Terrorist Attacks: Chronicles of Modern Russia
A terrorist attack occurred at the Crocus Sealy Hall concert hall in Moscow. Currently, 133 people are known to have died and 154 injured, all of whom have been hospitalized. The exact death toll is still unknown, but it is already clear that this terrorist attack is one of the largest in 25 years.
"NeMoskva" recalled past tragedies that claimed the lives of many.
Apartment building explosions in September 1999. Buynaksk, Moscow, Volgodonsk
Four high-rise buildings in Russia were blown up between September 4 and 16: one in Buynaksk, two in Moscow, and another in Volgodonsk. People were killed. 307 people, more than 1700 were injured.
Buynaksk (Dagestan)On September 4 at 9:45 PM, a GAZ-52 truck packed with more than 2,5 tons of aluminum powder and ammonium nitrate explosives was detonated near a five-story building on Levanevsky Street. The building housed families of Russian military personnel. Two entrances were destroyed. 64 people died, including 23 children, 146 people were injured.
MoscowAt midnight on September 8-9, an explosion occurred on the first floor of a nine-story building at 19 Guryanova Street. Two entrances were completely destroyed. The blast wave deformed the structures of the neighboring building at 17. The explosion had the equivalent of 350 kg of TNT. Particles of TNT and hexogen were found at the scene. People died. 106 people, 690 were injured.
MoscowAt 5 a.m. on September 13, the day of mourning for the victims of the Guryanova Street explosion, an explosion occurred in the basement of an eight-story building at 6 Kashirskoye Shosse. The blast was equivalent to 300 kg of TNT. The brick building was completely destroyed. 124 people died, 7 were injured.
Volgodonsk (Rostov Oblast)Around 6 a.m. on September 16, a GAZ-53 truck exploded near a nine-story building on Oktyabrskoye Highway. The building's facade was destroyed and 37 neighboring houses were damaged. The victims 19 89 people were hospitalized. The truck owner claimed he didn't know about the explosives—he'd sold the truck the day before, and the buyers allegedly loaded it with potatoes and asked him to keep watch overnight. He froze and went home to warm up in the morning.
The explosions of houses became one of the reasons for the beginning of the second war in ChechnyaHowever, the accusations against Chechen separatists were never proven. Shamil Basaev, who took responsibility for the terrorist attacks on Dubrovkae and v Beslan, denied involvement in the 1999 apartment bombings. There is a theory that they were orchestrated by the secret services to bring Putin to power. Indirect confirmation of this is the incident with the Volgodonsk bombings that occurred six days after Ryazan sugar.
The failed terrorist attack in Ryazan on September 22, 1999
At about 9 p.m., a resident of a 21-story building No. 14/16 on Novoselov Street in Ryazan Alexey Kartofelnikov He noticed two men and a woman carrying bags from a car to the basement. This seemed suspicious to him, as did the car's license plate, which had been covered. Kartofelnikov called the police. When they arrived, officers discovered three bags, each weighing 60 kg, in the basement. One had been opened, containing a substance resembling sugar, as well as a homemade clock mechanism. The officers reported the discovery to the police department, and soon the leadership of all law enforcement agencies gathered at the house. Ryazan и Ryazan regionResidents of the building were evacuated to the Oktyabr movie theater. The task force soon discovered the presence of hexogen in the "sugar." During Operation Intercept, the "sugar suppliers"—FSB officers—were detained.
Head of the FSB of Russia Nikolai Patrushev The day after the incident, he stated that what happened was an FSB exercise.
The Investigative Department of the FSB Directorate for the Ryazan Region has opened a criminal case under Article 205, Part 1 of the Russian Criminal Code (attempted terrorism).
Neither the residents of the building nor independent journalists believed the version about the exercises. memories of residentsAfter the discovery of the hexogen, the security forces congratulated them "on their second birthday"; they knew nothing about the exercises.
The common expression "Ryazan sugar" emerged after this event. It refers to the lack of evidence that terrorists were directly involved in the explosions and other terrorist attacks. Notably, after this incident, the spate of apartment bombings in Russia suddenly ended.
The Dubrovka terrorist attack, October 23–26, 2002
A group of armed militants [from 40 to 52 - there is still no exact data] led by Movsar Barayev captured and held 916 hostages — spectators of the musical "Nord-Ost" in Theater Center on DubrovkaAfter seizing the building, the terrorists issued a demand: an end to the second Chechen war and the withdrawal of Russian troops.
On October 26, special forces launched an assault, eliminated the militants, and freed most of the hostages. According to official reports, killed 130 people from among the hostages (according to the public organization "Nord-Ost", 174 people). According to data investigative journalists and the surviving hostages, 125 People died not at the hands of terrorists, but from the gas used by special forces. Russia never admitted responsibility for the hostages' deaths, claiming that the people died "from an exacerbation of chronic diseases, and the gas was not the cause." In 2011, the ECHR concluded that the state violated these people's right to life.
There was no one to be tried for the terrorist attack: none of the militants remained alive. Independent journalists and relatives of the victims still have many questions — including how three minibuses of armed men were able to calmly drive through the capital and seize a building.
Terrorist attacks on the Moscow metro. February and August 2004
On February 6, 2004, during rush hour, an explosive device filled with metal objects detonated in a Moscow metro train car. It was traveling from Avtozavodskaya to Paveletskaya station. The explosion killed 40 people were killed, 134 were injured. The suicide bomber was a resident of Karachay-Cherkessia. Anzor Izhaev, who was wanted for previous crimes. In March 2004, a native of Karachay-Cherkessia, suspected of organizing the crime, was arrested. Azret Khubiev.
On August 31, 2004, an explosion occurred near the Rizhskaya metro station in central Moscow. 11 People were killed and about 40 were injured. The attack was carried out by a female suicide bomber, whose identity has not been established by investigators. According to investigators, the organizer of the crime, a resident of Karachay-Cherkessia, was accidentally killed in the same explosion. Nikolay Kipkeev, a member of a terrorist group Akhmed Gochiyaev.
The cases were later combined into one, and three of the terrorists' accomplices were sentenced to life imprisonment.
In total, from 1996 to 2017, there were 9 terrorist attacks.
The Beslan terrorist attack, September 1–3, 2004
В the North Ossetian city of Beslan a group of terrorists led by Rasula Khachbarova a group of more than 30 people seized the building of a secondary school School No. 1At this time, children, their parents, and teachers—1300 people in total—were present at the ceremonial assembly. 1128 Some of them were taken hostage, and the school was mined. The hostages were held in the mined building for two days.
On September 3, a spontaneous operation to free them began. At 13.05:2 p.m., terrorists detonated two bombs in the gymnasium. That's where the majority of the hostages were located. 333 of them diedAmong the dead were 186 children, as well as FSB officers and police officers. More than 800 people were injured.
Terrorists put forward The same demand: an end to the second Chechen war. They also demanded negotiations with the top leadership of North Ossetia, Ingushetia, and an adviser to the Russian president, and that they be accompanied by Russian journalists. Anna Politkovskaya и Andrey BabitskyJournalists were prevented from entering Beslan by various means, and the Kremlin refused to negotiate, despite the militants promising to release 150 children in exchange for each negotiator. Putin, at a meeting with the relatives of the victims, stated that no demands had been made.
Of the militants, only one survived and was detained. Nurpasha Kulaev, whom the Supreme Court of North Ossetia sentenced to life imprisonment.
According to the findings of independent experts and the ECHR, most of the hostages died not from a bomb planted by terrorists, but as a result of the assault launched by Russian security forces.
Terrorist attack in Domodedovo, January 24, 2011
A suicide bomber detonated a bomb at Domodedovo Airport. Died 37 people, 117 were injured.
20-year-old Magomed Evloev, suffering from a nervous disorder, came from IngushetiaIn the summer of 2010, he joined the militants and used drugs and psychotropic substances.
Yevloyev arrived at Domodedovo by taxi and smuggled the bomb past the metal detector; the police officer on duty was simply distracted. The suicide bomber wandered around the airport for the next 68 minutes. The suicide belt, visible under his jacket, alerted no one.
The explosion occurred at 16:32 PM in a crowd of people welcoming the event. At 16:32 PM, a message appeared on Twitter: "Pray, a bomb exploded at our work, in #domodedovo."
Experts stated that the bomb was filled with pipe fragments, bolts, and nuts. They then suggested that the metal fragments found in the bodies of the wounded and dead could have been fragments of shopping carts and suitcases.
It is known that intelligence agencies received information about the suicide bomber's arrival in Moscow several days before the attack. They even knew that an airport was the target. However, they were unable to prevent the attack.
Following the terrorist attack, several high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Transport, and the FSB were dismissed.
Three of the terrorist's accomplices were sentenced to life imprisonment, and several more were killed during arrest.
The criminal case against the management and owners of Domodedovo Airport for failing to ensure security has been closed: investigators found no criminal offense in their actions.
In addition to these tragedies, Russia has seen dozens of other terrorist attacks in which civilians have died. This includes the explosion in the underground passage near Pushkin Square August 8, 2000, which resulted in the deaths of 13 people; bomb explosion at the Central Market in Vladikavkaz April 28, 202, which resulted in the deaths of 10 people; explosion in the center Kaspiysk May 9 of the same year in which they died 43 personOn December 27, 2002, an explosion rocked the Chechen Government House. in Grozny, died 83 personOn December 5, 2003, an explosion occurred in the lead car of the train. Kislovodsk-Mineralnye Vody, died 44 personOn August 24, 2004, two civilian aircraft were bombed by female suicide bombers. The explosions killed 89 human.
In just 24 years of Putin's rule and the year before he took office, there were at least 25 major terrorist attacks.
