Kommersant Vlast No. 35[336] - September 7, 1999

TERRORISM: The Chekist Trace

The 1994 Moscow Sabotage Wave

In 1994, when the military operation in Chechnya began, a wave of transport sabotage swept through Moscow. The incidents included:
* November: A powerful bomb exploded on a railway bridge over the Yauza.
* December: An explosion occurred between the Kozhukhovo and Kanatchikovo stations of the Moscow District Railway.
* December 27: A route 33 bus exploded near the southern entrance to the VVC.

Law enforcement agencies immediately attributed all these explosions to Chechens retaliating.

However, these strikes were strange—there were no casualties, unless one counts the concussed bus driver and the saboteur who blew himself up while planting the bomb on the Yauza bridge.

The "Lanako" Connection

MUR (Moscow Criminal Investigation Department) operatives discovered that behind these crimes was the "Lanako" oil trading firm, which had ties to the Moscow UFSB. The Chekists not only provided documents for FAPSI employee and firm co-founder Maxim Lazovsky but also protected him.

• One of his bodyguards, Alexei Yumashkin, recently received the rank of lieutenant colonel.
• MUR operatives suspected Lazovsky of many serious crimes.
• They detained him and intended to charge him with banditry, but were unable to do so.

Conveniently for Lazovsky and the counterintelligence officers protecting him, Vladimir Tskhai, head of the 12th department of MUR who coordinated the "Lanako" investigation, died suddenly of an unknown illness. The case subsequently fell apart into separate episodes.

Lazovsky ultimately received two years, but for drug possession, and is already free.

The Bus Explosion Case

The episode involving the bus explosion also reached court. Lazovsky's former driver, Vladimir Akimov, who was arrested by MUR officers in 1996 for selling a revolver, unexpectedly gave testimony in this case.

Akimov claimed that he blew up the bus with retired colonel Vladimir Vorobyov, who also worked at "Lanako" and was concurrently an undercover UFSB agent. They allegedly did this at the request of a Chechen "authority", supposedly because Vorobyov paid Akimov back for a monetary debt.

• Akimov later recanted his testimony.
• The Moscow City Court acquitted Akimov (who received three years for the pistol).
• The court found Vorobyov guilty, sentencing him to five years, which the Supreme Court later reduced to three years.
• Vorobyov was scheduled for release at the end of August.

Summary of 1994 Sabotage

At the end of 1994, a wave of transport sabotage swept through Moscow. It was noted that there were no casualties among the population, which seemed strange.

Vladikavkaz Explosion (March 19, 1999)

A powerful explosion that occurred on March 19, 1999, at the Central Market of Vladikavkaz, claimed 64 lives. The organizers have not yet been identified.

There are two conflicting versions regarding the perpetrators:
1. One version suggests the terrorist attack was organized by Chechen field commander Arbi Barayev (who was seen in the city with two henchmen on the day of the explosion).
2. Another version claims the crime was committed by militants of Khattab or Ruslan Khaikharoev.