Solved case · 1999
Also known as Russian apartment bombings · Moscow apartment bombings
Ул.Гурьянова - panoramioCredit: евгений измайловCC BY-SA 3.0SourceThe short answer
A series of explosions struck apartment blocks in Buynaksk, Moscow, and Volgodonsk in September 1999, killing more than 300 people and helping trigger the Second Chechen War amid disputed accounts of who was responsible.
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Suggest coverage for 1999 Russian Apartment BombingsIn September 1999, a series of bombings struck apartment buildings in the Russian cities of Buynaksk, Moscow, and Volgodonsk, killing more than 300 people and injuring over 1,000. The blasts occurred on 4 September (Buynaksk), 9 and 13 September (Moscow), and 16 September (Volgodonsk). Each device used powerful explosives timed to detonate at night to maximize casualties, destroying or heavily damaging multi-story residential buildings. A preceding smaller bombing occurred at Moscow's Manezhnaya Square shopping complex on 31 August 1999, injuring at least 29 people.
Chechen militants were officially blamed for the attacks, but Chechen leaders, including President Aslan Maskhadov and commander Shamil Basayev, denied responsibility. An anonymous caller claiming to represent a "Liberation Army of Dagestan" claimed responsibility in calls to news agencies, but Russian officials expressed skepticism that such an organization existed, and a Dagestani official also denied its existence.
A significant controversy arose after a device resembling those used in the bombings was found and defused in an apartment building in Ryazan on 22 September 1999. Three Federal Security Service (FSB) agents were arrested by local police in connection with placing the device. The following day, FSB director Nikolai Patrushev announced that the Ryazan incident had been an anti-terror training exercise and that the sacks found in the basement contained only sugar, and the arrested agents were released.
Official investigations into the Buynaksk bombing concluded in 2001, resulting in convictions of several people. Investigations into the Moscow and Volgodonsk bombings concluded in 2002, with court rulings announced in 2004 finding that the attacks were organized by Achemez Gochiyaev, who remains a fugitive, and ordered by Islamist commanders Ibn al-Khattab and Abu Omar al-Saif, both of whom were later killed. Several other suspects were killed, and several were convicted on terrorism-related charges by Russian courts, including life sentences for some defendants.
Attempts to conduct an independent investigation faced obstruction. State Duma motions for a parliamentary investigation were rejected in March 2000. An independent commission chaired by Duma deputy Sergei Kovalev was unable to obtain government cooperation. Two members of that commission, Sergei Yushenkov and Yuri Shchekochikhin, later died in what have been described as apparent assassinations. The commission's investigator, Mikhail Trepashkin, was arrested and served four years in prison on a charge of revealing state secrets; Amnesty International stated there were serious grounds to believe the charges were politically motivated to stop his investigative work on the bombings.
A number of historians, journalists, and former security officials — including former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, who was later assassinated in London in 2006 — have alleged that the bombings were a false-flag operation carried out by Russian state security services to build public support for renewed war in Chechnya and boost the political standing of Vladimir Putin ahead of the 2000 presidential election. These allegations have not been conclusively proven, and the guilt of the Chechen militants officially blamed for the bombings has likewise never been conclusively established.
A bomb explodes at the Manezhnaya Square shopping complex in Moscow, injuring at least 29 people.
A car bomb detonates outside an apartment building in Buynaksk, Dagestan, killing 64 people; a second device is found and defused nearby.
A bomb destroys an apartment building on Guryanova Street in Moscow, killing 106 people.
A bomb destroys an apartment building on Kashirskoye Highway in Moscow, killing 119 people; two other bombs in Moscow are discovered and defused.
A truck bomb explodes outside an apartment complex in Volgodonsk, killing 17 people.
A suspicious device is found in an apartment building basement in Ryazan and defused by police.
Vladimir Putin praises the vigilance of Ryazan residents and orders air strikes on Grozny, beginning the Second Chechen War; three FSB agents are arrested in connection with the Ryazan device.
FSB director Nikolai Patrushev announces the Ryazan incident was an anti-terror training exercise and the substance found was sugar; the detained agents are released.
The State Duma rejects motions for a parliamentary investigation into the bombings and the Ryazan incident.
The official investigation into the Buynaksk bombing concludes; seven people are convicted.
Pre-trial investigation of the Moscow and Volgodonsk bombings is completed.
Kovalev Commission member Sergei Yushenkov dies in an apparent assassination.
Kovalev Commission member Yuri Shchekochikhin dies in an apparent assassination.
Commission investigator Mikhail Trepashkin is arrested.
Court ruling on the Moscow and Volgodonsk bombings is announced, finding Achemez Gochiyaev organized the attacks under orders from Ibn al-Khattab and Abu Omar al-Saif.
Former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, who blamed the FSB for the bombings, is assassinated in London.
A separate Moscow court process concludes regarding the Manezhnaya Square explosion, sentencing two men to prison terms.
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
Former FSB officer who alleged the FSB carried out the bombings; assassinated in London in 2006, which a British inquiry later found was probably carried out with the approval of Vladimir Putin and Nikolai Patrushev.[3]
Duma deputy and member of the independent Kovalev Commission investigating the bombings; died in an apparent assassination in April 2003.[3]
Duma deputy who sought a parliamentary investigation and served on the Kovalev Commission; died in an apparent assassination in July 2003.[3]
Sentenced to 9 years in March 2001 for the Buynaksk bombing.[3]
Extradited to Russia in 2002; sentenced to life imprisonment in January 2004 for his role in transporting explosives used in the Moscow and Volgodonsk bombings.[3]
Sentenced to life imprisonment in March 2001 for the Buynaksk bombing.[3]
Sentenced to life imprisonment in March 2001 for the Buynaksk bombing.[3]
Sentenced to 25 years in 2009 for organizing and executing the 1999 Manezhnaya Square explosion.[3]
Sentenced to 9 years in March 2001 for the Buynaksk bombing.[3]
Sentenced to 15 years in 2009 for the 1999 Manezhnaya Square explosion.[3]
Sentenced to 3 years in March 2001 for the Buynaksk bombing and immediately released under amnesty.[3]
Lawyer and investigator for the independent Kovalev Commission; arrested in October 2003 and sentenced to four years in prison for revealing state secrets, a conviction Amnesty International said may have been politically motivated to stop his investigation of the bombings.[3]
Traffic police inspector sentenced to four years in May 2003 for accepting a bribe to allow the explosives-laden truck through a checkpoint.[3]
Extradited to Russia and sentenced to life imprisonment in January 2004 for his role in the Moscow and Volgodonsk bombings.[3]
Sentenced to 3 years in March 2001 for the Buynaksk bombing and immediately released under amnesty.[3]
Extradited from Kazakhstan and sentenced to 24 years in April 2002 for the Buynaksk bombing.[3]
Officially named a person of interest by Russian authorities; not charged. A 2004 Russian court ruling on the Moscow and Volgodonsk bombings found the attacks were organized and led by him; he remains a fugitive under an international search warrant and has not been arrested, charged, or tried.[3]
Arrested in Azerbaijan in 2004 and extradited to Russia in connection with the Buynaksk bombing; found not guilty on terrorism charges in January 2006 and again found not guilty on all charges after a retrial in November 2006.[3]
FSB director who announced on 24 September 1999 that the Ryazan incident had been an anti-terror training exercise involving sugar rather than explosives.[3]
From the record
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Credit: Soviet governmentPublic domainSourceSOLVEDListenMoscow, Soviet Union (Archive of the President of the Russian Federation) · 1930s
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Apartment block, central Moscow, Russia · 2000s
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On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh detonated a truck bomb outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring more than 680 others in the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. McVeigh and accomplice Terry Nichols were convicted in 1997; McVeigh was executed in 2001, and Nichols was sentenced to life without parole.
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On February 26, 1993, a truck bomb detonated in the parking garage beneath the North Tower of the World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring over a thousand in a failed attempt to topple both towers.
