World in a Week, No. 2, 4-11.9.99

Moscow is Shaken by Explosions

The headline, "Trud," responds to the emergency on Guryanova Street. The newspaper quotes the prefect of the South-Western District, Vladimir Zotov:

"Now we are trying to do everything to resettle the survivors and find apartments for them. At the moment, 68 apartments have been found in Maryino alone. Although, truth be told, people will have to be resettled all over Moscow."

Analysis from "Izvestia"

In the article "Explosion," "Izvestia" states:

"The sharp aggravation of the situation in the North Caucasus was bound to be followed by a surge of terror. The explosion in Buynaksk was the first warning bell, to which the federal special services (the entire machine of the executive branch, including Russia's overloaded and bloated intelligence community, the government apparatus, and analytical structures) should have responded with adequate preventive measures. The executive branch should have strengthened the security scheme for the common man—the ordinary worker who lies down on the sofa in front of the TV in the evening and in no way expects an explosion with a power of several hundred kilograms of TNT.

And such preventive measures are not a utopia. The circle of potential terrorists is narrow; they are known to counterintelligence and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and it is technically feasible to track their movement in real time. In addition, there are landmark events. For example, the bombing of Shamil Basaev's native village of Vedeno was an obvious prerequisite for a terrorist attack. And Basaev indeed publicly threatened to take revenge for the air raid on Vedeno. No one, it seems, took his words seriously.

Until the mid-70s, the whole world fought terrorism with the only method available then—AFTER an explosion or assassination attempt, the search for terrorists began based on the clues they left behind. The Israelis were the first to come to their senses—they began to fight terrorists BEFORE they committed their planned crimes. This is a technically difficult task, requiring special skill and sometimes considerable courage from counterintelligence officers. This tactic was adopted by almost all developed countries of the world experiencing problems with terrorism. Sometimes enlightenment also came to the Russian special services. Have you heard anything about Salman Raduyev in the last six months? He is incapacitated, and thanks for this should be given to that anonymous sniper who hit him in the head with an explosive bullet."

"Izvestia" provides preliminary data on "losses":
* Deaths: 20 people
* Wounded: 152
* Hospitalized: 73

Residential Building Blown Up: Investigating the Cause

"Vechernyaya Moskva" reports on the tragedy, attempting to understand the causes:

"Gas doesn't explode like that," said firefighters and rescuers, "windows would have blown out and the floors between apartments would have been damaged. But for the house to just fold up?.." And teenagers walking nearby saw some kind of glowing object fly through the sky with a whistle toward the house that later exploded."

FSB explosives experts share with "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" that:

"Only professional demolitionists could have achieved such a destructive effect."

In the article "Mystery of the Night Explosion," their assumption was made public: the power of the explosion was at least 200 kilograms of TNT.

Media Reactions and Warnings

• "Moskovskaya Pravda" headlined its article as "Concrete Trap":
  > "...The tragedy strongly resembles the terrorist attacks in Kaspiysk and Buynaksk. The words of Khattab come to mind: 'Moscow will choke in blood.' The explosion in the shopping center on Manezh Square, for which the Dagestan Liberation Army claimed responsibility, seemed the limit of audacity and cruelty, but in light of recent events it becomes clear: Manezh was the beginning, Guryanova Street is the continuation, the end is not soon. It is not our task to frighten anyone, but the situation is heating up."

• "Parlamentskaya Gazeta" asks: "The second explosion has thundered. Are we waiting for a third?" and warns Muscovites:
  > "It seems that we all need to look around carefully, look at the conditions in which we exist. And first of all—at basements, attics, entrances... The doors are wide open, leave any junk, even a bomb, no one will pay attention."

• "Ekho Moskvy" radio station distributed the words of Yuri Luzhkov:
  > "The explosion in a residential building in Moscow can with the highest probability be called sabotage, a terrorist attack. It can be said that hexogen exploded—an explosive substance that is twice as powerful as TNT, which is used only for combat purposes."

Law Enforcement Follow-up

The radio station further reports that law enforcement agencies have:
* Identified a circle of persons possibly involved in the explosion of the residential building in Pechatniki.
* Drawn up composite sketches based on eyewitness testimony.