September 9, 1999 - FSB & GRU exploded houses in Moscow
Text of 1 article from Independent, 2000 + 3 articles from Novaya Gazeta published in 2004, 5 years after the tragedy
WHO CREATED putin? ENG / ITA / RUS: Who helped, lobbied, collaborated, still helping, still collaborating and still sponsoring chekist regime?
Russian Opposition: Who, What and How ENG/ ITA/ RUS: The History of Protests, Soviet Dissidents and Opposition Leaders.
Why did the Liberal Democratic West choose putin? Transnational mafia of ruling elites and project "putinism" ENG/ ITA/ RUS: How the Western establishment raised the chekist junta, enriched itself with stolen resources
How the whole world and even Ukraine repeats KGB propaganda ENG / ITA / RUS
Leggere in italiano: 9 settembre 1999 - FSB e GRU hanno iniziato fare esplodere le case a Mosca
Читать на русском языке: 9 сентября 1999 г - ФСБ и ГРУ взорвали дома в Москве
I Intro
II Article Independent, Patrick Cockburn in Moscow, 29.01.2000 - Russia 'planned Chechen war before bombings'
III Article Novaya Gazeta, Anna Politkovskaya, 15.01.2004 - PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS - OUR LAST CHANCE TO FIND OUT THE TRUTH - Answers to questions: presidential candidate Irina Khakamada, presidential candidate Ivan Rybkin, presidential candidate Nikolai Kharitonov
IV Article Novaya Gazeta, Orkhan Dzhemal, 29.01.2004 - HE DIDN'T GIVE OUT THE STATE SECRET
V Article Novaya Gazeta, Anna Kogan, Igor Kovalevsky, 15.07.2004 - COVERED BY A BLAST WAVE
September 4, 1999
House explosion on Levanevskogo Street in Buinaksk - 64 people killed, 146 injured
September 9, 1999
House explosion on Gurianov Street in Moscow - 100 people killed, 690 injured or psychologically injured
September 13, 1999
Kashirskoe shosse in Moscow - 124 people killed, 7 injured
September 16, 1999
Entuziastov Street, in the city of Volgodonsk, Rostov region - 19 people killed - 89 injured
[unfortunately, the numbers for injured and killed vary from article to article]
I INTRO
The public commission investigating the explosions was led by the deputy of the State Duma, one of the leaders of the Party “Liberal Russia” Sergey Yushenkov. For the anniversary of his assassination I composed the article where among various memories pronounced by his friends, and also his presentation at the John Kennan Institute Washington “On April 17, 2003 was killed Sergey Yushenkov” - 17 aprile 2003 era ucciso Sergey Yushenkov there is the documentary film made by French producers Jean-Charles Deniau and Charles Gazelle. In the following articles are mentioned A. Voloshin, Sergey Kovalev, Yuli Rybakov, Alexander Podrabinek.
They are also mentioned in other translations, the list is at the end of the page
Full text:
Russia 'planned Chechen war before bombings'
| Patrick Cockburn in Moscow | Independent | 29.01.2000 |
ARCHIVAL LINK - https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-planned-chechen-war-before-bombings-727324.html
Russia 'planned Chechen war before bombings'
Former Prime Minister reveals invasion of republic was prepared months in advance of terrorist attacks
A senior Russian leader says that Russia made its plans to invade Chechnya six months before the bombing of civilian targets in Russia and the Chechen attack on Dagestan which were the official pretext for launching the war.
A senior Russian leader says that Russia made its plans to invade Chechnya six months before the bombing of civilian targets in Russia and the Chechen attack on Dagestan which were the official pretext for launching the war.
His account wholly contradicts the official Russian version of the start of the war, which claims that it was only as a result of "terrorist" attacks last August and September that Russia invaded Chechnya. Sergei Stepashin, Russian Interior and Prime Minister for most of last year, said the plan to send the Russian army into Chechnya "had been worked out in March". He says he played a central role in organising the military build up before the invasion, which "had to happen even if there were no explosions in Moscow".
Mr Stepashin, in recent interviews with the daily Nezavissimaya Gazeta and Interfax agency, says that as early as last March Russia intended to invade Chechnya as far as the Terek river north of Grozny, the Chechen capital, in August or September. In fact the Russian army crossed into Chechnya on 1 October.
Mr Stepashin, Interior Minister up to May and then Prime Minister until August, was at the centre of Russian decision-making in both jobs. He says the inner cabinet held a closed meeting with army and security chiefs in March to discuss the operation against Chechnya.
The revelation by Mr Stepashin, that Russia planned to go to war long before it has previously admitted, lends support to allegations in the Russian press that the invasion of Dagestan in August and the bombings in September were arranged by Moscow to justify its invasion of Chechnya.
Boris Kagarlitsky, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Comparative Politics, writing in the weekly Novaya Gazeta, says that the bombings in Moscow and elsewhere were arranged by the GRU (the Russian military intelligence service). He says they used members of a group controlled by Shirvani Basayev, brother of the Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, to plant the bombs. These killed 300 people in Buikask, Moscow and Volgodonsk in September.
Mr Kagarlitsky, who, from internal evidence in the article, is drawing on a source with close knowledge of the GRU, says that invasion of Dagestan by Shamil Basayev himself in August was pre-arranged with a senior Kremlin leader at a meeting in France in July.
He says that the motive for launching war was the need for the political leadership in the Kremlin to control the succession to President Boris Yeltsin. By last summer Mr Yeltsin, a year from his retirement as president, was deeply unpopular. His family and associates feared for their freedom and their fortunes if a president hostile to their interests was elected this June.
In an unnoticed reference in Svenska Dagbladet, the Swedish daily, on 6 June last year, the paper's Moscow correspondent Jan Blomgren wrote that one option being considered by the Kremlin and its associates was "terror bombings in Moscow which could be blamed on the Chechens". This was four months before the first bomb. Mr Blomgren told the Independent that his sources, whom he cannot name, were familiar with discussions within the political elite.
A month later, writes Mr Kagarlitsky, a meeting took place in the south of France attended by Alexander Voloshin, head of the presidential administration, Shamil Basayev, the Chechen warlord, and Anton Surikov, a former official belonging to the army special services.
Both sides had interests in common. Mr Basayev's political fortunes had ebbed in Chechnya and might be restored by a small war. The Kremlin was also in need of an outside enemy. According to Mr Kagarlitsky they agreed that Mr Basayev would launch a military foray into Dagestan and that Russia would respond by invading northern Chechnya up to the Terek river. Participants in the meeting have all denied it took place.
Events now moved quickly. On 8 August Mr Basayev's forces invaded Dagestan to the east of Chechnya. On 9 August Vladimir Putin replaced Mr Stepashin as prime minister. In Dagestan the invasion did not go as planned. Mr Basayev's forces were beaten off but, according to the Russian magazine Profile, were virtually escorted back to the Chechen border by two Russian helicopters.
Cooperation between Mr Basayev and the Russian army is not so surprising as it sounds. In 1992-93 he is widely believed to have received assistance from the GRU when he and his brother Shirvani fought in Abkhazia, a breakaway part of Georgia. Russia did not want to act overtly against Georgia but covertly supported a battalion of volunteers led by Mr Basayev.
It is now alleged that the cooperation between the GRU and Shirvani Basayev went further. The invasion of Dagestan might be resented in Russia, but it was insufficient to mobilise Russian public opinion. This only occurred when four massive bombs exploded in Russia in September. The first, at a military housing complex at Buinaksk in Dagestan, blew up on 4 September killing 83 people. The next two were targeted at ordinary Russian civilians. On 8 and 13 September explosives demolished two working-class apartment blocks in south Moscow leaving 228 men, women and children dead. Three days later a truck exploded in Volgodonsk.
It was the wave of anger and hatred among Russians against Chechens, universally blamed for the attacks, that gave Mr Putin the backing he needed to invade Chechnya. An unknown figure when appointed, with just 2 per cent support in the polls, he was soon the leading candidate to win the presidency. In December Mr Yeltsin was able to retire more gracefully than seemed possible six months before and Mr Putin became acting president.
Mr Kagarlitsky now alleges that the GRU itself was behind the bombing. He says it used Shirvani Basayev to carry it out "because he was more easily managed" than his brother. It also appears that he himself and his men did not know exactly why they had been recruited by the GRU for a special mission
.
Full translation of the article:
ПРЕЗИДЕНТСКИЕ ВЫБОРЫ - НАШ ПОСЛЕДНИЙ ШАНС УЗНАТЬ ПРАВДУ
| Anna Politkovskaya e i testi di Irina Khakhamada, Ivan Rybkin, Nikolay Kharitonov | Novaya Gazeta | 15.01.2004 |
ARCHIVAL LINK: http://2004.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2004/02n/n02n-s13.shtml
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS - OUR LAST CHANCE TO FIND OUT THE TRUTH
Victims of terrorist attacks wrote a letter to presidential candidates. Candidates began to respond to them through our newspaper
This week in Moscow an appeal from the victims of terrorist attacks in Russia to the presidential candidates was distributed. Here are the main quotes from it:
“We lost our loved ones in the explosions of apartment buildings in 1999 and during the seizure of the theater on Dubrovka in 2002... We tried in vain to get reasobla explanations from the authorities” The current president of the Russian Federation was obliged to us not only by office and by conscience - after all, the death of our loved ones is directly related to his political career and his decisions” For us, these elections are perhaps the last chance to achieve the truth. We call on the presidential candidates to raise these issues during the election campaign, we would like to hear how each of you will act if elected - will a real independent and unbiased investigation be appointed or will the conspiracy of silence around the death of our loved ones continue in the future...”
The background of this letter is as follows: it came to Russia from overseas. It was written in California, where Lyubov Burban, the mother of Grigory Burban, a Ukrainian citizen who died at Dubrovka, lives. In addition to her, the following are signed under the appeal: firstly, Svetlana Gubareva, a citizen of Kazakhstan, whose daughter Sasha and fiancé Sandy Booker, an American citizen, died at the Nord-Ost, and Svetlana herself gave official testimony to the FBI at the end of 2003, conducting its own investigation into the tragic hostage-taking in Moscow in October 2002 (they do this when American citizens die). Secondly, sisters Alena and Tatyana Morozova (who now also live in the USA), who lost their mother during the explosion of the house on Guryanova Street. And Pavel Finogenov, a Moscow resident whose brother died at Dubrovka.
On January 12, the appeal to the candidates for the presidency of the Russian Federation was supported by the rest of the Nordostovites - former hostages and families of the victims, who several months ago created a public regional organization to protect victims of terrorist attacks. The main part of the letter is the questions that the candidates are asked to answer.
Questions for presidential candidates
On apartment building explosions:
Why did the authorities obstruct the investigation into the events in Ryazan city, where FSB officers were caught preparing to blow up an apartment building?
Why did State Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznev announce the explosion of an apartment building in Volgodonsk three days before it happened?
Why was the discovery of hexogen in bags labeled "Sugar" at a military base in Ryazan in the fall of 1999 not investigated?
Why was the investigation into the transfer of hexogen from military warehouses to front companies through the Roskonversvzryvtsentr Research Institute closed under pressure from the FSB?
Why was lawyer Trepashkin arrested after establishing the identity of the FSB agent who rented a room to plant a bomb in a building on Guryanova Street?
On Dubrovka:
Why was the decision to begin an assault using gas made when there were real possibilities of freeing the hostages?
Did the authorities know that there would be no explosion, using a slow-acting agent that made it possible to detonate the explosive devices?
Why were all the terrorists, including those in a helpless state, destroyed and not arrested for investigation?
Why did the authorities conceal the existence of Terkibaev, who participated in the theater seizure, and after his name became known, he died in a car accident?
Why was first aid not organized for the hostages during the special operation, which led to the death of 130 people?
Presidential candidate I. KHAKAMADA:
“I was ordered not to interfere in the Nord-Ost story. Now I am talking about many things for the first time...”
I have not studied the explosions in Moscow and Volgodonsk, so I will only answer questions regarding the events at Dubrovka:
- The decision to begin the assault was made on the third day of the seizure, and I was inside the building on the first day and am responsible for what happened then. My impression: it was possible to free the hostages through negotiations on the first day. The assault, I think, was necessary as a means of demonstrating force, and people's lives receded into the background.
- It is still a mystery to me: how is it possible to precisely eliminate all the terrorists who were in different parts of the building and the hall? And why did all the bandits die as a result of the gas attack, while the people who were near them both died and survived?
- I suspect that none of them were needed as living witnesses that the terrorists could release the hostages and then testify in open court. I emphasize, this is a suspicion, because there is a presumption of innocence.
- It is known that we organized our own investigation in the SPS [red.- “Souyz Pravih Sil”- The Union of Right - Political Party], as a result of which we came to the conclusion that the rescue stage was not organized at all. Everything happened completely spontaneously, it was just chaos. The military part of the operation was the main one, and no one was even appointed responsible for the civil part
I will also add on my own behalf that after the tragedy at Dubrovka, Mr. putin misled the whole world. Answering a question from a journalist from the Washington Post, he said: “These people did not die as a result of the gas, because the gas was not harmful. It was harmless. And we can say that not a single hostage was harmed during the operation”.
It is widely known that at the moment when President putin and his entourage were shaking in the Kremlin from fear not for people's lives, but from fear of losing power, several people dared to voluntarily go to the terrorists in the name of saving the hostages and try to free at least the children.
I thank God that I, a mother of two children, a woman, had the courage and will to negotiate with the terrorists. Previously, I did not make public much of what I saw in the Theater Center, and even more so, how the president and members of his administration reacted to my attempt to save people. I did not speak about this before because I was mistaken, thinking that President putin would eventually help establish the truth and repent for his order to use deadly gas. But putin is silent and does not answer the people who have lost their loved ones. The president made his choice - to hide the truth. I also made a choice - to tell the truth.
As a result of my negotiations with the terrorists in the Theater Center on October 23, 2002 and the subsequent events, I came to the conclusion that the terrorists did not plan to blow up the Theater Center, and the authorities were not interested in saving all the hostages.
The main events occurred when I returned from negotiations with the terrorists. The head of the presidential administration A. Voloshin threatened me and ordered me not to interfere in this story. Assessing what happened, I come to the inevitable conclusion: this terrorist attack helped to whip up anti-Chechen hysteria, continue the war in Chechnya and maintain the president's high rating.
I am convinced that putin's actions to conceal the truth are essentially a State crime.
I promise that when I become president, Russian citizens will learn the truth about the apartment bombings, the tragedy in the Theater Center and many other crimes of the authorities.
Recently, many of my friends have begun to dissuade me from running in the presidential elections. Publicly, they say that I am almost betraying the interests of the democrats who are calling for a boycott of the elections. And in private conversations, they say that they will simply kill me if I tell the truth.
I am not afraid of terrorists from power. And I appeal to everyone: do not be afraid either. Our children must grow up as free people.
Presidential candidate I. RYBKIN:
“Terkibaev, who died in a car accident, bragged that he led militants from the State Duma to Dubrovka”
First of all, I would like to say that, of course, both the apartment building explosions and the events at Dubrovka are a consequence of the second Chechen war. President putin flew into the Kremlin on the crest of this war, promising to restore order, but he was unable to do so. As a result, thousands have died. People are dying in terrorist attacks… Everywhere. putin and his inner circle are to blame for this. There is still much that is completely incomprehensible and unclear in all these tragedies… And that means that serious civilian control over the activities of the security forces is needed. A civilian commission is needed to investigate all terrorist attacks and explosions. The commission should be headed by people known throughout the country for their honesty and integrity. Sergei Kovalev, Yuli Rybakov – these are the people who could head such a commission. It should include both the parliamentary and extra-parliamentary opposition, as well as independent experts.
Regarding the apartment building explosions:
- I think that the special services committed a crime against the law. Even if we take the route that there were exercises in Ryazan city, then in this case all formal rules and instructions were violated.
- Why did Seleznev know? This in itself is not a strange, but a terrible event. Having announced this, he should be under investigation and say where he got the information from, so that both the customers and the perpetrators become clear.
- As for the "sugar", this is called concealing traces of a crime.
- The investigation into the transfer of hexogen from military warehouses was closed illegally, and after the independent commission begins its work, it should reveal the true picture.
- I believe that they simply want to shut Colonel Trepashkin's mouth, intimidate him, instill fear, as is now being instilled throughout Russia. They extrapolate the approaches and training that the security forces receive during the Chechen war to the whole of Russia. They are using a drill and a fool, they think that the result will justify everything. The destructive force is enormous, the creative force is nonexistent.
On Dubrovka:
- All the behavior of the authorities indicates that when a real possibility of freeing the hostages emerged, they decided to storm it ≈ all of Moscow and all of Russia are talking about it, how they wanted to hide their tracks in Dubrovka.
- Did the authorities know? It is especially bitter for me to answer this question, because during the events in Budyonnovsk, at a very closed meeting, the security forces answered me exactly the opposite: that chemical agents cannot be used in a bus with hostages, this increases the likelihood of uncontrolled use of explosive devices, chaotic bursts of fire can begin at the moment of falling asleep. If they used them this time, it means they knew that there would be no explosion.
- All the terrorists were shot in their sleep because they could tell a lot of interesting things. I want to say that all of Russia is perplexed: why shoot at sleeping people? To come up and hit them in the head?
- About Terkibaev. The authorities failed to hide Terkibaev from the public, so he died. I know with what anger people spoke about this, especially knowing that Terkibaev had an ID from the presidential administration. He himself was proud and spoke about it - that he was able to lead Baraev's detachment from the Duma to Dubrovka.
- The lack of assistance to the victims during the assault - is barbarity, which is entirely on the conscience of those involved in the final phase. This is their unwillingness to admit new witnesses who could then tell how it all happened. Sooner or later they will have to answer for this. There is a desire to transfer all the people's discontent over the lack of timely medical care to the Moscow mayor, but according to the law, it is not the mayor who is responsible for the fight against terrorism, but the FSB. What started after the terrorist attack was a man-made medals shower on the chests and shoulder straps of all the security forces who had to be punished for letting the detachment through. I am not inclined to believe that the time will come when the archives will be opened and then we will learn the truth… They won’t open anything. Now we need to investigate so that such a terrible disaster does not happen again. So that there is no such mockery of people.
Presidential candidate N. KHARITONOV:
“There is a reason why nothing was said. The secret was needed”
On the apartment building explosions:
- It's hard to say why the government didn't create an investigation commission. Of course, it's bad. The government's actions should be transparent.
- Seleznev? I wouldn't comment - I guess he knew some of the details.
- They have reson and benefit from hiding it. Although since the public has already learned about it, it's necessary to explain why and what for.
- I don't know of any facts about the transfer of hexogen from military warehouses. But since they exist, it's a matter for an independent commission. The State Duma Security Committee should be dealing with this. People should contact their deputies, for whom they voted, so that they demand the creation of such a commission in the Duma. How realistic is this today? When there's only one "United Russia" everywhere? Well, people will see who's who in the Duma now.
- About Trepashkin. He was arrested so that he wouldn't say anything more.
On Dubrovka:
- This is such a situation that it was difficult to find a solution. No one could give an optimal option. ≈ The authorities understood: an explosion could happen in any case and at any moment. No one gave any guarantees at all.
- I was not there - and I cannot say so. But the terrorists could have short-circuited the wires at any moment, even in a dying state. Therefore, they decided to eliminate them.
- On Terkibaev. It is difficult to say. Investigative secrecy, probably. And the car accident? This does not mean “the ends are in the water”. Diana also died, and now her husband is asked questions.
- On medical assistance. Understanding that any medical preparations could have been perceived by the terrorists as preparations for an assault. This is the reason why nothing was prepared. The secrecy was needed. Without a doubt, if I am elected president, I promise to form an independent commission to investigate Dubrovka. I always keep my promises - I have already won five times in a single-mandate constituency in Siberia. So I do not deceive people
Full translation of the article:
ГОСТАЙНУ НЕ ВЫДАЛ
| Orhan Dzhemal | Novaya Gazeta | 29.01.2004 |
ARCHIVAL LINK: http://2004.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2004/06n/n06n-s11.shtml
DIDN'T GIVE OUT THE STATE SECRET
Who is blowing up Russia, the FSB asked a dissident
Yesterday, the well-known human rights activist, editor-in-chief of the Prima agency, Alexander Podrabinek, was interrogated by the FSB.
The Prima agency ordered over four thousand copies of the book "The FSB Blows Up Russia" in the Baltics at the end of last year. The truck delivering them was stopped on December 29 at the entrance to Moscow by a group of police officers who said that they were holding an event called "Whirlwind-Antiterror". Despite the claim that the event was purely planned, they had a warrant to search this particular vehicle.
A search and arrest can only be carried out within the framework of a criminal case, and for almost a month it was unclear under what case the books had been arrested.
After Podrabinek was interrogated, the situation became clear.
Back in June 2003, a criminal case was opened on the fact of disclosure of state secrets. It is assumed that the secret was disclosed in the books "FSB Blows Up Russia" and "Lubyanka - a Criminal Group". No one was charged in this case. And it was within the framework of this investigation that the books were seized in December.
What the security officers wanted to ask the editor-in-chief of "Prima" about remained a secret, not least due to the fault of Alexander Podrabinek himself. He refused to talk to the security officers. (I wonder what else the security officers expected from an old dissident?)
The FSB investigators threatened to complain to the prosecutor's office and promised that they would initiate a criminal case against him for refusing to testify.
It is common knowledge that the book "FSB Blows Up Russia" tells about the explosions of apartment buildings in 1999. It was written by former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko and historian Yuri Felshtinsky. Officially, their version has always been considered an anti-Russian provocation, and the fact that they divulged a state secret gives rise to certain thoughts.
This book is not on the list of banned books. In general, such lists do not exist, at least officially. It is impossible to legally prohibit reading or distributing it.
The tireless Alexander Podrabinek plans to order a new batch of "bad" books.
Partial translation of the article:
НАКРЫТЫЕ ВЗРЫВНОЙ ВОЛНОЙ
| Anna Kogan, Igor Kovalevsky | Novaya Gazeta | 15.07.2004 |
ARCHIVAL LINK: http://2004.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2004/50n/n50n-s01.shtml
COVERED BY A BLAST WAVE
The state did not insure us against terrorist attacks, but it did insure itself against the claims of their victims
In early 2004, the Moscow City Court issued a verdict on the case of the terrorist attacks in Volgodonsk and Moscow: on Guryanova Street and on Kashirskoye Shosse. Judge Marina Komarova managed to review the multi-volume and extremely complex case in a month and a half. Needless to say, the trial was closed... But we are not talking about whether the truth has been established: who the commissioners, perpetrators, accomplices were, - although there are enough questions about this. We are talking about something else - about the victims. About how the State that unleashed the war in the Caucasus decided to deal with its victims.
It dealt with it very simply: it refused to pay compensation to the victims. According to the court, this should be done by the convicted Adam Dekkushev and Yusuf Krymshamkhalov. They will have to fork out more than a million rubles in compensation for material damage to fourteen victims who filed lawsuits, and 2,800,000 rubles for moral damage (200,000 rubles for each plaintiff). It is obvious to everyone except judges, prosecutors and officials: Dekkushev and Krymshamkhalov are not in a position to pay such sums. Or rather, judges, prosecutors and officials know very well that people who lived through the nightmare of 1999 will never receive money that would allow them to rebuild their lives and improve their health.
The victims filed complaints. On July 8, the Supreme Court of Russia upheld the January verdict in terms of those compensations. Moreover, it refused to pay the procedural costs of those who came to the trial from Volgodonsk, saying: “no one was expecting you here” - and explaining that the norm of the Criminal Procedure Code on compensation for participants in the process, travel and accommodation expenses “applies only to courts of first instance”.
How it was done in Volgodonsk. “Every citizen has the right to receive information about their health in a form accessible to them, including information about the results of examinations, the presence of diseases. A citizen has the right to directly familiarize themselves with medical records reflecting their health” - this is a quote from the order of the Ministry of Health N.222. But it is a long way from the Moscow authorities to Volgodonsk.
The doctors who conducted the examination of the victims of the explosion of an apartment building managed to do without specialists - military doctors. What's more, they did without the victims themselves! Somehow three forensic experts “examined” about 800 people in one day, which is simply impossible.
Who benefits from such a scam? Such an examination (and many victims were refused one by investigators) deprived many people of the opportunity to prove that they suffered from a terrorist attack. That is, the state's expenses on compensation, already meager, were sharply reduced. Savings, you understand...
Victim Irina Polyanskaya told Novaya Gazeta:
"The examination was done without us, using our documents. Everyone was told that the sick leave was no more than 21 days. For me, who had been in hospital for months, they also wrote 21 days and a moderate injury. We were not allowed to read these conclusions. We only discovered the results of the examination in the Prosecutor General's Office, when we started going to court. That's why we couldn't appeal them earlier or conduct a repeat examination. And we don't have money for an independent examination. All the doctors in Volgodonsk are afraid that they will be fired, so we won't get the truth."
Another victim, Lyudmila Dubinskaya, under whose house a powerful explosion occurred, was diagnosed with a “left heel cut”.
“In addition to our house, 56 houses around were damaged, and we, who were in the destroyed house, are considered completely healthy!” - she says.
“When the explosion occurred, we - some of the victims, about 200 people - were taken out of town to an old pioneer camp and abandoned. We didn’t even have a doctor. A nurse provided assistance: she could only give a pill or call an “ambulance”, which took an hour to get to us. They sent us a psychologist, but it’s hard to get out of town - and the psychologist stopped coming. If we came to the city and asked for medical help, we were often told that there were more serious cases, and they refused to see us.”
Vouchers to sanatoriums and boarding houses were also allocated, but for some reason they went to anyone except the victims. One of the residents of the blown-up house, having learned about this, wanted to pour gasoline on herself and set herself on fire: she had been waiting for a voucher for two years, and was told that she would not receive anything. Another victim, Lyudmila Galkova, tried to prove that she had the right to rehabilitation. City health officials did not believe her and called the police. She had to go to court - a voucher was immediately found.
There is an epidemic of suicides among the victims. After the terrorist attack, people were supposed to receive psychological help, but, according to residents of Volgodonsk, it did not happen. However, psychologists and psychiatrists of the city claim the opposite. In 2001, the head doctor of the Volgodonsk dispensary, Galkin, said:
"More than two thousand people have contacted us about mental disorders. And to this day, two years after the tragedy, more than 600 victims continue to be treated at the Volgodonsk psychiatric clinic."
Viktor Sitnitsky, a victim from Volgodonsk, said that "after the terrorist attack, Lyudmila Kremleva's husband committed suicide, and when they gave her an apartment to replace the destroyed one, they deducted his 18 square meters. In addition, they did not include in the calculation of the certificate the daughter, who studies in Novosibirsk and does not have her own living space. The same situation is in the Fedorov family (the father jumped out of the window). The city housing department told the widow:
“Say thank you to your neighbors who made the fact of the suicide public (publication in Arguments and Facts. – Ed.), now they know about it in Rostov, and we are obliged to take these meters from you.”
An official from the city health department, who wished to remain anonymous, told us at length over the phone about what was being done and is being done in Volgodonsk for the benefit of the victims:
“Everything that was planned has been completed. Patients with chronic diseases are registered within the clinic. Patients who received traumatic brain injuries continue to be observed in medical institutions. There were patients who needed treatment in federal centers, cosmetic surgeries, hand prosthetics - they all received treatment.”
Then he suddenly added:
“You know, there are no special programs for the rehabilitation of victims of the terrorist attack. In order to treat them, the regional governor does not issue decrees, no funds are allocated for prosthetics.”
To all claims, the victims are told: you have already received everything that is due to you by law - according to government order N. 1503-r, they were paid 50,000 rubles for lost property. And that's all. That's why the Volgodonsk residents went to court. They tried to have this very government order declared illegal - they wrote to the Supreme Court.
On February 7, 2003, the court responded that the government order could not be illegal because it was "incorrectly interpreted and implemented by local officials", and if it were cancelled, "the rights of the victims to receive compensation payments, provide them with housing and implement medical and social rehabilitation measures would be violated, since these issues are not regulated by any other legal acts".
Did you understand anything? Translation: there are many violations - therefore everything is legal, and if you cancel what is there, there will be even more violations of the law, and where is your money - figure it out yourself.
Smell of the Fatherland
What do we have? Not long ago, young lawyer Venera Kamalova won a lawsuit against the Moscow government for compensation for material damage to the family of the deceased musician from "Nord-Ost" Timur Khaziev. The widow and daughter of the deceased will be paid about 50,000 dollars over 11 years. This is an exceptional case for Russian justice.
According to the law "On the fight against terrorism", the moral and material damage caused by the terrorist attack must be compensated by the Ministry of Finance, and immediately, and then, by way of recourse, the money must be collected from the guilty parties. Nevertheless, the Moscow City Court, considering the case of the explosions of apartment buildings, refused to involve the Ministry of Finance as a defendant.
In the process of "Nord-Ost", the Ministry of Finance, however, did not escape this fate. The ministry representative then acknowledged the "fairness of the claims in the material part", but did not acknowledge "its obligation to compensate for moral damage". In his opinion, "the Russian government fully compensated the financial costs that compensated for moral and material damage", that is, 100,000 rubles [red.- in 2024 circa USD 1k] for each victim.
As for the adequacy of the amounts, it is enough to recall foreign practice and shrug: they say, this is not Paris or Washington. But 100,000 rubles is a mockery from the point of view of Russian laws: this is only a one-time aid that the state is obliged to pay to the victims in any case. The need to pay for moral and material damage is provided for by the Civil Code. It says in black and white: harm caused to a citizen as a result of criminal actions (inaction) of state bodies is subject to compensation.
All other arguments are legal casuistry and the state’s elementary unwillingness to pay.
But when the victims of the Dubrovka Theater Center filed lawsuits, Moscow City Duma Speaker Vladimir Platonov said:
"If compensation is paid, the cost of living in Moscow will rise and pensioners and public sector employees will inevitably become poor."
A truly statesmanlike mind: he cannot imagine any other source of income than the pockets of pensioners and teachers.
And how should we evaluate in this regard the words of former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, which he said when presenting housing certificates to Volgodonsk residents who had lost their apartments:
"This is a small compensation; it cannot compensate or correct the moral and psychological damage."
How should we evaluate it? The Moscow City Court and then the Supreme Court placed the emphasis - four years later, Volgodonsk residents heard the verdict:
"Collect from the convicted."
It sounds something like this: "You'll get it from Pushkin."
In their cassation appeal, the victims from Volgodonsk wrote:
“With such compensation- the lack of equality of rights between victims of the terrorist attack and government officials, for whom moral damages are calculated by the courts according to different standards and amount to many millions of rubles, is confirmed.”
The authorities are doing everything to insure themselves against lawsuits. The executive claims that there was no war in the Caucasus and therefore all terrorist attacks are not the result of incompetent policy, but almost accidents.
The legislative does not want to pass the law "On victims of terrorist attacks", although the need for it is obvious. The judicial authorities make decisions that are contrary to the law, openly mocking people who have lost their health, relatives and friends. We have become accustomed to all this.
But even charitable aid - not state, but private - dissolves in unknown "black holes".
Volgodonsk-style charity
Lyudmila Dubinskaya, a victim of the terrorist attack in Volgodonsk:
“When the terrorist attack happened, the entire country and abroad responded to our grief. We collected charitable funds, which, according to our information, amount to 200 million rubles. These funds initially went to the city administration account, but the Ministry of Justice declared that this was illegal and that a fund should be created, since the victims were the legal owners of the money. After that, the city council created a fund, which was headed by Eduard Rykov, the former chairman of the city council. The Ministry of Justice did not register it, which violated the law on charitable activities. Moreover, the city council cannot be the founder of a charitable organization by law.
We spoke out against this fund. In May 2000, we organized a hunger strike because the money that went to people did not reach us, and if they did give it to someone, they offered to split it “fifty-fifty” (people who had nothing at all went for it). When we started fighting against the fund, there was still money there. Many complaints were written to the prosecutor's office. In 2000, we even contacted the control and audit department under the president. We were received by the deputy head of the department.
After that, they started to drive us out of this world: officials received enough to build cottages for themselves, open pharmacies (they also provided medical aid), and open stores (KamAZ trucks with clothes came from Moscow). Everyone who was involved in our rehabilitation increased their well-being. The city council and the city health department did a European-style renovation.”
An unidentified official from the Volgodonsk city health department commented on this as follows:
“The funds did not go through the health department. We received an ultrasound machine from the Soros Foundation - it is impossible to appropriate it. We did not pass the medicines that came through the city health department - they went through state pharmacies as invoices. Then they went to medical institutions. We were repeatedly checked by commissions and nothing reprehensible was found”
The same thing will be said in the mayor's office, and in the city council, and in the prosecutor's office. This is all, of course, wonderful. Where is the money for the victims?
Lyudmila Dubinskaya:
“In the end, the court recognized the illegality of the foundation’s creation. Now it is being liquidated, but where is the money? But we started having serious problems when we contacted the Prosecutor General’s Office about this. They started calling Irina Polyanskaya at home: they told her children that if their mother did not stop fighting for her rights, she would not live long.
We were forced to be extremely careful: we tried not to go out in the evening, to stay together, not to open the door until we heard the agreed-upon knock. Once I broke this rule. That time, my son did was out of home at night . At half past four in the morning, the doorbell rang. I jumped up and heard from behind the door: “Mom, open the door”. Half asleep, I opened it right away. I saw two men on the threshold. I received a sharp blow to the head and a blow to the groin. Losing consciousness, I heard: “If you don’t close your mouth, we will kill you”.
The criminal case about this attempt was hushed up. Just as after some time everything else was hushed up.
Alexander Litvinenko in:
Who created putin? 2002 - Alexander Litvinenko's letter to The Washington Post - Eng/ Rus/ Ita
Alexander Podrabinek in:
USA-URSS: 1979 - Grande Joe e grande menefreghismo dei diritti umani
Sergey Kovalev in:
Sergey Kovalev: "L'UE e l'ipocrisia politica", 2008
Yuli Rybakov in:
"Voi Crocifiggete la Libertà, ma l'Anima Umana non Conosce Catene !"
Voloshin in:
Predators from KGBistan: 26 maggio 2003 - Il rapporto sullo Stato e l'Oligarchia
L'opposizione russa: Marzo 2010 - Lettera aperta: PUTIN - DIMETTITI!
L'opposizione russa: Sergey Grigoryants: «Questa è una guerra dichiarata a tutta la civiltà europea»
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