Tranquillus in Exile
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In September 1999 Russia was hit by a wave of bombings which killed several hundred people in Moscow and other cities. The bombings were attributed to Chechen terrorists.
On September 13 the Chairman of the Russian State Duma, Gennadiy Seleznyov, made an announcement: “I have just received a report ... an apartment building in the city of Volgodonsk was blown up last night.”
On September 16 an apartment building in Volgodonsk was duly blown up. Seleznyov claimed it wasn’t the bombing he had been referring to three days before, it was a different one.
On September 22 three agents of the FSB (formerly KGB) were detained by police in Ryazan after planting a bomb in the basement of an apartment block. The chief of the FSB explained it was an exercise to test the alertness of local people. Well done, local people!
At this time Vladimir Putin was prime minister under Yeltsin. Putin’s handling of the terrorist atrocities, and the Second Chechen War that followed, earned him great popularity. He won the presidency in 2000 and never looked back.
On September 13 the Chairman of the Russian State Duma, Gennadiy Seleznyov, made an announcement: “I have just received a report ... an apartment building in the city of Volgodonsk was blown up last night.”
On September 16 an apartment building in Volgodonsk was duly blown up. Seleznyov claimed it wasn’t the bombing he had been referring to three days before, it was a different one.
On September 22 three agents of the FSB (formerly KGB) were detained by police in Ryazan after planting a bomb in the basement of an apartment block. The chief of the FSB explained it was an exercise to test the alertness of local people. Well done, local people!
At this time Vladimir Putin was prime minister under Yeltsin. Putin’s handling of the terrorist atrocities, and the Second Chechen War that followed, earned him great popularity. He won the presidency in 2000 and never looked back.