NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Russian Apartment Bombings

The Russian apartment bombings were a series of bombings in Russia that killed nearly 300 people and led the country into the Second Chechen War. They happened over a span of two months in 1999. now. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Old Farts by the Sometimes-United Nations. ...

The bombings

The first bombing, not of an apartment, occurred in Moscow, the Russian capital, on August 31, 1999. A bomb exploded in a mall, killing one person and wounded 40 others. A note was left saying the bombing was a result of increasing Russian consumerism. An apartment estate in Singapore; such blocks make up the majority of public housing in Singapore. ... Location Position of Moscow in Europe Government Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Geographical characteristics Area - City 1,081 kmÂ² Population - City (2005) - Density 10,415,400 8537. ... August 31 is the 243rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (244th in leap years), with 122 days remaining. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Old Farts by the Sometimes-United Nations. ... Consumerism is a term used to describe the effects of equating personal happiness with purchasing material possessions and consumption. ...

On September 4, 1999, a car bomb detonated outside an apartment building housing Russian soldiers in the city of Buinaksk, in the province of Dagestan. 64 people were killed and dozens of others were wounded. Russia blamed separatists from Chechnya, who would days later invade the province of Dagestan. September 4 is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years). ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Old Farts by the Sometimes-United Nations. ... Car bomb in Iraq, made from a number of concealed artillery shells in the back of a pickup truck. ... The Republic of Dagestan IPA: (Russian: ), older spelling Daghestan, is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (a republic). ... Capital Grozny Area - total - % water Ranked 80th - 15,300 kmÂ² - negligible Population - Total - Density Ranked 49th - est. ...

On September 8, 1999, 300 kg to 400 kg of explosives detonated on the ground floor of an apartment building in southeast Moscow. The nine-story building was destroyed, killing 94 people inside and wounded 150 others. 108 apartments were destroyed. A caller to a Russian news agency said the blast was a response to recent Russian bombing of Chechen and Dagestan villages in response to the invasion of Dagestan. September 8 is the 251st day of the year (252nd in leap years). ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Old Farts by the Sometimes-United Nations. ... A red brick apartment block in central London, England, on the north bank of the Thames An apartment building, block of flats or tenement is a multi-unit dwelling made up of several (generally four or more) apartments (US) or flats (UK). ...

September 13, 1999, was supposed to be a day of mourning for the victims of the previous bomb attacks. But on that day, a large bomb exploded at an apartment on Kashirskoye Highway in southern Moscow. The eight-story building was flattened, littering the street with debris and throwing some concrete hundreds of yards away. In all, 118 people died and 200 were wounded. September 13 is the 256th day of the year (257th in leap years). ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Old Farts by the Sometimes-United Nations. ...

It was at this time when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin declared a war against the "illegal military units" in Chechnya. Though there was not much evidence pointing to Chechens, preparations were made by the Russian military forces to re-enter the province and to strip the Chechen government of its powers. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (Russian: ) (born October 7, 1952) is a Russian politician, and the current President of Russia. ...

The motive for the forceful solution was clinched when a truck bomb exploded September 16, 1999, outside a nine-story apartment complex in the southern Russian city of Volgodonsk, killing 17 people. September 16 is the 259th day of the year (260th in leap years). ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Old Farts by the Sometimes-United Nations. ... Volgodonsk (Волгодонск in Russian) is a town in the Rostov Oblast in Russia. ...

In response, Russia launched air strikes on Chechen rebel positions, oil refineries, and other buildings inside that province. By the end of September it was clear another war over Chechnya was underway, and by October Russian troops had entered the province. The attacks would not be the last in Russia or Chechnya.

Ryazan Incident

On the evening of September 22, 1999, an alert resident of an apartment building in the town of Ryazan noticed strangers moving heavy sugar sacks into the basement from a car. Militia (the local police) were called to the site and all residents were evacuated. The first test of the powder from the sacks showed the presence of an explosive. All roads from the town were brought under heavy surveillance but no leads were found. A telephone service employee tapped into long-distance phone conversations managed to detect a conversation in which an out-of-town person suggested to take care and to watch for patrols. That person's number was found to belong to an FSB office in Moscow. September 22 is the 265th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (266th in leap years). ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Old Farts by the Sometimes-United Nations. ... Ryazan (Ð ÑÐ·Ð°ÌÐ½ÑŒ) is a city in Central Russia federal district, the administrative center of the Ryazan Oblast. ... A member of a Russian special purpose police team (OMSN), equipped with a 9A91 submachine gun. ... The FSB (ФСБ) is a state security organisation in Russia. ...

Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti declared that the incident was a training exercise forty-eight hours later. The original chemical test was declared inaccurate due to contamination of the analysis apparatus from a previous test. The public inquiry committee could not come to a complete conclusion on this and other incidents due to incoherent answers from federal bodies. The General Prosecutor's office has closed the criminal investigation of the Ryazan incident in April 2000. The FSB (ФСБ) is a state security organisation in Russia. ... 2000 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December This is a timeline for events in April, 2000. ...

Official investigation

According to the official investigation, the apartment bombings were planned and organized by Amir Khattab and Abu Umar, Arab terrorists fighting in Chechnya on the side of Chechen insurgents, both of whom were later killed. The planning was carried out in Khattab's terrorist camps in Chechnya, "Caucasus" in Shatoy and "Taliban" in Avtury. Ibn al-Khattab (Ø§Ø¨Ù† Ø§Ù„Ø®Ø·Ø§Ø¨), more commonly known as Amir Khattab (also transliterated as Emir Khattab and Ameer Khattab), and also known as Habib Abdul Rahman, was a warlord, terrorist organizer, and financier working with Chechen rebels in the First Chechen War and the Second Chechen War. ...

This particular operation was led by an ethnic Karachay Achemez Gochiyayev. The explosives were prepared in Urus-Martan, Chechnya at the fertilizer factory by mixing hexogen, TNT, aluminium powder and nitre with sugar. From there they have been 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, had leased a KamAZ truck which the sacks were stored in for two months. After everything was planned, the participants were organized into several groups which transported the explosives to different cities. Most of the people participating were not ethnic Chechens. Karachays are Turkic people of Karachay-Cherkessia. ... Cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine, also known as RDX, cyclonite,hexogen, and T4, is an nitroamine and explosive material widely used by the military. ...

The following people either delivered explosives, stored them, or harbored other suspects:

Somebody who claimed to be Gochiyayev has sent a letter to several Russian newspapers in which he said that he was just an unknowing participant in a plot organized by an undercover FSB agent, Ramazan Dyshekov. It is unclear how credible his claims are. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... January 24 is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... November 13 is the 317th day of the year (318th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 48 days remaining. ...

Attempts of independent investigation

The Russian Duma rejected two motions for parliamentary investigation of the Ryazan incident [3] [4]. An independent public commission to investigate the bombings chaired by Duma deputy Sergei Kovalev was rendered ineffective because of government refusal to respond to its inquiries [5] [6]. Two key members of the Kovalev Commission, Sergei Yushenkov and Yuri Schekochikhin, both Duma members, have since died in apparent assassinations in April 2003 and July 2003 respectively [7] [8]. The Commission's lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin has been arrested in October 2003 to become one of the better-known political prisoners in Russia. Another member of the commission, Otto Lacis, was brutally beaten [9] in November 2003. Sergei Kovalev Sergei Adamovich Kovalev (Russian: ) (born March 2, 1930) is a notable dissident and political prisoner in the former Soviet Union, and a human rights activist and politician in post-Soviet Russia. ... 2003 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December - â†’ A timeline of events in the news for April 2003. ... 2003 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December A timeline of events in the news for July, 2003. ... Mikhail Trepashkin, a Moscow attorney and former FSB agent, was invited by MP Sergei Yushenkov to assist in an independent investigation of the Russian apartment bombings in September 1999 â€“ the atrocities that provoked the war in Chechnya and skyrocketed Vladimir Putin to presidency. ... 2003 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December A timeline of events in the news for October, 2003. ... A political prisoner is anyone held in prison or otherwise detained, perhaps under house arrest, because their ideas or image either challenge or pose a real or potential threat to the state. ... Otto Lacis was a Russian Journalist with the Izvestija and died on October 3. ... 2003 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December A timeline of events in the news for November, 2003. ...

FSB involvement

The Ryazan incident on September 22, 1999 prompted the initial speculation in the Western press that the Moscow bombings were organized by the FSB, the Russian domestic intelligence service [10][11]. In Russia, the nickname "Mr. Hexogen" has come to be applied to President Vladimir Putin, the former head of the FSB.[12][13] The FSB (ФСБ) is a state security organisation in Russia. ... Cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine, also known as RDX, cyclonite,hexogen, and T4, is an nitroamine and explosive material widely used by the military. ... Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (Russian: ) (born October 7, 1952) is a Russian politician, and the current President of Russia. ... The FSB (ФСБ) is a state security organisation in Russia. ...

The FSB were caught by local police and citizens in the city of Ryazan planting a bomb with a detonator in the basement of an apartment building at the address of 14/16 Novosyelov on the night of September 22, 1999. Explosives experts arriving at the scene found that the bomb tested positive for hexogen (i.e., RDX). On September 24, 1999, Nikolai Patrushev, the head of the FSB, said that the bomb in the basement of the apartment had been a dummy and that the FSB had been conducting a test. The FSB claimed that the gas analyzer that detected hexogen had malfunctioned, and that the substance in the dummy bomb was sugar.[14][15] The FSB (ФСБ) is a state security organisation in Russia. ... [edit] Headline text ANEWNGONEWGEQWMedia:Example. ...

Yet, Yuri Tkachenko, the explosives expert who defused the bomb insisted that it was real. Tkachenko said that the explosives, including a timer, power source, and detonator were genuine military equipment and obviously prepared by a professional. He also said that the gas analyzer that tested the vapors coming from the sacks unmistakably indicated the presence of hexogen. Tkachenko said that it was out of the question that the analyzer could have malfunctioned, as the gas analyzer was of world class quality, costing $20,000 and was maintained by a specialist who worked according to a strict schedule, checking the analyzer after each use and making frequent prophylactic checks. Tkachenko pointed out that meticulous care in the handling of the gas analyzer was a necessity because the lives of the bomb squad's experts depended on the reliability of their equipment. The police officers who answered the original call and discovered the bomb also insisted that the incident was not an exercise and that it was obvious from its appearance that the substance in the bomb was not sugar.[16][17] [edit] Headline text ANEWNGONEWGEQWMedia:Example. ...

Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky supported a 2002 documentary film "FSB blows up Russia" ("An assault on Russia"?), financing 25% of the costs [18]. The film accused Russian special services of organising the explosions in Volgodonsk and Moscow. According to research carried out by two French journalists, Jean-Charles Deniau and Charles Gazelle, the explosions were carried out by FSB to provide justification for the continuance of the Chechen War, which in turn helped Putin beat the communists in the presidential election of 2000. There is some doubt concerning Berezovsky's impartiality in this case, as he allegedly had extensive business dealings with Chechen rebels ^{[citation needed]}. However, nearly 40% of the Russians gave credence to Berezovsky's accusations at the time [19] Boris Abramovich Berezovsky (Ð‘Ð¾Ñ€Ð¸ÌÑ ÐÐ±Ñ€Ð°ÌÐ¼Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð‘ÐµÑ€ÐµÐ·Ð¾ÌÐ²ÑÐºÐ¸Ð¹) (born January 23, 1946) (Note: Boris Berezovsky is now officially known as Platon Elenin by the British Home Office [1]) is a Russian businessman. ... The FSB (ФСБ) is a state security organisation in Russia. ...

In April 2002 on a visit to Washington, Duma member Sergei Yushenkov pointed to a mysterious remark by the Duma speaker Gennady Seleznev, from which it appeared that Seleznev had known about one of the explosions three days before the fact [20][21]. Gennadiy Seleznyov (b. ...

An independent documentary 'Nedoverie" (Disbelief [22], (Google Video) about the bombing controversy 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 [23]. The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival in the United States, and ranks amongst the top five events of its type in the world. ...

A May 20, 2004 LA Times article describes the conviction on an unrelated state secret charge of Mikhail Trepashkin, appointed by a public committee, set up by four members of the Russian parliament, to investigate the bombings. Trepashkin was arrested shortly before he was to make his findings public. The article states that FSB agent Vladimir Romanovich was identified by several witnesses as the man who rented the basement of one of the bombed buildings; Romanovich subsequently died in a car crash in Cyprus. Trepashkin's wife declared that his conviction was punishment for publicizing uncomfortable truths about the bombing. May 20 is the 140th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (141st in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mikhail Trepashkin, a Moscow attorney and former FSB agent, was invited by MP Sergei Yushenkov to assist in an independent investigation of the Russian apartment bombings in September 1999 â€“ the atrocities that provoked the war in Chechnya and skyrocketed Vladimir Putin to presidency. ...

Among Western scholars, the theory of FSB involvement in the bombings has been championed by David Satter, the former Financial Times correspondent in Moscow, in his book Darkness at Dawn: the Rise of the Russian Criminal State, published by the Yale University Press [24]. The Financial Times (FT) is an international business newspaper printed on distinctive salmon pink broadsheet paper. ... Yale University Press is a book publisher founded in 1908. ...

Contents

The bombings

Ryazan Incident

Official investigation

Attempts of independent investigation

FSB involvement

See also

External links

Contents

The bombings GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Ryazan Incident

Official investigation

Attempts of independent investigation

FSB involvement

See also

External links

The bombings