FSB Wants to Blame the Moscow Bombings on a Mysterious Organization

Interrogation of Pavel Lyuzakov

At the end of October and beginning of November 1999, FSB investigator Valery Pavlovich Krylov invited the editor-in-chief of the newspaper 'Svobodnoye Slovo', Pavel Lyuzakov, to the FSB pre-trial detention center in Lefortovo. The meeting was with the suspect Alexander Yumashev (at his request), with whom Pavel served a sentence (Art. 146) in the same camp in the 80s.

Investigator Krylov, who was present at the meetings, said to Pavel: "Help find those who blew up the houses."

Pavel asked: "And isn't it your people?"

The investigator replied: "I don't know, maybe it's ours. But you help catch them."

Detentions and Accusations

• Seven members were detained among members of the Committee for the Protection of Political Prisoners.
• The arrests were described as "unprecedented during the operation."
• More than a hundred officers from Lubyanka were detained and interrogated.
• The detained individuals included representatives of left-wing forces who were well-acquainted with each other and had known criminal pasts.

Notable Cases

• Larisa Shchipova, a member of the committee, was accused of an attempt on the current governor of Krasnodar, 'Batka Kondratenko'.
• Andrei Sokolov was accused of blowing up a gravestone in Vagankovskoye cemetery.
• Interrogated individuals included former members of the 'Revolutionary Military Council', who were involved in blowing up the monument to Nicholas II and mining the monument to Peter I.

Organizational Names

• Larisa Shchipova mentioned the group's past connection to 'Narodovolchestvo' (People's Will).
• The organization that united them is named the Committee for the Protection of Political Prisoners.
• However, a different abbreviation appears in the criminal case: the New Revolutionary Alternative (NRA).

Expert Opinions on the NRA

Valery Nikolsky, a representative of the Helsinki Group in Moscow and a member of the human rights organization 'Glas Naroda' (Voice of the People), asserted:

"I, as an independent expert, assert, that no NRA actually exists. This name exists only in the annals of the FSB; they invented it themselves. The only evidence of the existence of this semi-mythical organization that the FSB found is the name 'IRA' carved on a bench by workers from a nearby construction site at the dacha of Larisa Shchipova's parents. Apparently, this is their main piece of evidence..."

Valery Gefter, a representative of the human rights organization 'Memorial', stated that the detained left-wing radicals were made scapegoats:

"Past transgressions are now a reason to constantly keep them under surveillance and be able to shut them down at any moment... Marginals are not supported by our society; it is believed they get what they deserve. And this plays into the FSB's hands."

Official Statements and Analysis

• Dmitry Andreev, who is leading the NRA case, could not comment, citing "official secret."
• The Moscow FSB Directorate press service stated that they "did not detain anyone, everyone is alive and well, these people were simply invited for a talk."

Valery Nikolsky further argued:

"We do not deny the past 'merits' of these guys, but the current case — the New Revolutionary Alternative — is fabricated by the FSB from beginning to end... Those who kept Moscow in suspense all autumn — remember the explosions in the Manege, at the FSB reception on Kuznetsky Most — have still not been found. And the FSB is actively forming the image of a certain organization on which everything could be blamed. This is necessary for the FSB and Putin's security-oriented government to create the appearance of activity in cleaning society of destabilizing elements. And they 'hook' people who are already exposed."

Conclusion

The text suggests that young left-wing radicals are the best candidates for scapegoats, as anarcho-communism is unpopular, allowing the bombings to be dealt with while the communist opposition is shown in a negative light.

Polina IVANUSHKINA (Author)