terrorism/ live 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".https://rufabula.com/articles/2014/10/09/teachings-of-the-fsb-in-ryazan 'Учения ФСБ в Рязани': я это видел 9 October 2014 31 May 2016 3 August 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160803082153/https://rufabula.com/articles/2014/10/09/teachings-of-the-fsb-in-ryazan live 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.https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E00EFD8163DF932A35751C0A9649C8B63 Russian Says Kremlin Faked 'Terror Attacks' The New York Times 1 February 2002 29 January 2012 Patrick E. Tyler 7 March 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220307135932/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/01/world/russian-says-kremlin-faked-terror-attacks.html livehttps://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/456848.stm Ryazan 'bomb' was security service exercise BBC News 24 September 1999 29 January 2012 19 April 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120419145849/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/456848.stm live The Ryazan FSB "reacted with fury" and issued a statement saying: This announcement came as a surprise to us and appeared at the moment when the ... FSB had identified the places of residence in Ryazan of those involved in planting the explosive device and was prepared to detain them. 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 regional FSB branch, has criticized the FSB for performing such exercise on residential buildings with inhabitants inside and without notifying local authorities.Николаев Николай Независимое расследование. Рязанский сахар: учения спецслужб или неудавшийся взрыв, 16:39 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-lEi_Uyb_U&t=999 NTV ru 24 March 2000 5 April 2020 25 March 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210325000506/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-lEi_Uyb_U&t=999 live 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.http://politkovskaya.novayagazeta.ru/pub/2005/2005-082.shtml Назранский "Сахар" 26 December 2020 13 May 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210513193318/http://politkovskaya.novayagazeta.ru/pub/2005/2005-082.shtml live Detonator and explosives detection equipment In February 2000, Novaya Gazeta 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.Dunlop 2012 175–177Voloshin Pavel Что было в Рязани: сахар или гексоген? http://www.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2000/06n/n06n-s01.shtml https://web.archive.org/web/20020702063704/http://2000.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2000/06n/n06n-s01.shtml 2 July 2002 Novaya Gazeta 11 14 February 2000 ru The police warrant officer who answered the original call and discovered the bomb insisted that there were no doubts it was a combat situation. The case of Private Alexei Pinyaev In March 2000, Novaya Gazeta journalist Pavel Voloshin reported the account of Private Alexei P. (later identified as Pinyaev) of the 137th Guards Airborne 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.Волошин Павел Гексоген. ФСБ. Рязань https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2000/03/13/9488-geksogen-fsb-ryazan Novaya Gazeta 13 March 2000 ru 5 April 2020 21 July 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200721185426/https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2000/03/13/9488-geksogen-fsb-ryazan live 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.Felshtinsky Pribylovsky 2008 127–129 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.ru 22 March 2000 report https://web.archive.org/web/20200902225347/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx-nVcIlV9w&gl=US&hl=en 2 September 2020 by Leonid Grozin and Dmitry Vishnevoy, ORT 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.Trukhina Lyudmila Satisfied with the results of the year http://rv.ryazan.ru/old/cgi-bin/main-n=1244&m=8.htm Ryazanskie Vedomosti 20 December 2001 https://web.archive.org/web/20110131045636/http://rv.ryazan.ru/old/cgi-bin/main-n%3D1244%26m%3D8.htm 31 January 2011 ru Explosives in the apartment bombings After the bombing at Guryanova Street on 9 September, the Moscow FSB reported that items removed from the scene showed traces of TNT and RDX (or "hexogen") explosives.Satter 2016 7 However, FSB has declared later that the explosives used in the bombings were 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, Chechnya.ru Two life sentences for 246 murders https://web.archive.org/web/20101029101115/http://kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=440000 29 October 2010, Kommersant, 13 January 2004. (Russian:"в бетономешалке изготовила смесь из сахара, селитры и алюминиевой пудры")Only one explosions suspect still free https://archive.today/20121221183751/http://kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?docsid=355437 21 December 2012, Kommersant, 10 December 2002. Also, each bomb contained some plastic explosive used as an explosive booster.Stavitsky 2000 4 RDX is produced in only one factory in Russia, in the city of Perm. According to David Satter, 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. 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.Сафронова Виктория Бенюмов Константин "Весь дом кричал: "Взорвали все-таки, сволочи"" Как живут пострадавшие при взрыве дома в Волгодонске спустя 20 лет после теракта https://meduza.io/feature/2019/09/16/ves-dom-krichal-vzorvali-vse-taki-svolochi Meduza 16 September 2019 ru 25 April 2020 9 August 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200809084640/https://meduza.io/feature/2019/09/16/ves-dom-krichal-vzorvali-vse-taki-svolochi live Claims and denials of responsibility for the blasts On 9 September, an anonymous person, speaking with a Caucasian accent, phoned the Interfax 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."ru The explosion of an apartment house in Moscow put an end to calm in the capital https://web.archive.org/web/20101125055942/http://www.ng.ru/events/1999-09-10/vzryv.html 25 November 2010, A. Novoselskaya, S. Nikitina, M. Bronzova, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 10 September 1999 (computer translation https://web.archive.org/web/20210225142935/https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ng.ru%2Fevents%2F1999-09-10%2Fvzryv.html 25 February 2021) 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.Helen Womack https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/russia-caught-in-sects-web-of-terror-1120524.html Russia caught in sect's web of terror The Independent 19 September 1999 29 January 2012 17 September 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170917130115/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/russia-caught-in-sects-web-of-terror-1120524.html live Russian officials from both the Interior Ministry and FSB, at the time, expressed scepticism over the claims and said there is no such organization.Islam in Russia by Shireen Hunter, Jeffrey L. Thomas, Alexander Melikishvili, J. Collins. P.91 On 15 September 1999, a Dagestani official also denied the existence of a "Dagestan Liberation Army".http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=BBAB&d_place=BBAB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F99F92EDD9F4123&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM Russia: Dagestani official denies existence of Dagestan Liberation Army Nl.newsbank.com 15 September 1999 29 January 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20110809033917/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=BBAB&d_place=BBAB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F99F92EDD9F4123&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM 9 August 2011 dead In an interview published in Lidove Noviny on 9 September, 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.Ware Kisriev 2009 125–126https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/449325.stm Russia's bombs: Who is to blame? Tom de Waal BBC News 30 September 1999 28 June 2017 27 November 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20171127133514/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/449325.stm liveAUTUMN 1999 TERRORIST BOMBINGS HAVE A MURKY HISTORY https://web.archive.org/web/20101227034530/http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=23907&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=216 27 December 2010, Monitor, Volume 8, Issue 27, Jamestown Foundation, 7 February 2002 In subsequent interviews, Basayev said he did not know who perpetrated the bombings.Rebel Chief, Denying Terror, Fights to 'Free' Chechnya https://web.archive.org/web/20170321085729/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/16/world/rebel-chief-denying-terror-fights-to-free-chechnya.html 21 March 2017, Carlotta Gall, The New York Times, 16 October 1999 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!"Chechnya: Campaign of terror against Russia threat http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/f5261f18c72b98b7e264c48033ee6f8a Associated Press Archive 12 September 1999 4 September 2020 21 October 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20201021040058/http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/f5261f18c72b98b7e264c48033ee6f8a live However, in a subsequent interview on 14 September to the Interfax agency in Grozny, Khattab denied responsibility for the bombings.http://www.ict.org.il/articles/articledet.cfm?articleid=94 https://web.archive.org/web/20001029040446/http://www.ict.org.il/articles/articledet.cfm?articleid=94 dead 29 October 2000 Al-Khattab: From Afghanistan to Dagestan International Institute for Counter-Terrorism 20 September 1999 Reuven Paz Reuven PazChechen president advocates joint action with Russia against terrorism , Newsline, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 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". In February 2000, the US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright stated they have not seen any evidence that ties the bombings to Chechnya.Cardin Ben Jan 10, 2018 PUTIN'S ASYMMETRIC ASSAULT ON DEMOCRACY IN RUSSIA AND EUROPE: IMPLICATIONS FOR U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FinalRR.pdf 15 February 2023 Senate Committee on Foreign Relations U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 10 9 February 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210209193625/https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FinalRR.pdf live Official government investigations Criminal investigation and court ruling In 2000, investigation of the Buynaksk attack was completed and seven people were convicted of the bombing.Pokalova 2015 97–98Мехтиханов Альберт Раджабов Гаджимурад За взрыв домов в Буйнакске начали судить последнего обвиняемого https://iz.ru/news/306175 Izvestia 16 September 2005 ru 15 April 2020 1 September 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200901073500/https://iz.ru/news/306175 liveГомзикова Светлана Кто все это организовал http://www.ng.ru/events/2005-09-30/7_who.html Nezavisimaya Gazeta 30 September 2005 ru 15 April 2020 2 September 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200902224206/https://www.ng.ru/events/2005-09-30/7_who.html live Russia's pre-trial investigation of the Moscow and Volgodonsk bombings was finished in 2002. According to the Russian State Prosecutor office,ru Results of the investigation of explosions in Moscow and Volgodonsk and an incident in Ryazan https://web.archive.org/web/20060514154516/http://terror99.ru/documents/doc24.htm 14 May 2006. The answer of the Russian state Prosecutor office to the inquiry of Gosduma member A. Kulikov, circa March 2002 (computer translation https://web.archive.org/web/20210227101408/https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fterror99.ru%2Fdocuments%2Fdoc24.htm 27 February 2021) all apartment bombings were executed under command of ethnic Karachay Achemez Gochiyayev and planned by Ibn al-Khattab and Abu Omar al-Saif, Arab militants fighting in Chechnya on the side of Chechen insurgents.Religioscope – JFM Recherches et Analyses http://www.religioscope.info/article_88.shtml Religioscope > Archives > Chechnya: Amir Abu al-Walid and the Islamic component of the Chechen war Religioscope.info 29 January 2012 20 February 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120220060622/http://www.religioscope.info/article_88.shtml livehttp://www.islamicawakening.com/viewarticle.php?articleID=640#4 World Exclusive Interview with Ibn al-Khattab IslamicAwakening.Com 27 September 1999 29 January 2012 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20120218072240/http://www.islamicawakening.com/viewarticle.php?articleID=640 18 February 2012 Al-Khattab and al-Saif were killed during the Second Chechen War. According to investigators, the explosives were prepared at a fertiliser factory in Urus-Martan Chechnya, by "mixing aluminium powder, nitre and sugar in a concrete mixer",Two life sentences for 246 murders https://web.archive.org/web/20101029101115/http://kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=440000 29 October 2010, 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, 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.ФСБ: организатор терактов в Москве изображал сумасшедшего http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=330237 Vesti 18 September 2013 27 September 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20130927205937/http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=330237 live 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, five of which were classified.На взрывы жилых домов террористам было выделено 2 млн. долларов http://www.1tv.ru/news/other/94869 Channel One Russia 12 January 2004 https://web.archive.org/web/20150619220129/http://www.1tv.ru/news/other/94869 dead 19 June 2015 ru Court rulings thumb|A photo of Al-Hattab (second from left) and Gochiyayev (second from right). The photo was allegedly fabricated by the FSB to prove the guilt by Gochiyaev.Achimez Gochiyayev: Russia’s Terrorist Enigma Returns https://web.archive.org/web/20210223013205/https://jamestown.org/program/achimez-gochiyayev-russias-terrorist-enigma-returns-2/ 23 February 2021, by Andrew McGregor, Publication by North Caucasus Weekly Volume: 8 Issue: 5, Jamestown Foundation 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.Murphy 2004 106 In early September 1999, Magayayev, Krymshamkhalov, Batchayev and Dekkushev reloaded the cargo into a Mercedes-Benz 2236https://volga-don.org/sentence/ Moscow court rulings 11 January 2004 Volga-Don 15 March 2020 ru 1 September 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200901080818/https://volga-don.org/sentence/ live 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, who registered in 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 "ZIL-5301" 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.В Москве в годовщину теракта на улице Гурьянова помянут погибших https://ria.ru/20050909/41346063.html RIA Novosti 9 September 2005 ru 16 March 2020 29 September 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200929004759/https://ria.ru/20050909/41346063.html live20 лет спустя. Как теракт на Каширском шоссе унес жизни 124 человек https://tass.ru/info/6880669 TASS 13 September 2019 ru 16 March 2020 20 May 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200520235226/https://tass.ru/info/6880669 live According to the court, 4 September Buinaksk 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.Ванин Сергей Расулов Сергей Палачей Буйнакска взяли в Баку http://www.segodnya.ru/w3s.nsf/Archive/2000_212_news_text_vanin1.html Segodnya 22 September 2000 https://web.archive.org/web/20070928115811/http://www.segodnya.ru/w3s.nsf/Archive/2000_212_news_text_vanin1.html 28 September 2007 ru One of the suspects confessed having loaded the trucks with sacks in Buynaksk, but claimed he did not know what they were intended for.Расулов Сергей Добрали http://www.fsb.ru/fsb/smi/overview/single.htm%21id%3D10342455%40fsbSmi.html Газета FSB 14 November 2004 ru 15 April 2020 25 November 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20111125021732/http://www.fsb.ru/fsb/smi/overview/single.htm%21id%3D10342455%40fsbSmi.html live 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 (ru no Халид Хугуев) and Magumadzir Gadzhikayev (ru 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. Организатор теракта в "Интуристе" получил 25 лет строгого режима http://ria.ru/general_jurisdiction/20091209/198163075.html 9 December 2009 RIA Novosti 27 September 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20130927174728/http://ria.ru/general_jurisdiction/20091209/198163075.html live Sentences Adam Dekkushev ru Деккушев, Адам Османович and Yusuf Krymshakhalov ru Крымшамхалов, Юсуф Ибрагимович have both been sentenced to life terms in a special regime colony.http://www.russiajournal.com/node/17004 Apartment houses-blasts defendants sentenced to life imprisonment Russia Journal 29 January 2012 usurped https://web.archive.org/web/20120213113039/http://www.russiajournal.com/node/17004 13 February 2012 Both defendants have pleaded guilty only to some of the charges. 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.http://eng.terror99.ru/publications/076.htm Agence France-Presse 8 September 2002 Alleged suspect for 1999 bombings hiding in Georgia: Russian FSB CORRECTION: ATTENTION – ADDS background Eng.terror99.ru 29 January 2012 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20120111060640/http://eng.terror99.ru/publications/076.htm 11 January 2012 Dekkushev was extradited to Russia on 14 April 2002 to stand trial. Krymshakhalov was apprehended and extradicted to Moscow. Achemez Gochiyaev, allegedly the head of the group that carried out the attacks, remains a fugitive, and is under an international search warrant. Suspects and accused In September 1999, hundreds of Chechen nationals (out of the more than 100,000 permanently living in Moscow) were briefly detained and interrogated in Moscow, as a wave of anti-Chechen sentiments swept the city.Chechens rounded up in Moscow https://web.archive.org/web/20170321090118/https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/sep/18/russia.chechnya 21 March 2017, The Guardian, 18 September 1999 However, no Chechens were tried for the Buinaksk, Moscow or Volgodonsk attacks. Rather, it were Dagestani 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, an ethnic Karachai,ACHIMEZ GOCHIYAYEV: RUSSIA’S TERRORIST ENIGMA RETURNS https://web.archive.org/web/20070930182551/http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=421&issue_id=3992&article_id=2371870 30 September 2007 who has not been arrested and remains at large or died.Gochiyayev's wanted page https://web.archive.org/web/20050318205506/http://www.fsb.ru/search/criminal/gochi.html 18 March 2005 on FSB web site In an interview with Dmitry Gordon published on 18 May 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.Gordon Dmitry Strelkov Igor Гиркин (Стрелков). Донбасс, MH17, Гаага, ФСБ, полудохлый Путин, Сурков, Божий суд. "ГОРДОН" (2020), 1:48:43 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf6K6pjK_Yw&t=6523 https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/hf6K6pjK_Yw 2021-12-12 live Gordon YouTube 18 May 2020 ru In a statement released in January 2004, the FSB said, "until we arrest Gochiyayev, the case [of the apartment block bombings of 1999] will not be closed."Convicted Terrorists Sentenced to Long Prison Terms https://web.archive.org/web/20100811203543/http://www.russiaprofile.org/page.php?pageid=Politics&articleid=1362 11 August 2010На взрывы жилых домов террористам было выделено 2 млн. долларов https://www.1tv.ru/news/2004-01-12/245964-na_vzryvy_zhilyh_domov_terroristam_bylo_vydeleno_2_mln_dollarov Channel One Russia 12 January 2004 ru 15 April 2020 1 September 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200901073534/https://www.1tv.ru/news/2004-01-12/245964-na_vzryvy_zhilyh_domov_terroristam_bylo_vydeleno_2_mln_dollarov live Denis Saitakov (an ethnic Tatar from Uzbekistan),Simon Saradzhyan Russia: Grasping the Reality of Nuclear Terror The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 607 64–77 10.1177/0002716206290964 Ann.sagepub.com 2006 145500667 http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:27029092 3 December 2019 7 March 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220307135938/https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/27029092 live subscription killed in Georgia in 1999–2000http://www.bu.edu/iscip/digest/vol8/ed0808.html Putin's defense sector appointees Bu.edu 29 January 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20030802083857/http://www.bu.edu/iscip/digest/vol8/ed0808.html 2 August 2003 Khakim Abayev (an ethnic Karachai), killed by FSB special forces in May 2004 in IngushetiaKarachayev terrorists found in the morgue https://archive.today/20130113172243/http://kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?docsid=481392 13 January 2013, Kommersant, 8 June 2004. Ravil Akhmyarov (a Russian citizen),Процесс о взрывах жилых домов: адвокат Адама Деккушева просит его полного оправдания https://web.archive.org/web/20080321073640/http://grani.ru/Society/Law/m.55204.html 21 March 2008 Surname indicates an ethnic Tatar, killed in Chechnya in 1999–2000 Yusuf Krymshamkhalov (an ethnic Karachai and resident of Kislovodsk),http://www.gazeta.ru/2003/11/03/Courtstartsh.shtml Court starts hearings into 'hexogen case' Gazeta.ru 16 September 1999 29 January 2012 17 February 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120217094307/http://www.gazeta.ru/2003/11/03/Courtstartsh.shtml livehttp://eng.terror99.ru/publications/094.htm Separatists Tied to '99 Bombings. Eng.terror99.ru 29 January 2012 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20120216093638/http://eng.terror99.ru/publications/094.htm 16 February 2012 dmy arrested in Georgia in December 2002, extradited to Russia and sentenced to life imprisonment in January 2004, after a two-month secret trial held without a juryGoldfarb Litvinenko 2007 271,283Two life sentences for 246 murders https://web.archive.org/web/20101029101115/http://kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=440000 29 October 2010, Kommersant, 13 January 2004. Stanislav Lyubichev (a traffic police inspector, resident of Kislovodsk, Stavropol Krai), 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 https://archive.today/20130417014308/http://kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?docsid=381819 17 April 2013, Kommersant, 15 May 2003. Volgodonsk bombing Timur Batchayev (an ethnic Karachai),ПРИЧАСТНЫЕ К ВЗРЫВАМ В МОСКВЕ УСТАНОВЛЕНЫ https://web.archive.org/web/20061004033636/http://www.fsb.ru/smi/smifsb/periodik/soldatenko.html 4 October 2006, FSB website killed in Georgia in the clash with police during which Krymshakhalov was arrested Zaur Batchayev (an ethnic Karachai)NEWS FROM RUSSIA", Vol.VI, Issue No.18, dated 1 May 2003 https://web.archive.org/web/20070823183754/http://www.india.mid.ru/nfr2003/nf18.html 23 August 2007 killed in Chechnya in 1999–2000 Adam Dekkushev (an ethnic Karachai),Saradzhyan Simon Abdullaev Nabi Disrupting escalation of terror in Russia to prevent catastrophic attacks Connections 2005 4 1 https://traccc.gmu.edu/sites/default/files/2005-10.pdf 15 March 2020 1 September 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200901065816/https://traccc.gmu.edu/sites/default/files/2005-10.pdf live 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 juryGoldfarb Litvinenko 2007 262,283 Buynaksk bombing Isa Zainutdinov (an ethnic Avar) and native of Dagestan, sentenced to life imprisonment in March 2001Safronov Yuri Buinaksk terrorists sentenced to life https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/246518 Kommersant 20 March 2001 ru 15 April 2020 1 September 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200901070449/https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/246518 live 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,Suspect in 1999 Buinaksk bombing brought to Russia https://web.archive.org/web/20090509084358/http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2004/11/suspect-in-1999-buinaksk-bombing.php 9 May 2009, Jurist, 13 November 2004 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,ru Jury acquitted a Buinaksk suspect https://web.archive.org/web/20151019085332/http://lenta.ru/news/2006/01/24/notguilty1/ 19 October 2015, 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.ru Jury acquitted a Buinaksk suspect again https://web.archive.org/web/20071012105350/http://lenta.ru/news/2006/11/13/notguilty/ 12 October 2007, 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.ru Khattab said: Your task is small https://web.archive.org/web/20071105051150/http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=721040 5 November 2007, Kommersant, 13 November 2006. Ziyavudin Ziyavudinov (a native of Dagestan),http://www.ln.mid.ru/bl.nsf/5d5fc0348b8b2d26c3256def0051fa20/2ef74ac18c43c5df43256a5a00331db7?OpenDocument One More Participant of Terrorist Act in Buinaksk, Dagestan, Detained in Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan Ln.mid.ru 29 January 2012 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20120318165420/http://www.ln.mid.ru/bl.nsf/5d5fc0348b8b2d26c3256def0051fa20/2ef74ac18c43c5df43256a5a00331db7?OpenDocument 18 March 2012 dmy arrested in Kazakhstan, extradited to Russia, sentenced to 24 years in April 2002They should be blown up, not put on trial https://archive.today/20130417011020/http://kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?docsid=317852 17 April 2013, 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.Duma Rejects Move to Probe Ryazan Apartment Bomb https://web.archive.org/web/20060310062941/http://www.eng.terror99.ru/publications/049.htm 10 March 2006, Terror-99, 21 March 2000Duma Vote Kills Query On Ryazan https://web.archive.org/web/20060310062947/http://www.eng.terror99.ru/publications/042.htm 10 March 2006, 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. An independent public commission to investigate the bombings was chaired by Duma deputy Sergei Kovalyov.https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur46/012/2006/en/?open&of=ENG-2EU Russian Federation: Amnesty International's concerns and recommendations in the case of Mikhail Trepashkin – Amnesty International 22 November 2018 21 December 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20181221134701/https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur46/012/2006/en/?open&of=ENG-2EU live The commission started its work in February 2002. On 5 March Sergei Yushenkov and Duma member Yuli Rybakov flew to London where they met Alexander Litvinenko 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 https://web.archive.org/web/20060310062954/http://www.eng.terror99.ru/publications/107.htm 10 March 2006, The Baltimore Sun, 11 December 2003Russian court rejects action over controversial "anti-terrorist exercise" https://web.archive.org/web/20060310063051/http://www.eng.terror99.ru/publications/087.htm 10 March 2006, Interfax, 3 April 2003http://mn.ru/issue.php?2003-35-30 ru:Московские Новости MN.RU 29 January 2012 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20060208114854/http://mn.ru/issue.php?2003-35-30 8 February 2006 ru Two key members of the commission, Sergei Yushenkov and Yuri Shchekochikhin, both Duma members, have died in apparent assassinations in April 2003 and July 2003, respectively.Chronology of events. State Duma Deputy Yushenkov shot dead https://web.archive.org/web/20060303140234/http://www.nupi.no/cgi-win/Russland/krono.exe?6200 3 March 2006, Centre for Russian Studies, 17 April 2003Worries Linger as Schekochikhin's Laid to Rest https://web.archive.org/web/20070426093038/http://eng.terror99.ru/publications/118.htm 26 April 2007, The Moscow Times, 7 July 2003 Another member of the commission, Otto Lacis, was assaulted in November 2003ru В Москве жестоко избит Отто Лацис https://web.archive.org/web/20071012122018/http://newsru.com/russia/11nov2003/otto.html 12 October 2007, NewsRU, 11 November 2003 and two years later, on 3 November 2005, he died in a hospital after a car accident.ru Скончался известный российский журналист Отто Лацис https://web.archive.org/web/20071012121956/http://newsru.com/russia/03nov2005/otto.html 12 October 2007, 3 November 2005 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 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.ru Tenth anniversary of the "black autumn" in Russia https://web.archive.org/web/20150403035100/http://www.svoboda.org/content/article/1815064.html 3 April 2015, Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr. interviews Mikhail Trepashkin and others, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 4 September 2009, computer translation https://web.archive.org/web/20210225052758/https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.svobodanews.ru%2Fcontent%2Farticle%2F1815064.html 25 February 2021 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 https://web.archive.org/web/20070314093247/http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/8014-18.cfm 14 March 2007, The Moscow Times, 14 January 2004 He was sentenced by a Moscow military closed court 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 https://web.archive.org/web/20070929083254/http://coranet.radicalparty.org/pressreview/print_right.php?func=detail&par=10113 29 September 2007, Los Angeles Times, 20 May 2004 Amnesty International 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".https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur46/013/2006/en/ Russian Federation: Amnesty International calls for Mikhail Trepashkin to be released pending a full review of his case Amnesty International 24 March 2006 29 January 2012 22 November 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20181122052028/https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur46/013/2006/en/ live In a letter to Olga Konskaya, Trepashkin wrote that some time before the bombings, Moscow's Regional Directorate against Organized Crimes (RUOP GUVD) arrested several people for selling the explosive RDX. 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.http://news.trepashkin.info/2007/02/blog-post_25.html Letter to Olga Konskaya news.trepashkin.info 10 December 2006 25 February 2007 3 September 2013 10 August 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180810042318/http://news.trepashkin.info/2007/02/blog-post_25.html livehttp://www.novayagazeta.spb.ru/2007/10/8 ПОДРЫВАЮЩИЙ УСТОИ Novaya Gazeta, Saint Petersburg's Edition 12 February 2007 10 December 2006 3 September 2013 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20121017051910/http://www.novayagazeta.spb.ru/2007/10/8 17 October 2012 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".ru Interview with Mikhail Trepashkin https://web.archive.org/web/20080307024135/http://www.svobodanews.ru/Transcript/2007/12/01/20071201143422327.html 7 March 2008 , 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, 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 voiced his concern over the possible shut-down of NTV for airing the talk.ru FSB is blowing up Russia: Chapter 5. FSB vs the People https://web.archive.org/web/20070604044900/http://2001.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2001/61n/n61n-s05.shtml 4 June 2007, Alexander Litvinenko, Yuri Felshtinsky, Novaya Gazeta, 27 August 2001 Seven months later, NTV general manager Igor Malashenko ru Малашенко, Игорь Евгеньевич 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.Caucasus Ka-Boom https://web.archive.org/web/20080515022415/http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/4630.html 15 May 2008, Miriam Lanskoy, 8 November 2000, Johnson's Russia List, Issue 4630 According to Alexander Goldfarb, Mr. Malashenko told him that Valentin Yumashev 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.Goldfarb Litvinenko 2007 198 Artyom Borovik was among the people who investigated the bombings.ru Grigory Yavlinsky's interview https://web.archive.org/web/20110426025501/http://yavlinsky.ru/news/index.phtml?id=29 26 April 2011, TV6 Russia, 11 March 2000 He received numerous death threats and died in a suspicious plane crash in March 2000Russian crash: search for terrorist link, BBC News, 10 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, 1-906142-07-6, pages 116–121. Journalist Anna Politkovskaya and former security service member Alexander Litvinenko, who investigated the bombings, were killed in 2006.ru Presidential election is our last chance to learn the truth https://web.archive.org/web/20080906011028/http://www.novayagazeta.ru/data/2004/02/13.html 6 September 2008, Anna Politkovskaya, Novaya Gazeta, № 2, 15 January 2004 Surviving victims of the Guryanova street bombing asked President Dmitry Medvedev to resume the official investigation in 2008,ru The bombing case. Victims ask the president to resume the investigation (Russian) https://web.archive.org/web/20220307135932/https://www.svoboda.org/a/450470.html 7 March 2022, 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".ru:Кто взрывал дома в России в 1999-м? https://www.svoboda.org/a/28718520.html Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 5 September 2017 ru 15 September 2017 16 September 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170916053038/https://www.svoboda.org/a/28718520.html live Радио Свобода He then was asked by Vladimir Kara-Murza if he believes that several key members of his commission, and even Boris Berezovskiy and Boris Nemtsov 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, 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." Alleged Russian government involvement According to David Satter, Yuri Felshtinsky, Alexander Litvinenko, 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.Cockburn Patrick Russia 'planned Chechen war before bombings' https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-planned-chechen-war-before-bombings-727324.html Independent 14 September 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20090827150331/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-planned-chechen-war-before-bombings-727324.html 27 August 2009 dead 29 January 2000Dettmer Jamie Did Putin's Agents Plant the Bombs? 17 April 2000 Insight on the News 16 14 FindArticles http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_14_16/ai_61892243/print https://web.archive.org/web/20080930094108/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_14_16/ai_61892243/print September 30, 2008 usurpedhttps://www.belfercenter.org/sites/default/files/legacy/files/electionbulletin1-00.doc RUSSIAN ELECTION WATCH No. 6, January 2000 January 2000 Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs Harvard University (John F. Kennedy School of Government) 29 October 2018 30 October 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20181030014021/https://www.belfercenter.org/sites/default/files/legacy/files/electionbulletin1-00.doc live Some of them described the bombings as typical "active measures" practised by the KGB in the past. According to a reconstruction of the events by Felshtinsky and Pribylovsky:Yuri Felshtinsky and Vladimir Pribylovsky, The Corporation. Russia and the KGB in the Age of President Putin, 1-59403-246-7, Encounter Books; 25 February 2009, pages133-138 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. 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, Vladimir Romanovich, Ramazan Dyshekov and others. Achemez Gochiyayev, Tatyana Korolyeva, and Alexander Karmishin rented warehouses that received shipments of hexogen disguised as sugar and did not know that the explosives were delivered. Adam Dekkushev, Krymshamkhalov, and Timur Batchayev were recruited by FSB agents who presented themselves as "Chechen separatists" to deliver explosives to Volgodonsk and Moscow. Names and the fate of FSB agents who planted the bomb in the city of Ryazan remain unknown. Books and films on the subject The theory of Russian government involvement has been described in a number of books and movies on the subject. David Satter, a senior fellow of the Hudson Institute, 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.Satter 2003 In 2002, former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko and historian Yuri Felshtinsky published a book Blowing up Russia: Terror from within.Felshtinsky Litvinenko 2007 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 https://web.archive.org/web/20061207044901/http://eng.terror99.ru/publications/133.htm 7 December 2006 In another book, Lubyanka Criminal Group, Litvinenko and Alexander Goldfarb described the transformation of the FSB into a criminal and terrorist organization, including conducting the bombings. Litvinenko 2002 Former GRU analyst and historian Viktor Suvorov 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 [the KGB headquarters] 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."http://www.suvorov.com/books/unpublished/a001.htm "Бичкрафт", штурмовик ХА-38 "Гризли" suvorov.com 13 September 2017 13 September 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170913232148/http://www.suvorov.com/books/unpublished/a001.htm live 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, Sergei Yushenkov, Yuri Shchekochikhin, and Anna Politkovskaya, and the half-exterminated nation of Chechnya, exposing their killers for the whole world to see."Goldfarb Litvinenko 2007 259 A PBS Frontline 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.Who is Putin https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/yeltsin/putin/putin.html Frontline 14 January 2015 31 December 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20141231134559/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/yeltsin/putin/putin.html liveFRONTLINE Putin's Way https://www.pbs.org/video/frontline-putins-way/ PBS 14 January 2015 18 January 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150118023555/http://video.pbs.org/video/2365401766/ live 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."Assassination of Russia"- Film Screening and Panel Discussion https://web.archive.org/web/20081026054141/http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=events.event_summary&event_id=12242 26 October 2008, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 24 April 2002.Goldfarb Litvinenko 2007 249–250 A documentary Nedoverie ("Disbelief") about the bombing controversy made by Russian director Andrei Nekrasov was premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. 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. https://web.archive.org/web/20070218064822/http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/09/03/101.html 18 February 2007, The Moscow TimesDisbelief https://web.archive.org/web/20170208002507/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389929/ 8 February 2017. The record in IMDb.http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7658755847655738553 Disbelief – 1999 Russia Bombings 13 September 2017 14 November 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20071114100331/http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7658755847655738553 live on Google Video His next film on the subject was Rebellion: the Litvinenko Case.Russia: Film On Litvinenko Case Premieres At Cannes https://www.rferl.org/a/1076739.html Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 27 May 2007 25 April 2020 1 September 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200901065805/https://www.rferl.org/a/1076739.html live 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), who brings another KGB officer, Fedor Fedorovich (Vladimir Putin) to power by staging a series of apartment bombings.ru Новый роман Юлия Дубова о приходе к власти Владимира Путина https://web.archive.org/web/20050221100833/http://svoboda.org/ll/polit/0205/ll.021905-1.asp 21 February 2005, RFE/RL, 19-02-05 Support The view about the bombings being organized and perpetrated by Russian state security services was originally put forward by journalist David Satter and historians Yuri Felshtinsky and Vladimir Pribylovsky, in co-authorship with Alexander Litvinenko. 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.http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/11/22/finally-we-know-about-moscow-bombings/ The New York Review of Books Amy Knight 22 November 2012 Finally, We Know About the Moscow Bombings The evidence provided in The Moscow Bombings makes it abundantly clear that the FSB of the Russian Republic, headed by Patrushev, was responsible for carrying out the attacks. 5 April 2017 7 December 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20211207194054/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/11/22/finally-we-know-about-moscow-bombings/ liveGetting away with murder https://web.archive.org/web/20171115143310/https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/getting-away-with-murder/ 15 November 2017 by Amy Knight, The Times Literary supplement, 3 August 2016 In her book Putin's Kleptocracy, historian Karen Dawisha 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."Putin's Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia?, By Karen Dawisha, 2014, Simon & Schuster, page 222. According to Timothy Snyder, "it seemed possible" that the perpetrators of the apartment bombings were FSB officers.Timothy Snyder, The Road to Unfreedom https://web.archive.org/web/20220307135935/https://www.amazon.com/Road-Unfreedom-Russia-Europe-America/dp/0525574468 7 March 2022, 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. How Putin Became President https://web.archive.org/web/20200216141908/https://www.the-american-interest.com/2016/05/19/how-putin-became-president/ 16 February 2020, by David Satter 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 TrepashkinWho was behind the 1999 Moscow apartment bombings that accelerated Vladimir Putin's rise to power? https://web.archive.org/web/20171114202414/https://www.gq.com/story/moscow-bombings-mikhail-trepashkin-and-putin 14 November 2017 by Scott Anderson, GQ Magazine, 30 March 2017 The journal owner, Condé Nast, then took extreme measuresMarch 2022 to prevent an article by Anderson from appearing in the Russian media, both physically and in translation.Why 'GQ' Doesn't Want Russians To Read Its Story https://web.archive.org/web/20090905201656/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112530364 5 September 2009, by David Folkenflik, NPR, 4 September 2009. Former Russian State Security Council chief Alexandr Lebed in his 29 September 1999 interview with Le Figaro said he was almost convinced that the government organised the terrorist acts.pp. 304 https://web.archive.org/web/20170321085734/https://books.google.com/books?id=vb2ZAAAAIAAJ&dq=Godfather+of+the+Kremlin&q=lebed+le+figaro 21 March 2017, 389 https://web.archive.org/web/20201107090255/https://books.google.com/books?id=vb2ZAAAAIAAJ&dq=Godfather+of+the+Kremlin&q=&q=%22September+29%2C+1999%22 7 November 2020 Klebnikov 2000p. 82 https://web.archive.org/web/20210308005931/https://books.google.com/books?id=iuA3BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA82&dq=lebed+figaro#v=onepage&q=lebed%20figaro&f=false 8 March 2021 Dunlop 2012(in Russian) Генерал Лебедь: "Москва ничего не добьется бомбардировками Чечни" http://www.segodnya.ua/oldarchive/3c2fede41656d1c8c22568000040fe33.html Сегодня 30 September 1999 1 July 2017 10 September 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170910220439/http://www.segodnya.ua/oldarchive/3c2fede41656d1c8c22568000040fe33.html dead Andrei Illarionov, 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."http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/russia/140305/interview-russian-ukraine-putin-war-Andrei-Illarionov Russians would attack Russians to justify war in Ukraine, ex-Putin aide alleges 3 December 2014 31 October 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20141031082201/http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/russia/140305/interview-russian-ukraine-putin-war-Andrei-Illarionov live GlobalPost Later Lebed's public relations staff claimed that he was quoted out of the context. Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer 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." Some US politicians have commented that they consider credible the allegations about Russian state security services as the actual organizers of the bombings. In 2003, U.S. senator John McCain 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" https://web.archive.org/web/20170618030108/https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=F4F5CF0C-9104-4B3F-8EBE-84F3DC24C51B 18 June 2017, John McCain's press release, 4 November 2003 On 11 January 2017, senator Marco Rubio raised the issue of the 1999 bombings during the confirmation hearings for Rex Tillerson.http://www.nationalreview.com/article/444493/cia-russias-1999-apartment-bombings-if-putin-was-responsible-it-could-well-know The Mystery of Russia's 1999 Apartment Bombings Lingers — the CIA Could Clear It Up Satter David David Satter National Review 2 February 2017 16 November 2017 11 December 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20171211163027/http://www.nationalreview.com/article/444493/cia-russias-1999-apartment-bombings-if-putin-was-responsible-it-could-well-know live According to senator Rubio, "there's [an] incredible 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 released a report entitled "Putin's Asymmetric Assault on Democracy in Russia and Europe: Implications for U.S. National Security".https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/us-senator-ben-cardin-releases-report-detailing-two-decades-of-putins-attacks-on-democracy-calling-for-policy-changes-to-counter-kremlin-threat-ahead-of-2018-2020-elections U.S. Senator Ben Cardin Releases Report Detailing Two Decades of Putin's Attacks on Democracy, Calling for Policy Changes to Counter Kremlin Threat Ahead of 2018, 2020 Elections U.S. Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland cardin.senate.gov 17 January 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180214223120/https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/us-senator-ben-cardin-releases-report-detailing-two-decades-of-putins-attacks-on-democracy-calling-for-policy-changes-to-counter-kremlin-threat-ahead-of-2018-2020-elections 14 February 2018 live, 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. 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 whose security the central FSB is responsible. 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.Satter 2003 66–67 Hexogen was however at this time also widely available in Dagestan. In a speech to the Oxford Union on 12 March 2022, former MI6 officer Christopher Steele voiced support for the idea that the bombings were a false flag operation conducted by Russian security services in order to justify the war in Chechnya.Former MI6 Officer, Christopher Steele Full Q&A Oxford Union 11 March 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLVQfwwN_r8 en 2022-05-02 2 May 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220502063538/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLVQfwwN_r8 live Criticism 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.http://www.russiaprofile.org/page.php?pageid=Politics&articleid=a1252433514 The Truth Russians Can't Know 8 September 2009 Russia Profile 19 September 2009 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20090917024856/http://www.russiaprofile.org/page.php?pageid=Politics&articleid=a1252433514 17 September 2009 In their book The New Nobility, Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan believe that the Ryazan incident had actually been a training exerciseSoldatov Borogan 2010 111 by Vympel, a counter-terrorism FSB unit. Soldatov and Borogan noted that, according to Russian state security services, Achemez Gochiyaev was not an innocent businessman, but a leader of a local Islamist group since the mid-1990s, together with Dekkushev and Krymshamkhalov. Soldatov and Borogan have also noted a partial admission of guilt by Dekkushev and Krymshamkhalov after their interrogations during a trial in 2003.Soldatov Borogan 2010 266–267 According to Robert Bruce Ware, 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 Robert Bruce Revisiting Russia's Apartment Block Blasts The Journal of Slavic Military Studies 2005 18 4 599–606 10.1080/13518040590914118 219628922 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. 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.Pankratov K.K. Re: 7727 #11, Jeremy Putley's review of "Darkness at Dawn" by D. Satter http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/7284-11.cfm Johnson's Russia List https://web.archive.org/web/20031125191136/http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/7284-11.cfm 25 November 2003 August 10, 2003 3 April 2008 livePope Ronald R. Feature review. Darkness at Dawn: The Rise of the Russian Criminal State Perspectives on Political Science 2004 33 40–41 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.Taylor Brian State Building in Putin's Russia: Policing and Coercion After Communism 2011 Cambridge University Press 978-0521760881 82–88 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. 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, 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.Abrahms Max Rules for Rebels: The Science of Victory in Militant History Oxford University Press 2018 9780192539441 61–64, 70 Philip Short in his biography of Putin said that while "It cannot be conclusively proved that no one from the FSB was involved" there is no "factual evidence of Russian state involvement."Short Philip Putin 2022 Random House 9781473521605 Prologue Russian officials 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.https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/679997.stm Russia charges bombing suspects BBC News 16 March 2000 29 January 2012 3 August 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120803143527/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/679997.stm live An FSB spokesman said that "Litvinenko's evidence cannot be taken seriously by those who are investigating the bombings".Agence France-Presse Olga Nedbayeva Conspiracy theories on Russia's 1999 bombings gain ground http://eng.terror99.ru/publications/072.htm dead https://web.archive.org/web/20071025042802/http://www.eng.terror99.ru/publications/072.htm 25 October 2007 Yuri Luzhkov, 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 within the country,Gilligan Emma Defending Human Rights in Russia: Sergei Kovalyov, Dissident and Human Rights Commissioner, 1969-2003 2004 Routledge 978-0415323697 113–115 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.Luzhkov Yuri Yuri Luzhkov Москва и жизнь 2017 Eksmo 978-5-04-088750-7 255–260 ru Sealing information by the US government On 14 July 2014, David Satter filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with the State Department, 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. Satter filed suit against the Department of Justice and other agencies involved on 29 August 2014.Case Detail (1:2016cv01749) http://foiaproject.org/case_detail/?title=on&style=foia&case_id=30366 FOIA Project 10 April 2020 1 September 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200901075028/http://foiaproject.org/case_detail/?title=on&style=foia&case_id=30366 live However, the CIA 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 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 https://web.archive.org/web/20170918021115/http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/242820/america-helped-make-putin-dictator-for-life 18 September 2017 by David Satter, 29 August 2017 On 16 March 2018, the case Satter v. Department of Justice was closed.List of Freedom of Information Act Decisions Rendered in 2018 https://www.justice.gov/oip/page/file/1138516/download The United States Department of Justice 10 April 2020 1 September 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200901070256/https://www.justice.gov/oip/page/file/1138516/download live Chronology of events April 2024 5 August 1999: Shamil Basayev enters western Dagestan from Chechnya, starting the War of Dagestan 9 August 1999: Stepashin 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 ChechnyaRussia acknowledges bombing raids in Chechnya http://www.cnn.com:80/WORLD/europe/9909/10/russia.explosion.03/ CNN 26 August 1999 https://web.archive.org/web/20000919000313/http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9908/26/russia.chechnya/ 19 September 2000 31 August 1999: Bombing in Moscow, Manezhnaya Square, 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 Gennadiy Seleznyov makes an announcement about the bombing of an apartment building in the city of Volgodonsk that only takes place three days later 16 September 1999: Bombing in Volgodonsk, 17 are killed, 69 injured 23 September 1999: An apartment bomb is found in the city of Ryazan. Vladimir Rushailo 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 See also History Russia List of people allegedly involved in Russian apartment bombings List of deaths related to Russian apartment bombings Second Cold War Crocus City Hall attack References Bibliography Stavitsky Vasily Vasily Stavitsky Krovavyj terror TsOS FSB Rossii, Olma-Press ru 2000 978-5224014125 Yeltsin Boris Boris Yeltsin Midnight Diaries PublicAffairs 2000 978-1-58648-011-0 http://yeltsincenter.ru/sites/default/files/books_flash/midnight_diaries/index.html 5 May 2020 24 February 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210224155447/http://yeltsincenter.ru/sites/default/files/books_flash/midnight_diaries/index.html dead Klebnikov Paul Paul Klebnikov Godfather of the Kremlin: Boris Berezovsky and the looting of Russia Harcourt 2000 978-0-15-100621-2 Peter Reddaway Dmitri Glinski The Tragedy of Russia's Reforms: Market Bolshevism Against Democracy United States Institute of Peace Press 2001 1-929223-06-4 Strobe Talbott Strobe Talbott The Russia Hand: A Memoir of Presidential Diplomacy Random House 2002 978-0-375-50714-4 Alexander Litvinenko Alexander Litvinenko LPG: Lubianskaia Prestupnaia Gruppirovka: Ofitser FSB Daet Pokazaniia ru Grani 2002 978-0-9723878-0-4 255 David Hoffman David E. Hoffman The Oligarchs: Wealth & Power in the New Russia PublicAffairs 2002 978-1-58648-001-1 Evangelista Matthew Unarmed Forces: The Transnational Movement to End the Cold War Cornell University Press 2002 0-8014-8784-6 Satter David David Satter Darkness at Dawn: The Rise of the Russian Criminal State Yale University Press 2003 0-300-09892-8 Evangelista Matthew The Chechen Wars: Will Russia Go the Way of the Soviet Union? Brookings Institution Press 2004 978-0-8157-2497-1 Murphy Paul The Wolves of Islam: Russia and the Faces of Chechen Terror Potomac Books Inc. 2004 978-1-57488-830-0 Jack Andrew Inside Putin's Russia: Can There Be Reform Without Democracy? Oxford University Press 2005 978-0-19-518909-4 Richard Sakwa Richard Sakwa Chechnya: From Past to Future 2005 Anthem Press 978-1-84331-164-5 Goldfarb Alexander Alexander Goldfarb (microbiologist) Litvinenko Marina Death of a Dissident Simon & Schuster 2007 978-1-4165-5165-2 Death of a Dissident Felshtinsky Yuri Yuri Felshtinsky Litvinenko Alexander Alexander Litvinenko Blowing up Russia: Terror from within 2nd 2007 Gibson Square Books 978-1-903933-95-4 Translated from Russian by Geoffrey Andrews and Co. Blowing up Russia: Terror from within Felshtinsky Yuri Yuri Felshtinsky Pribylovsky Vladimir Vladimir Pribylovsky The Age of Assassins. The Rise and Rise of Vladimir Putin Gibson Square Books London 978-1-906142-07-0 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/apr/20/politics 20 April 2008 23 May 2010 Putin, Russia's choice Sakwa Richard Richard Sakwa 2008 2nd Routledge 978-0-415-40765-6 Ware Robert Bruce Robert Bruce Ware Kisriev Enver Enver Kisriev 2009 Dagestan: Russian Hegemony and Islamic Resistance in the North Caucasus Routledge 978-0765620286 Akhmadov Ilyas Ilyas Akhmadov Lanskoy Miriam Miriam Lanskoy Brzezinski Zbigniew Zbigniew Brzezinski The Chechen Struggle: Independence Won and Lost 2010 Palgrave Macmillan 978-0-230-10534-8 Soldatov Andrei Andrei Soldatov Borogan Irina Irina Borogan The New Nobility: The Restoration of Russia's Security State and the Enduring Legacy of the KGB 2010 PublicAffairs 978-1-58648-802-4 John Dunlop John B. Dunlop The Moscow Bombings of September 1999: Examinations of Russian Terrorist Attacks at the Onset of Vladimir Putin's Rule Stuttgart: Ibidem 2012 978-3-8382-0388-1 Brian Glyn Williams Brian Glyn Williams Inferno in Chechnya: The Russian-Chechen Wars, the Al Qaeda Myth, and the Boston Marathon Bombings ForeEdge 2015 978-1-61168-737-8 Elena Pokalova Chechnya's Terrorist Network: The Evolution of Terrorism in Russia's North Caucasus Praeger 2015 978-1-44083-154-6 Satter David David Satter The Less You Know, the Better You Sleep: Russia's Road to Terror and Dictatorship under Yeltsin and Putin Yale University Press 2016 978-0-30021-142-9 René De La Pedraja The Russian Military Resurgence: Post-Soviet Decline and Rebuilding, 1992-2018 McFarland & Company 2018 978-1-47666-991-5 External links Category:GRU Category:1999 building bombings Category:Censorship in Russia Category:Vladimir Putin Category:False flag conspiracy theories Category:Building and structure collapses in Russia Category:Chechen–Russian conflict Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in Moscow Category:Terrorist incidents in Russia in 1999 Category:1999 mass murders Category:20th-century mass murders in Russia Category:Conspiracy theories in Russia Category:1999 conflicts Category:Terrorist incidents by unknown perpetrators Category:Unsolved crimes in Russia Category:Massacres in the Chechen–Russian conflict Category:Mass murders in Moscow Category:Federal Security Service Category:Second Chechen War Category:Terrorist incidents in Moscow Category:1999 in Moscow Category:September 1999 crimes Category:September 1999 in Russia Category:Residential building bombings in Russia Category:Building and structure collapses caused by fire Category:1999 murders in Russia Category:Terrorist incidents during the Chechen–Russian conflict