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The '''Russian apartment bombings''' were a series of explosions that hit four apartment blocks in the [[Russia]]n cities of [[Buynaksk]], [[Moscow]] and [[Volgodonsk]] in September 1999, killing nearly 300 people and spreading a wave of fear across the country. Together with the [[Invasion of Dagestan (1999)|Invasion of Dagestan]] launched by militants from Chechnya in August 1999, the bombings caused the Russian Federation to intensify the [[Second Chechen war]].
The '''Russian apartment bombings''' were a series of explosions that hit apartment blocks in the [[Russia]]n cities of [[Buynaksk]], [[Moscow]] and [[Volgodonsk]] in September 1999, killing nearly 300 people and spreading a wave of fear across the country. The bombings were blamed by the [[Russian government]] on rebels from the [[North Caucasus]] region and together with the [[Invasion of Dagestan (1999)|Dagestan War]], that took place in August 1999, lead to the military invasion of the separatist [[Chechen Republic of Ichkeria]]. The militants as well as the secessionist Chechen authorities denied their involvement in the bombing campaign.


The blasts hit [[Buynaksk]] on September 4, [[Moscow]] on September 9 and 13, and [[Volgodonsk]] on September 16. A suspected bomb was found by local police in the Russian city of [[Ryazan]] on September 23, but it was declared a fake bomb used in a training exercise to test responses of the security organs after the earlier blasts. The incident was however later used as a central argument for conspiracy theories.<ref>[http://vip.lenta.ru/doc/2002/05/14/prosecutors/ Ответ Генпрокуратуры на депутатский запрос о взрывах в Москве]{{ru icon}}, [http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&u=http://vip.lenta.ru/doc/2002/05/14/prosecutors/ machine translation].</ref><ref name="guardian.co.uk">[http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,3973053,00.html Take care Tony, that man has blood on his hands ]</ref><ref name="wsws.org">http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/mar2000/chec-m15.shtml</ref><ref name="economicexpert">[http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Russian:Apartment:Bombings.htm Russian Apartment Bombings]</ref>
The blasts hit Buynaksk on September 4, Moscow on September 9 and 13, and Volgodonsk on September 16. Several other bombs were defused in Moscow on September 13. A similar bomb was found and defused in the Russian city of [[Ryazan]] on September 23. On the next day FSB Director [[Nikolai Patrushev]] announced that the Ryazan incident had been a training exercise and the bomb was declared a fake.<ref>[http://vip.lenta.ru/doc/2002/05/14/prosecutors/ Ответ Генпрокуратуры на депутатский запрос о взрывах в Москве]{{ru icon}}, [http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&u=http://vip.lenta.ru/doc/2002/05/14/prosecutors/ machine translation].</ref> Contrary to this, the police explosives expert who defused the Ryazan bomb, insisted that it was real.<ref name="guardian.co.uk">[http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,3973053,00.html Take care Tony, that man has blood on his hands ]</ref><ref name="wsws.org">[http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/mar2000/chec-m15.shtml Britain's ''Observer'' newspaper suggests Russian secret service involvement in Moscow bombings], Julie Hyland, [[World Socialist Web Site]], 15 March 2000</ref>


A criminal investigation of the bombings was completed in 2002. According to the investigation, and the court ruling that followed, the bombings were organized by [[Achemez Gochiyaev]], who remains at large, and ordered by Arab Mujahids [[Ibn Al-Khattab]] and [[Abu Omar al-Saif]], who have been killed. Six other suspects have been convicted by Russian courts. The militants as well as the secessionist Chechen authorities denied their involvement in the bombing campaign. The only group to claim responsibility for the bombings was [[Liberation Army of Dagestan]].
An official [[Federal Security Service (Russia)|FSB]] investigation of the bombings was completed in 2002. According to the investigation, and the court ruling that followed, the bombings were organized by [[Achemez Gochiyaev]], who remains at large, and ordered by Arab Mujahids [[Ibn Al-Khattab]] and [[Abu Omar al-Saif]], who have been killed. Six other suspects have been convicted by Russian courts.


==The bombings==
==The bombings==
Five apartment bombings took place and at least three attempted bombings were prevented.<ref name="Satter">{{harvnb|Satter|2003|pp=24-33 and 63-71}}</ref> All bombing had the same "signature", judging from the nature and the volume of the destruction. In each case the explosive [[RDX]] was used, and the timers were set to go off at night and inflict the maximum number of civilian casualties.<ref name="Dissident"/> The explosives were placed to destroy the weakest, most critical elements of the buildings and force the buildings to "collapse like a house of cards"<ref name="Satter"/>. The terrorists were able to obtain or manufacture several tons of powerful explosives and deliver them to numerous destinations across Russia <ref name="Satter"/>. 27 terrorist suspects had been arrested in Moscow over the period of 9-14 September but later released<ref name="chronology"/>
===Moscow mall===
===Moscow mall===
On [[August 31]], [[1999]], at 20:00 local time a powerful explosion took place in a busy Moscow shopping center.<ref name="bbc_aug31">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/434794.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/434794.stm]</ref> One person was killed and 40 others injured.<ref name="Satter">{{harvnb|Satter|2003|pp=24-33 and 63-71}}</ref> According to FSB, the explosion had been caused by a bomb of about 300g of explosives.<ref name="bbc_aug31"/>
On [[August 31]], [[1999]], at 20:00 local time a powerful explosion took place in a busy Moscow shopping center.<ref name="bbc_aug31">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/434794.stm Blast rocks Moscow], [[BBC News]], September 1, 1999</ref> One person was killed and 40 others injured.<ref name="Satter"/> According to FSB, the explosion had been caused by a bomb of about 300g of explosives.<ref name="bbc_aug31"/>


===Buynaksk, Dagestan===
===Buynaksk, Dagestan===
On [[September 4]], [[1999]], at 22:00 (18:00 GMT), 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<ref name="bbc_sep5">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/438691.stm Russia hit by new Islamic offensive]</ref>. 64 people were killed and 133 were injured in the explosion.<ref name="Dissident"/><ref name="nyt_6conv">[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E0D6103DF933A15750C0A9679C8B63&scp=3&sq=russia%20apartment%20bombings&st=cse 6 Convicted in Russia Bombing That Killed 68]</ref>. Another car bomb was found and defused in another part of the town.<ref name="bbc_sep5"/> <ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/3672012/Vladimir-Putin-and-his-corporate-gangsters.html Vladimir Putin and his corporate gangsters]</ref> The defused bomb was in a car containing 2,706 kilograms of explosives and was found in a parking lot surrounded by an army hospital and residential buildings, and it was discovered by local residents.<ref name=autogenerated6>[[Yuri Felshtinsky]] and [[Vladimir Pribylovsky]] ''The Age of Assassins. The Rise and Rise of Vladimir Putin'', Gibson Square Books, London, 2008, ISBN 190-614207-6, pages 105-111. The interview was given on 14 January, 2000 </ref>
On [[September 4]], [[1999]], at 22:00 (18:00 GMT), 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.<ref name="bbc_sep5">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/438691.stm Russia hit by new Islamic offensive]</ref> 64 people were killed and 133 were injured in the explosion.<ref name="Dissident"/><ref name="nyt_6conv">[http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/20/world/6-convicted-in-russia-bombing-that-killed-68.html 6 Convicted in Russia Bombing That Killed 68], Patrick E. Tyler, [[The New York Times]], March 20, 2001</ref> Another car bomb was found and defused in the same town.<ref name="bbc_sep5"/> <ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/3672012/Vladimir-Putin-and-his-corporate-gangsters.html Vladimir Putin and his corporate gangsters]</ref> The defused bomb was in a car containing 2,706 kilograms of explosives. It was discovered by local residents in a parking lot surrounded by an army hospital and residential buildings.{{harv|Felshtinsky|Pribylovsky|2008|pp=105-111}}


===Moscow, Pechatniki===
===Moscow, Pechatniki===
[[Image:Apartment bombing2.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Bombing at Guryanova Street. One section of the building completely collapsed.]]
[[Image:Apartment bombing2.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Bombing at Guryanova Street. One section of the building completely collapsed.]]


On [[September 9]], [[1999]], shortly after midnight local time, at 20:00 GMT,<ref name="bbc_sep9">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/443161.stm Russia mourns blast victims]</ref> 300 to 400&nbsp;kg of explosives detonated on the ground floor of an apartment building in south-east Moscow (19 Guryanova Street). The nine-story building was destroyed, killing 94 people inside and injuring 249 others. 15 nearby buildings were also damaged.<ref name="bbc_sep9"/> A total of 108 apartments were destroyed during the bombing. An FSB spokesman identified the explosive as [[RDX]].<ref name="Satter"/> Residents said a few minutes before the blast four men were seen speeding away from the building in a car.<ref>http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/russian-blast-deaths-blamed-on-terrorism-1117552.html</ref>
On [[September 9]], [[1999]], shortly after midnight local time, at 20:00 GMT,<ref name="bbc_sep9">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/443161.stm Russia mourns blast victims]</ref> 300 to 400&nbsp;kg of explosives detonated on the ground floor of an apartment building in south-east Moscow (19 Guryanova Street). The nine-story building was destroyed, killing 94 people inside and injuring 249 others. 15 nearby buildings were also damaged.<ref name="bbc_sep9"/> A total of 108 apartments were destroyed during the bombing. An FSB spokesman identified the explosive as [[RDX]].<ref name="Satter"/> Residents said a few minutes before the blast four men were seen speeding away from the building in a car.<ref>[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/russian-blast-deaths-blamed-on-terrorism-1117552.html Russian blast deaths blamed on terrorism], Helen Womack, [[The Independent]], September 10, 1999</ref>


The [[President of Russia]], [[Boris Yeltsin]] ordered the search of 30,000 residential buildings in Moscow for explosives.<ref>{{harv|Satter|2003|p=65}}</ref>. He took personal control of the investigation of the blast.<ref name="chronology"/>. Vladimir Putin declared September 13 a day of mourning for the victims of the attacks.<ref name="bbc_sep9"/>
The [[President of Russia]], [[Boris Yeltsin]] ordered the search of 30,000 residential buildings in Moscow for explosives.<ref>{{harvnb|Satter|2003|p=65}}</ref>. He took personal control of the investigation of the blast.<ref name="chronology"/>. Vladimir Putin declared September 13 a day of mourning for the victims of the attacks.<ref name="bbc_sep9"/>


===Moscow, Kashirskoye highway===
===Moscow, Kashirskoye highway===
On [[September 13]], [[1999]], at 5:00 a.m., a large bomb exploded in a basement of an apartment block on Kashirskoye Highway in southern Moscow, about 6 km from the place of the last attack. 118 people died and 200 were injured. This was the deadliest blast in the chain of bombings. The eight-story building was flattened, littering the street with debris and throwing some concrete pieces hundreds of yards away.<ref name="Dissident"/><ref name="bbc_sep13">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/445529.stm Dozens dead in Moscow blast]</ref>
On [[September 13]], [[1999]], at 5:00 a.m., a large bomb exploded in a basement of an apartment block on Kashirskoye Highway in southern Moscow, about 6 km from the place of the last attack. 118 people died and 200 were injured. This was the deadliest blast in the chain of bombings. The eight-story building was flattened, littering the street with debris and throwing some concrete pieces hundreds of yards away.<ref name="Dissident"/><ref name="bbc_sep13">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/445529.stm Dozens dead in Moscow blast]</ref>

===Moscow, attempted bombings===
On [[September 13]], [[1999]], a bomb was defused in a building in the Kapotnya area. A warehouse containing several tons of explosives and six timing devices was found at Borisov Ponds. That was a [[Karachai]] businessman [[Achemez Gochiyaev]], who <ref name="bbc_fsbpic">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2154100.stm Russia hits back over blasts claims]</ref> called the police and warned about the bombing locations, which helped to prevent a large number of further casualties. 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. When the first two bombs went off, Gochiyaev says, he realized that he had been framed and called the police to warn about the bombing.<ref name="Prima"> [http://www.prima-news.ru/eng/news/articles/2002/7/25/16413.html Achemez Gochiyaev: I’ve been framed up by a FSB agent] by [[Prima (news agency)|Prima News]], July 25, 2002</ref><ref name="fugitive-2005">{{ru icon}}[http://2005.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2005/18n/n18n-s08.shtml Я Хочу Рассказать О Взрывах Жилых Домов], [[Novaya Gazeta]] No. 18, March 14, 2005 ([http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&u=http://2005.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2005/18n/n18n-s08.shtml computer translation])</ref>


===Volgodonsk===
===Volgodonsk===

Revision as of 01:46, 17 April 2009

Russian apartment bombings
LocationRussia
(Buynaksk-Moscow-Volgodonsk)
DateSeptember 4-16, 1999
TargetLow-income apartment buildings
Attack type
Time bombings
DeathsNearly 300
InjuredMore than 1,000

The Russian apartment bombings were a series of explosions that hit apartment blocks in the Russian cities of Buynaksk, Moscow and Volgodonsk in September 1999, killing nearly 300 people and spreading a wave of fear across the country. The bombings were blamed by the Russian government on rebels from the North Caucasus region and together with the Dagestan War, that took place in August 1999, lead to the military invasion of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. The militants as well as the secessionist Chechen authorities denied their involvement in the bombing campaign.

The blasts hit Buynaksk on September 4, Moscow on September 9 and 13, and Volgodonsk on September 16. Several other bombs were defused in Moscow on September 13. A similar bomb was found and defused in the Russian city of Ryazan on September 23. On the next day FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev announced that the Ryazan incident had been a training exercise and the bomb was declared a fake.[1] Contrary to this, the police explosives expert who defused the Ryazan bomb, insisted that it was real.[2][3]

An official FSB investigation of the bombings was completed in 2002. According to the investigation, and the court ruling that followed, the bombings were organized by Achemez Gochiyaev, who remains at large, and ordered by Arab Mujahids Ibn Al-Khattab and Abu Omar al-Saif, who have been killed. Six other suspects have been convicted by Russian courts.

The bombings

Five apartment bombings took place and at least three attempted bombings were prevented.[4] All bombing had the same "signature", judging from the nature and the volume of the destruction. In each case the explosive RDX was used, and the timers were set to go off at night and inflict the maximum number of civilian casualties.[5] The explosives were placed to destroy the weakest, most critical elements of the buildings and force the buildings to "collapse like a house of cards"[4]. The terrorists were able to obtain or manufacture several tons of powerful explosives and deliver them to numerous destinations across Russia [4]. 27 terrorist suspects had been arrested in Moscow over the period of 9-14 September but later released[6]

Moscow mall

On August 31, 1999, at 20:00 local time a powerful explosion took place in a busy Moscow shopping center.[7] One person was killed and 40 others injured.[4] According to FSB, the explosion had been caused by a bomb of about 300g of explosives.[7]

Buynaksk, Dagestan

On September 4, 1999, at 22:00 (18:00 GMT), 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.[8] 64 people were killed and 133 were injured in the explosion.[5][9] Another car bomb was found and defused in the same town.[8] [10] The defused bomb was in a car containing 2,706 kilograms of explosives. It was discovered by local residents in a parking lot surrounded by an army hospital and residential buildings.(Felshtinsky & Pribylovsky 2008, pp. 105–111)

Moscow, Pechatniki

Bombing at Guryanova Street. One section of the building completely collapsed.

On September 9, 1999, shortly after midnight local time, at 20:00 GMT,[11] 300 to 400 kg of explosives detonated on the ground floor of an apartment building in south-east Moscow (19 Guryanova Street). The nine-story building was destroyed, killing 94 people inside and injuring 249 others. 15 nearby buildings were also damaged.[11] A total of 108 apartments were destroyed during the bombing. An FSB spokesman identified the explosive as RDX.[4] Residents said a few minutes before the blast four men were seen speeding away from the building in a car.[12]

The President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin ordered the search of 30,000 residential buildings in Moscow for explosives.[13]. He took personal control of the investigation of the blast.[6]. Vladimir Putin declared September 13 a day of mourning for the victims of the attacks.[11]

Moscow, Kashirskoye highway

On September 13, 1999, at 5:00 a.m., a large bomb exploded in a basement of an apartment block on Kashirskoye Highway in southern Moscow, about 6 km from the place of the last attack. 118 people died and 200 were injured. This was the deadliest blast in the chain of bombings. The eight-story building was flattened, littering the street with debris and throwing some concrete pieces hundreds of yards away.[5][14]


Moscow, attempted bombings

On September 13, 1999, a bomb was defused in a building in the Kapotnya area. A warehouse containing several tons of explosives and six timing devices was found at Borisov Ponds. That was a Karachai businessman Achemez Gochiyaev, who [15] called the police and warned about the bombing locations, which helped to prevent a large number of further casualties. 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. When the first two bombs went off, Gochiyaev says, he realized that he had been framed and called the police to warn about the bombing.[16][17]

Volgodonsk

A truck bomb exploded on September 16, 1999, outside a nine-story apartment complex in the southern Russian city of Volgodonsk, killing 17 people and injuring 69.[4] The bombing took place at 5:57 am.[18] Surrounding buildings were also damaged. The blast also happened nine miles from a nuclear power plant.[18] Prime Minister Putin signed a decree calling on law enforcement and other agencies to develop plans within three days to protect industry, transportation, communications, food processing centers and nuclear complexes.[18]

Ryazan incident

On the evening of September 22, 1999, a resident of an apartment building in the city of Ryazan noticed two suspicious men who carried sacks into the basement from a car with a Moscow license plate.[19] [20],[21],[22]. He alerted the police, but by the time they arrived the car and the men were gone. The policemen found three 50kg sacks of white powder in the basement. A detonator and a timing device were attached and armed. The timer was set to 5:30 AM.[5] Yuri Tkachenko, the head of the local bomb squad, disconnected the detonator and the timer and tested the three sacks of white substance with a "MO-2" gas analyzer. The device detected traces of RDX, the military explosive used in all previous bombings.[2][3][4]

Police and rescue vehicles converged from different parts of the city, and 30,000 residents were evacuated from the area. 1,200 local police officers armed with automatic weapons set up roadblocks on highways around the city and started patrolling railroad stations and airports to hunt the terrorists down. In the morning, "Ryazan resembled a city under siege".[4] Composite sketches of two men and a woman terrorist suspects were shown on TV. In the morning of September 23 Russian television networks reported the attempt to blow up a building in Ryazan using RDX.[23] Minister of Internal Affairs Vladimir Rushailo announced that police prevented a terrorist act. Later in the evening Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin praised the vigilance of the Ryazanians and called for the air bombing of the Chechen capital Grozny.[24] In the evening of September 23, the perpetrators were caught. A telephone service employee tapped into long distance phone conversations and managed to detect a talk in which an out-of-town person suggested to others that they "split up" and "make your own way out". That person's number was traced to a telephone exchange unit serving FSB offices.[25] When arrested, the detainees produced FSB identification cards. They were soon released on orders from Moscow.[26][27] According to the head of FSB Nikolai Patrushev, the exercise was carried out to test responses after the earlier blasts. FSB issued a public apology about the incident.[28]

Previous threats and claims about responsibility for the blasts

A Finnish journalist who in mid-August 1999, before the bombings, travelled to the village of Karamakhi in Dagestan, interviewed some villagers and their military Commander General Dzherollak. The journalist wrote: "The Wahhabis' trucks go all over Russia. Even one wrong move in Moscow or Makhachkala, they warn, will lead to bombs and bloodshed everywhere." According to the journalist the Wahhabis had told him, "if they start bombing us, we know where our bombs will explode."[29] In the last days of August, Russian military launched an aerial bombing of the villages.[29]

After first bombings, Moscow mayor Luzhkov asserted no warning had been given for the attacks[7] A previously unknown group protesting against growing consumerism in Russia claimed responsibility for the blast. A note was found at the site of the explosion from the group, calling itself the Revolutionary Writers, according to FSB.[30]

On September 2, Al-Khattab announced: "The mujahideen of Dagestan are going to carry out reprisals in various places across Russia."[31], but Khattab would later on September 14 deny responsibility in the blasts, adding that he is fighting the Russian army, not women and children.[32]

On September 9, an anonymous person speaking with a Caucasian accent called 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."[6][33] In an interview to the Czech newspaper Lidove Noviny on September 9, Shamil Basayev denied responsibility saying: "The latest blast in Moscow is not our work, but the work of the Dagestanis. Russia has been openly terrorizing Dagestan, it encircled three villages in the centre of Dagestan, did not allow women and children to leave."[34] A few days later Basayev denied that islamist fighters were responsible for the blasts, and instead were connected to "Russian domestic politics."[35] In a later interview Basayev said he had no idea who was behind the bombings. "Dagestani’s could have done it, or the Russian special services."[36]

During September 9 - 13, AP reporter Greg Myre conducted an interview with Ibn Al-Khattab, in which Al-Khattab as said, "From now on, we will not only fight against Russian fighter jets and tanks. From now on, they will get our bombs everywhere. Let Russia await our explosions blasting through their cities. I swear we will do it." The interview was published on September 15.[37][38] In a subsequent interview with Interfax, al-Khattab denied involvement in the bombings, saying "We would not like to be akin to those who kill sleeping civilians with bombs and shells."[37][39]

On September 15, 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 organization.[6] 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..[40] Russian officials from both the Interior Ministry and FSB at the time expressed skepticism over the claims.[35] Sergei Bogdanov of the FSB press service in Moscow said that the words of a previously unknown individual representing a semi-mythical organization should not be considered as reliable. Mr. Bogdanov insisted that the organization had nothing to do with the bombing.[41] On September 15, 1999 a Dagestani official also denied the existence of a "Dagestan Liberation Army".[42]

Vyacheslav Izmailov, an expert on Caucasus for the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, said at the time that he had received a note from an informant on 10 planned attacks in Moscow, St. Petersburg and in the Rostov area.[18] According to Izmailov the informant indicated that the explosions were organized by two leaders of the Islamic insurgency in Dagestan, Shamil Basayev and Ibn Al-Khattab. But he said the attacks were carried out by Slavic mercenaries as well as Chechens, making it difficult to identify the terrorists.[18]

Criminal investigation and court ruling

The official investigation was concluded in 2002. According to the Russian State Prosecutor office,[43][44] all apartment bombings were executed under command of ethnic Karachay Achemez Gochiyayev. The operations were planned by Ibn al-Khattab and Abu Omar al-Saif, Arab militants fighting in Chechnya on the side of Chechen insurgents. Both Russia and USA accuse of Al-Khattab of having direct links with Al-Qaida,[45], though Khattab himself has always dennied this.[46][47] Al-Khattab and al-Saif were later killed during the Second Chechen War. The planning was carried out in Khattab's guerilla camps in Chechnya, "Caucasus" in Shatoy and "Taliban" in Avtury, according to the prosecution.[44] Gochiyaev's group was trained at Chechen rebel bases in the towns of Serzhen-Yurt and Urus-Martan. The group's "technical instructors" were two Arab field commanders, Abu Umar and Abu Djafar, Al-Khattab was the bombings' brainchild.[48] The explosives were prepared at a fertilizer factory in Urus-Martan Chechnya, by "mixing aluminium powder, nitre and sugar in a concrete mixer",[49] or by also putting their RDX and TNT.[43] 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 organized into several groups which then transported the explosives to different cities.

Moscow

Al-Khattab paid Gochiyayev $500,000 to carry out the attacks at Guryanova Street, Kashirskoye Skosse and Borsovskiye Prudy, and then helped to hide Gochiyayev and his accomplices in Chechnya.[50][51] In early September, 1999, Magayayev, Krymshamkhalov, Batchayev and Dekkushev reloaded the cargo into a Mercedes-Benz 2236[52] trailer and delivered it to Moscow. En route, they were protected from possible complications by an accomplice Khakim Abayev,[52] who accompanied the trailer in another car. In Moscow they were met by Achimez Gochiayev, who registered in Hotel Altai under the fake name "Laipanov", and Denis Saitakov. The explosive was left in a warehouse in Ulitsa Krasnodonskaya, which was leased by pseudo-Laipanov (Gochiayev.) The next day explosives were delivered in "ZIL-5301" vans to three addresses – Ulitsa Guryanova, Kashirskoye Shosse and Ulitsa Borisovskiye Prudy, where pseudo-Laipanov leased cellars.[52] Gochiayev supervised the placement of the explosives in the rented cellars. Next followed the explosions at the former two addresses. The explosion at 16 Borisovskiye Prudy was prevented.[50][53] Batchayev and Krymshakhalov admitted transporting a truckload of explosives to Moscow but said "they have never been in touch with Chechen warlords and did not know Gochiyaev".[5] They said that someone "who posed as a jihad leader had duped them into the operation" by hiring them to transport his explosives, and they later realized this man was working for the FSB.[5] They claimed that bombings were directed by German Ugryumov who supervised the FSB Alpha and Vympel special forces units at that time.[54]

Buinaksk

The 4 September Buinaksk bombings were ordered by Al-Khattab, who promised the bombers $300,000 to drive their truck bombs into the center of the compound, which would have destroyed four apartment buildings simultaneously. However, the bombers parked on an adjacent street instead and blew up only one building. At the trial they complained, that Khattab had not given them all the money he owed them.[50] One of the bombers confessed working for Al-Khattab, but claimed he did not know the explosives were intended to blow up the military apartment buildings.[50]

Volgodonsk

According to Dekkushev's confession he, together with Krymshamkhalov and Batchayev, prepared the explosives, transported them to Volgodonsk, and randomly picked the apartment building on Octyabrskoye Shosse to blow up. Abu Omar had promised to pay him the for the job, but Dekkushev never got a single kopeck. According to Dekkushev, it wasn't the FSB that ordered the bombing, as Berezovsky later claimed, but the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).[50]

Sentences

Two members of Gochiyayev's group that carried out the attacks, Adam Dekkushev and Yusuf Crymshamhalov, have been sentenced to life term each in a special-regime colony.[55] Both defendants have pleaded guilty only to some of the charges. For instance, Dekkushev acknowledged that he knew the explosives he transported were to be used for an act of terror. Dekkushev also confirmed Gochiyaev's role in the attacks.[56] Dekkushev was extradited to Russia on April 14, 2002 to stand trial. Crymshamhalov was apprehended and extradicted to Moscow.[50][55] In 2000, six bombers involved in the Buynaksk attack were arrested in Azerbaidjan and convicted of the bombing.[50] Achemez Gochiyaev, the head of the group that carried out the attacks and allegedly the main organizer, remains a fugitive, and is under an international search warrant.[55] In a statement released in January, 2004, the FSB said, "until we arrest Gochiyayev, the investigation of the apartment bloc bombings of 1999 will not be finished."[57]

Suspects and convictions

In September 1999, hundreds of Chechen nationals (out of more than 100,000 permanently living in Moscow) were briefly detained and interrogated in Moscow, as a wave of anti-Chechen feeling swept the city.[58] All of them turned out to be innocent. According to the official investigation, the following people either delivered explosives, stored them, or harbored other suspects:

Arab-born Mujahid Ibn al-Khattab who was killed by the FSB in 2002.

Moscow bombings

Volgodonsk bombing

  • Timur Batchayev (Ethnic Karachai,[69] killed in Georgia in the clash with police during which Krymshakhalov was arrested[43])
  • Zaur Batchayev (Ethnic Karachai[70] killed in Chechnya in 1999-2000[43])
  • Adam Dekkushev (Ethnic Karachai,[71] arrested in Georgia, threw a grenade at police during the arrest, extradited to Russia and sentenced to life imprisonment in January 2004, after a two-month secret trial held without a jury[5][72])

Buinaksk bombing

  • Isa Zainutdinov (Ethnic Avar[69] and native of Dagestan,[71] sentenced to life imprisonment in March 2001[73])
  • Alisultan Salikhov (Ethnic Avar[69] and native of Dagestan,[71] sentenced to life imprisonment in March 2001[73])
  • Magomed Salikhov (Ethnic Avar[69] and native of Dagestan,[74] arrested in Azerbaijan in November 2004, extradited to Russia, found not guilty on the charge of terrorism by the jury on January 24, 2006; found guilty of participating in an armed force and illegal crossing of the national border,[75] he was retried again on the same charges on November 13, 2006 and again found not guilty, this time on all charges, including the ones he was found guilty of in the first trial.[76] 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.[77])
  • Ziyavudin Ziyavudinov (Native of Dagestan,[78] arrested in Kazakhstan, extradited to Russia, sentenced to 24 years in April 2002[79])
  • Abdulkadyr Abdulkadyrov (Ethnic Avar[69] and native of Dagestan, sentenced to 9 years in March 2001[73])
  • Magomed Magomedov (Name indicates a native of Dagestan, sentenced to 9 years in March 2001[73])
  • Zainutdin Zainutdinov (Ethnic Avar[69] and native of Dagestan, sentenced to 3 years in March 2001 and immediately released under amnesty[73])
  • Makhach Abdulsamedov (Native of Dagestan, sentenced to 3 years in March 2001 and immediately released under amnesty[73]).

Support for the theory of Islamist involvement

According to Paul J. Murphy, a former US counterterrorism official, the evidence that Al-Khattab was responsible for the apartment building bombings in Moscow is clear.[50] Murphy also asserts, that the findings by the Russian government prove, that the Liberation Army of Dagestan, which claimed responsibility for the attacks, is the same as Al-Khattab's Islamic Army of Dagestan, which launched the invasion of Dagestan from Chechnya in August, 1999.[50]

Professor Peter Reddaway and researcher Dmitri Glinski, have described the involvement of the Liberation Army of Dagestan as the most likely explanation for the bombings.[80]

According to Dr. Robert Bruce Ware, an associate professor of Southern Illinois University, the simplest, clearest explanation for the apartment block blasts is that they were perpetrated by Wahhabis from Dagestan and perhaps elsewhere in the region, under the leadership of Khattab, as retribution for the federal attacks on Karamachi, Chabanmakhi and Kadar. "If the blasts were organized by Khattab and other Wahhabis as retribution for the federal attacks on Dagestan's Islamic Djamaat, then this would explain the timing of the attacks, and why there were no attacks after the date on which fighting in Dagestan was concluded. It would explain why no Chechen claimed responsibility. It would account for Basayev's reference to Dagestani responsibility, and it would be consistent with Khattab's vow to set off 'bombs everywhere... blasting through their cities'."[37]

Attempts at independent investigation

The Russian Duma rejected two motions for parliamentary investigation of the Ryazan incident.[81][82]

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.[83][84]

Mr Kovalev said in 2002 that the theory of the FSB involvement published in the book of Litvinenko and Felshtinsky seemed to be doubtful.[85]

Two key members of the Kovalev Commission, Sergei Yushenkov and Yuri Shchekochikhin, both Duma members, have since died in apparent assassinations in April 2003 and July 2003 respectively.[86][87] Another member of the commission, Otto Lacis, was assaulted in November 2003[88] and two years later on November 3, 2005, died in hospital after a car accident.[89]

The commission asked lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin to investigate the case. Mr Trepashkin claimed to have 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. Mr Trepashkin was unable to bring the alleged evidence to the court because he was arrested in October 2003 for illegal arms possession, just a few days shortly before he was to make his findings public.[90] He was sentenced by a Moscow military court to four years imprisonment for disclosing state secrets.[91] 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".[92] Romanovich subsequently died in a hit and run accident in Cyprus. According to Mr Trepashkin, his supervisors and 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".[93]

On March 24, 2000, two days before the presidential elections, NTV Russia featured the Ryazan events of fall 1999 on 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 earlier on March 20, 2000. On March 26 Boris Nemtsov voiced his concern over the possible shut-down of NTV for airing the talk.[94] NTV general manager Igor Malashenko spoke at the JFK School of Government on the day the show aired and said 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 we were outlaws in their eyes."[95] According to Alexander Goldfarb, Malashenko told him that Valentin Yumashev brought a warning from the Kremlin one day before airing the show. Goldfarb wrote that the warning in no uncertain terms said that NTV "should consider themselves finished" if they would go ahead with the broadcast.(Goldfarb & Litvinenko 2007, p. 198)

Grigory Yavlinsky said that Artyom Borovik investigated the Moscow apartment bombings and prepared a series of publications about them.[96] Mr Borovik received numerous death threats and died in an airplane crash in March 2000.[97]

Journalist Anna Politkovskaya and former security service member Alexander Litvinenko who investigated the bombings were killed in 2006.[98]

Surviving victims of the Guryanova street bombing asked president Dmitry Medvedev to resume the investigation in 2008.[99]

Theory of Russian government involvement

Main article: Russian apartment bombings conspiracy theories

State Duma deputies Sergei Kovalev, Yuri Shchekochikhin and Sergei Yushenkov, cast doubts on the official version and sought an independent investigation. Anti-Kremlin oligarch Boris Berezovsky (and his close associates Yury Felshtinsky and Alexander Litvinenko), David Satter, Boris Kagarlitsky, Vladimir Pribylovsky, Anna Politkovskaya, as well as the secessionist Chechen authorities and former popular Russian politician Alexander Lebed, claimed that the 1999 bombings were a false flag attack coordinated by the FSB in order to win public support for a new full-scale war in Chechnya, which boosted Prime Minister and former FSB Director Vladimir Putin's popularity, brought the pro-war Unity Party to the State Duma and him to the presidency within a few months.[100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111][112]

Gordon Bennett, Robert Bruce Ware, Paul J. Murphy, Henry Plater-Zyberk, Simon Saradzhyan, Nabi Abdullaev and Richard Sakwa criticized the conspiracy theories, pointing out problems such as the lack of evidence.[113][114][37][115][116][50]

According to a theory that was put forward by anti-Kremlin oligarch Boris Berezovsky, Yuriy Felshtinsky, Alexander Litvinenko, American writer David Satter, political scientist Vladimir Pribylovsky, Russian Duma lawmaker Sergei Yushenkov, film maker Andrei Nekrasov, investigator Mikhail Trepashkin, the bombings were a successful coup d'état organized by the FSB to bring future Russian president Vladimir Putin to power. Some of them described the bombings as typical "active measures" practicised by the KGB in the past. David Satter stated during his testimony in the United States House of Representatives,

"With Yeltsin and his family facing possible criminal prosecution, however, a plan was put into motion to put in place a successor who would guarantee that Yeltsin and his family would be safe from prosecution and the criminal division of property in the country would not be subject to reexamination. For “Operation Successor” to succeed, however, it was necessary to have a massive provocation. In my view, this provocation was the bombing in September, 1999 of the apartment building bombings in Moscow, Buinaksk, and Volgodonsk. In the aftermath of these attacks, which claimed 300 lives, a new war was launched against Chechnya. Putin, the newly appointed prime minister who was put in charge of that war, achieved overnight popularity. Yeltsin resigned early. Putin was elected president and his first act was to guarantee Yeltsin immunity from prosecution."[117]

Yuri Felshtinsky and Vladimir Pribylovsky wrote that the September 4 attack in Buynaksk was probably conducted by a sabotage unit of twelve Russian GRU officers who acted on the orders of Colonel-General Valentin Korabelnikov.[19][118] They referred to the testimony of GRU officer Aleksey Galkin. According to this version, all other attacks were organized by FSB forces based on the following chain of command: "Putin (former director of the secret service, future president) - Patrushev (Putin's successor as director of the secret service) - secret service General German Ugryumov (director of the counter-terrorism department)." FSB officers Vladimir Romanovich, Ramazan Dyshekov and others directly carried out the bombings. Several Chechens were recruited by FSB agents to deliver explosives disguised as bags of sugar to Volgodonsk and Moscow: Adam Dekkushev, Yusuf Krymshakhalov, and Timur Batchaev. The Chechens believed that apartment buildings were merely temporarily storage places, and that the explosives would be used against federal military targets. Ethnic Karachai Achemez Gochiyaev rented the apartment basements as storage spaces on request from the FSB agent Ramazan Dyshekov.[19]

References

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  18. ^ a b c d e ANOTHER BOMBING KILLS 18 IN RUSSIA
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  22. ^ The Fifth Bomb: Did Putin's Secret Police Bomb Moscow in a Deadly Black Operation?, John Sweeney, Cryptome, November 24, 2000
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  40. ^ Russia caught in sect's web of terror
  41. ^ ’’Islam in Russia’’ by Shireen Hunter, Jeffrey L. Thomas, Alexander Melikishvili, J. Collins. P.91
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  47. ^ http://www.islamicawakening.com/viewarticle.php?articleID=640#4
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Bibliography

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