The Russian apartment bombings were a series of explosions that hit four 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 Chechen separatists and together with the Islamist invasion of Dagestan, a republic within the Russian Federation, that took place in August 1999, lead to the military invasion of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, which started on September 30 and escalated the Second Chechen War. The Chechen militants and secessionist authorities, however, have denied their involvement in the bombing campaign as well as the Dagestan War.
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. The (then) Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin praised the vigilance of the Ryazanians and ordered air attacks on Grozny. The local police caught two Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agents who planted the bomb in Ryazan shortly afterwards. On September 24 FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev announced that the Ryazan incident had been a training exercise. In three different phone calls to Russian and international news agencies, a group called the Liberation army of Dagestan claimed responsibility for the attacks.
An official FSB investigation of the bombings was completed in 2002 and concluded that they were organized by Achemez Gochiyaev, who remains at large, and ordered by Islamist warlords Ibn Al-Khattab and Abu Omar al-Saif, who have been killed. Six other suspects have been convicted by Russian courts. However, many observers, including State Duma deputies Yuri Shchekochikhin, Sergei Kovalev and Sergei Yushenkov, cast doubts on the official version and sought an independent investigation. Some others, including David Satter from the American right-wing Hoover Institute, and Alexander Litvinenko (the latter with his co-authors Yury Felshtinsky, Vladimir Pribylovsky), as well as the secessionist Chechen authorities, 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. Other researchers have criticized these claims, which have been labeled as conspiracy theories, pointing out, among other things, that the theories' proponents have provided little evidence to support them.
The bombings
Five apartment bombings took place and at least three attempted bombings were prevented. 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. 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". The terrorists were able to obtain or manufacture several tons of powerful explosives and deliver them to numerous destinations across Russia .
Moscow mall
On August 31, at 20:00 local time a powerful explosion took place in a busy Moscow shopping center. One person was killed and 40 others injured. According to FSB, the explosion had been caused by a bomb of about 300g of explosives. According to Moscow mayor Luzhkov, no warning had been given for the attacks. Luzkov speculated, that radical Islamic separatists from Chechnya were responsible. 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.
Security officials quoted by the Russian media noted that the Islamic rebels in Dagestan had threatened to carry out acts of terrorism in Russia proper. On the same day, Shamil Basayev said "I will continue the holy war even if the world is engulfed in blue flame."
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. 64 people were killed and 133 were injured in the explosion. Another carbomb was found and defused in another part of the town. According to a book by Yuri Felshtinsky, a friend of Alexander Litvinenko, 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. Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Kolesnikov suspected, that the explosion was linked with the earlier invasion of militants from Chechnya to Dagestan.
The town had been used as a Garrison town for Russian troops sent in to crush the separatist Islamic rebellion.
Moscow, Pechatniki
thumb|right|250px|Bombing at Guryanova Street. One section of the building completely collapsed.
On September 9 , shortly after midnight local time, at 20:00 GMT, 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. A total of 108 apartments were destroyed during the bombing. An FSB spokesman identified the explosive as hexogen. The President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin ordered the search of 30,000 residential buildings in Moscow for explosives. Yeltsin took personal control of the investigation of the blast.
On the same day, 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." In an interview to the Czech newspaper Lidove Noviny on September 9, Shamil Basayev said: "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."
Vladimir Putin declared September 13 a day of mourning for the victims of the attacks.
Moscow, Kashirskoye highway
On September 13 , 1999 , at 5:00 a.m., a large bomb exploded at 5:00 a.m. in a basement of an apartment block on Kashirskoye Highway in southern Moscow, about 6 km from the place of the last attack. The eight-story building was flattened, littering the street with debris and throwing some concrete pieces hundreds of yards away. In all, 118 people died and 200 were injured. According to American journalist David Satter, the basement of the destroyed building was checked by police three hours prior to the blast.
Moscow, attempted bombings
On September 13 , 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. How these sites were discovered has never officially been announced.
A Karachai businessman Achemez Gochiyaev, who was later declared a key suspect by FSB, 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. FSB later published pictures which showed him together with Khattab to prove that two men had close links.. Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko asked British forensics expert Geoffrey Oxlee to examine the digitized photos. According to Oxlee, "the images were of poor quality and had been exposed to digital processing", but didn't say that they were faked, but that the photographic evidence was "inconclusive".
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.
Vladimir Putin stated, that the people responsible for the bombings in Moscow are hiding on Chechen territory. 27 terrorist suspects had been arrested in Moscow over the period of 9-14 September.
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. The bombing took place at 5:57 am. Surrounding buildings were also damaged. The blast also happened nine miles from a nuclear power plant. 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 proces
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