This Novaya Gazeta article analyzes the 1999 Ryazan 'training exercise' incident and the subsequent media investigation led by Nikolai Nikolaev on NTV. It details how FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev claimed the bags found in a Ryazan basement contained sugar rather than hexogen, contradicting initial reports by Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo. The document highlights allegations of FSB involvement, the intimidation of Ryazan residents by agents posing as social workers, and Kremlin pressure on NTV to cancel broadcasts before Vladimir Putin's election. Notable details include testimony from a soldier who reportedly guarded hexogen sacks labeled as sugar and the FSB's attempt to discredit investigations by planting a fake witness in the television studio. The narrative also describes the surveillance of journalists and the eventual suppression of independent media coverage regarding the apartment bombings.