Dunlop John - The Moscow Bombings of September 1999: Examinations of Russian Terrorist Attacks at the Onset of Vladimir Putin`s Rule

On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States, a leading Russian essayist and journalist, Anton Orekh, shared with readers his opinion of a factually inaccurate film devoted to those attacks which had just been aired on Russian state telev i sion (the Rossiya or second channel). The films treatment of America s 9/11 tragedy prompted Orekh to segue into personal reflections concerning the Moscow terror bombings of September 1999. For us, Orekh observed,

September is also a black month. On the September calendar, the bombings of the World Trade Center stand between those of Guryanov Street [September 9 th ] and Kashirka [September 13 th ]. But I for some reason dont recall that, in the years since [1999], the Rossiya channel or any other domestic channel has shown such a bold, unsparing and entertaining film about the true reasons for those bombings. About all the strange occurrences and mysteries. About the surprising coinc i dence in time of the bombings with the war in the Caucasus that fo l lowed them and with the ascent of Vladimir Putin.

Orekh then continued:

For me personally the bombings of the apartment houses are a key moment in our most recent history. Because if those bombings were not accidental in the sequence of the events which followed; if, to put it bluntly, they were the work of our [Russian] authoritiesthen everything will once and forever take its proper place. Then there is not and cannot be an iota of illusion about [the nature of] those who rule us. Then those people are not minor or large-scale swindlers and thieves. Then they are among the most terrible of criminals.

And he concluded: They did not show a film about our September. And they wont show one. And they will neither confirm nor dispel our doubts. That page in our history has already been closed for a long time.

On the same day that Orekhs reflections were posted on a liberal Russian web-site, a well-known Candadian journalist, Fred Weir, the Moscow corr e spondent for the Christian Science Monitor , filed a report concerning a small gathering which had taken place on a Moscow street: They are, he wrote,

Russias forgotten and abandoned victims of terror. A small forlorn-looking knot of people gathered on Moscows Kashirskoe Shosse [Kashirskii Highway] this morning as they do every year at this time, to mark and mourn the anniversary of devastating apartment bombings that are widely referred to as Russias 9/11.

Though the 1999 bombings, Weir continued his account, led to vast u p heaval and changed Russia fundamentally, not a single politician was on hand Tuesday to show solidarity with those who survived or lost loved ones in the 5 a .m. September 13 blast on Kashirskoe Shosse, which killed 119 pe o pleNo major Russian media covered their brief, tear-filled memorial se r vice. Weir then interviewed a Moscow businessman, Sergei Kalinchenko, who had lost a daughter in the bombing. We feel abandoned and forgotten, Kalinchenko confessed. We still have no clear answers as to how it ha p pened, and probably never will. Its as if our sorrow doesnt concern anyone at all. Kalinchenko then confided to Weir that he had been astonished to see extensive Russian TV coverage of the tenth anniversary of 9/11 in the US during the previous weekend. Of course, he said,

we feel compassion and grief for what they [the Americans] went through; we went through it ourselves. But it was surprising to see how people are respected in the US , and what a big public ceremony they had to co m memorate the tragedy. They named every single victim!

As is well-known, President George W. Bush on 27 November 2002 esta b lished The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, to investigate facts and circumstances relating to the terrorist acts of September 11, 1, including the issues of preparedness for and the immediate response to the attacks. The bipartisan commission, which was created by Congressional legislation, consisted of five Democrats and five Republicans, and was chaired by former New Jersey governor Thomas Kean with former U.S. Democratic Representative from the 9 th district of Indiana Lee Hamilton serving as deputy chair. In carrying out its appointed task, the commission, the co-chairs reported,