As you can guess the big news, actually, the only news today in Russia is the two subway bombings in the center of Moscow. The first occurred Monday morning at 7:50 am at the Lubyanka station, the second 40 minutes later at Park kulturty station. As of now there are 41 deaths but this will certainly continue to rise. Around 61 people are injured with over half in critical condition reports RIA Novosti. Those interested can keep on top of things through Russia RIA Novosti English site.
I’m okay and as far as I know everyone I know in Moscow is okay.
This is what is known at the moment . . . I repeat at the moment. The bombings are said to have been carried out by two female bombers with two kilograms of plastic explosives with nails and bolts in each. The suspects behind the blast are the usual ones: Muslims from the Caucasus (which is mostly likely). Though I’m sure in the coming days there will be all sorts of accusations, theories, and finger pointing. I just wonder how long it will take for people–i.e. Russian liberals and Western commentators–to blame Putin himself. Apparently, that is already starting . . .
Either way, I’m sure the Russian government will take some heat, and perhaps deservedly so since the North Caucasus continues to be an increasing mess. Thus, six years of a terror free Moscow has officially ended.
And lo and behold, as I write this, Chechens have claimed responsibility via their website, reports CNN. Experts believe that the bombs are in response to the recent killings of Chechen militant leader Anzor Astemirov, the so-called “Emir of Grozny” Salambek Akhmadov, Abu Khaled and Said Buryatskii. Former FSB director Nikolai Kovalev says that the female suicide bombers could have been relatives of Buryastskii.
A source inside the Metro administration is suggesting that the terrorists’ plan was to say “hello” to the Russian security forces. FSB headquarters is located at Lubyanka and the MVD is at Oktryabrskaya station. If this was the case, it is unknown why the second bomb didn’t make it to its intended location.
President Medvedev has promised to help the families of victims, declared Tuesday a day or mourning, demanding increased security on public transportation, and, of course, called for vigilance, curiously adding “to not violate the rights of citizens.”
Maybe this will be Dimitry Medvedev’s big chance shed his Rodney Dangerfield persona and show he’s the tough guy Russia needs and wants. So far his initial statements are calm and collected demonstrating he’s not shaken by the incident.
Putin, as you could imagine, was more unequivocal. “I believe that the security service will do everything to find and wipe out the criminals. The terrorists will be eliminated.”
But right now the real story can be summed up in two words: panic and trauma. Both are sweeping through the city as one might expect. Certainly many people are afraid to take the underground. Without a system that moves somewhere around 5-6 million people a day, the city is clogged beyond capacity. The center is paralyzed.
I’ll provide more as I can in the coming hours and days.
{ 35 comments }
Is it true that they only closed the Red Line as a result of the attacks? Does this mean the explosions were in train cars traveling on the Red Line? Or were they in the open spaces in the stations? Is the Circle Line still running?
Any idea what the drop has been in riders, if most of the metro is still open?
A friend in Moscow tells me that people are in shock, but that the city has far from shut down. Russians are some tough mofos.
The red line should be open by now. The last report I read said it was open back up at around 2.
I just saw a report about the circle line station at Park Kultury has been reopened.
True Russians are tough. I didn’t mean to suggest that the city was shut down as it was in a total cluster fuck traffic-wise (which isn’t saying much since it’s always a cluster fuck.)
Don’t know about a drop in riders yet. But I assume many people will avoid the metro just because of the closing of the line/stations.
Thanks for the update, Sean.
Moscow roads are chocked with traffic and like London no government has spent a penny on an alternative public transport system to match the metro. People will have to continue to play Russian Roulette with their lives each day by using the metro. Its very sad and inhuman.
I remember after the 2004 metro bombing the line reopened again within a few hours. Russians are extremely tough. Unfortunately, I don’t really see how security can be improved very much with so many( 5 million) people using the metro. Any attempt to screen every single passenger would cause chaos and be unworkable.
@englishman
no, my friend, London is much better.
The city is far from being paralyzed. Today I used metro to get to work to Polyanka station at 8.30, then, after I’ve heard about the attacks, I had to get to court on Tulskaya by 10.
There were less people than usual, but still lots of them. No panic, no fear.
It must not be about the metro exclusively. If you’re well-dressed, police won’t stop you. Even if they will, it’s easy to get rid of them – bribe. Complex actions must be initiated.
Englishman is right: you simply can’t control the system with up to 2 mil people being there during rush hour. But are transportation problems being solved?Maybe, but I don’t see it. It just keeps getting worse every year. Metro is stuffed, roads are jammed. What’s the answer? According to Luzhkov, the answer is to legally decrease the number of cars. Brilliant idea! So that the metro would collapse.
Imagine if such bombings happened in New York or Washington, DC. One of the things that always struck me as counterproductive and undignified is how in the US the media, the internet and the politicians react to botched acts of terrorism inside the US. For example, the hysteria caused by that young Nigerian last December was simply embarrassing. Much of this is fueled by the news networks: in their never ending competition to increase ratings they are being more sensationalistic then ever. But part of it is because politicians are much more brazen in their attempts to score points against their political rivals. I was not there, but I read in several places that in 2005 the folks in Britain reacted with much more restraint and quiet resolve after the 7/7 London bombings. I mean, it was indeed a big deal and there was plenty of media coverage, but among Londoners there was a sort of pride in carrying on as usual as quickly as possible. It’s good to hear that such is the reaction among most Muscovites.
Glad to hear you’re OK, Sean.
What? This теракт is tragic like all of them, but how on earth is providing one of the most efficient and safest (there are far more car casualties), not to mention least ecologically damaging, transportation options “sad and inhuman”?
I rode the metro unfazed after the 2004 bombings. Maybe I’m getting old, or maybe having since married has changed my perspective, but I’m avoiding the metro now. I’ll risk getting mugged by a gypsy cab driver. It’s a great metro system, of course, but with reports of Buryatsky’s blyadi still preparing attacks, I’m staying above ground.
I was not there, but I read in several places that in 2005 the folks in Britain reacted with much more restraint and quiet resolve after the 7/7 London bombings.
I was in London that day, going through the radio stations trying to get some useful travel news. The airwaves were jammed with political speeches.
Tough guys Russians be, Chechens are tougher.
Speaker of Chechen Parliament Dukukhava Abdurakhmanov claimed that the terrorist acts were the result of carelessness of the Moscow security services.
http://lenta.ru/news/2010/03/30/guilty/
“Such a strategically guarded object as the underground must be secured.”
A genius, dammit.
Well in the U.S., the behavior of the media is separate from the conduct of the state, in Russia unfortunately they are one and the same. Something like Fox News thrives off the fear mongering, and yes, it is counter-productive. Following the bombings, Russian TV had on general entertainment TV of “singing, dancing, making breakfast and relieving pain with their hands.” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8594375.stm)
I don’t really think we need to start congratulating on the authorities on how they opened up all the trains right after the bombing without a second thought … even if the fortitude of Russians is so impressive.
Following the he bombings, Russian TV had on general entertainment TV of “singing, dancing, making breakfast and relieving pain with their hands.”
For Russian readers, Moskovskii komsomolets’ Vadim Rechkalov had some choice words in regard to the failure of Russian TV to broadcast a simple “Stay home. There are bombings in the metro”: http://tinyurl.com/yhcagye
By the 3rd time you have your subway bombed, and the same people have been in charge (Luzhkov, Putin) for the previous ones, you should have some kind of alert system in place.
That said… it doesn’t seem like anyone has perfected this art, or that all the factors are being taken into account here. These are chaotic situations. Maybe you don’t want to exacerbate the hysteria on the off chance there will be another bombing in 40 minutes somewhere else. I mean, I don’t know, I am no terrorism expert. I don’t even have any idea how to prevent such a thing. What are you going to do, close the metro forever, require 7 million people to be sniffed by a bomb dog every day? Our subway system does random checks, but that’s more or a discouragement tactic, I would imagine. A week or so ago there was a false alarm on the subway here which kept us trapped in the tunnels for an hour. They never explained what happened, nothing on the news. And what about the people already en route? Were they supposed to shut down and completely empty the whole system? And then what if there were a second bomber on a bus? Personally, I would be pissed if the gov’t. reported nothing for an hour. OTOH, it’s not ludicrous that they’d want to get security & aid on the ground there, the situation under control, before making a big announcement. Also, in this day of cell phone cameras, it’s not like they could have any pretense about hiding the fact that the metro was just bombed. Being informed makes you feel better, but it doesn’t always make you safer.
How would things have been better if the gov’t announced on tv immediately the Lubianka station was bombed? We’d like to believe this would have prevented people from being on the train or in the station in Park Kultury. But the only way that would have happened would have been if the whole system were shut down and emptied. Which would be a massive logistical undertaking and cause widespread confusion and panic. No one would go to work, the stock market would be effected, kids stranded at schools, emergency services understaffed, etc. And you probably don’t want to send the terrorists the message that they are capable of bringing down your city like that.
I feel annoyed when our (American, British, etc) governments go WAY overboard in the Be Afraid! Be Very Afraid! department after any possible terror attack. Stay home! Buy duct tape! I guess in any situation one must balance keeping communication open with maintaining peace and order as much as possible.
Shocking stuff. I used to live a few stops away at Prospekt Vernadskogo and often got off at Park Kultury for the market. Very sad.
There was an Irish journalist from Russia Today (!) speaking on our own channels here. He said that there has been ‘discrete monitoring ‘of the metro by cops for a while now, especially since the Moscow-Petersburg train bombing. Considering he works for RT , ‘discrete monitoring’ might be Kremlin spin for ‘cops lazing around the place’.
What was commendable though was the amazing forensic work of the Russian authorities. Within two hours Yuri Luzhkov was able to to tell the world it was two Caucasian women who did the deed. That has to be a record turn-around time for any forensic lab. Who needs CSI Miami when you have the Moscow MVD?
Considering he works for RT , ‘discrete monitoring’ might be Kremlin spin for ‘cops lazing around the place’.
Quite. And when they do interact with the public it’s to demand registration papers in the hope that a bureaucratic error will offer a route to extorting some cash.
And when they do interact with the public it’s to demand registration papers in the hope that a bureaucratic error will offer a route to extorting some cash.
It’s even worse that this. At least if they extorted bribes, they would catch someone legitimately suspicious every once in a great moon. Grated I haven’t seen many MVD checking people’s docs before the bombings. But lazing around is certainly accurate. Every metro platform has a group of three of what I call “toy soldiers”–basically kids who look between the ages of 16-19 strolling around doing nothing. When they are doing something it seems like they are helping old women with directions, talking to girls or fiddling with their cell phones. But what can you expect? I see ads to join the MVD all the time for a whopping salary of 15000 rubles a month. Keep in mind that the ads for jobs cleaning the metro floors post a starting salary of 12000 a month. Not a lot of incentive to keep a sharp eye.
poemless,
Meme that “government” did not report the attack or that news about the attack were delayed by an hour is false. Also articles in “MK” and “Kommersant” about the same are false, too. Check out comments to “Kommersant” article at
http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=1345737
First bombing happened at 7:56am. One commenter mentioned that TASS wires about the bombing arrived at 8:16am and 8:21am.
For the news channels
Россия 24 and EuroNews(Rus) (both ВГТРК holding) reported and covered the bombings pretty early. Россия 24 did not have details and were repeating the same info.
For the entertainment channels
Channel 1 reported the bombings in 8:30am news segment, 9am, 12am (all segment), 14am and so on.
Russia 1 reported the bombings in 8:30am news segment and 9am.
Neither of above changed their programming but starting from 8:30am had a running breaking news caption.
For Radio:
Europa Plus had first reports in 8am news segment.
Pyotr, thanks for the article. This is helpful in getting the events right.
Pyotr,
I think a lot of the outrage about the TV coverage was the fact that the three major networks simply carried on with their fluffy programming (Малахов+, Кулинарный Поединок, и т.д.) all morning after the short reports early on. In fact, NTV didn’t report anything until 10 a.m. Rossia 24 and Euronews had the best and quickest domestic coverage, but they have an audience share of less than 2 percent, if my memory serves me right. Curiously, both use images from ВГТРК, which owns Rossia 1. So they had the material do to the reports on Rossia 1 but chose not to for that huge block after 9 a.m.
There are certainly arguments to be made for not causing a panic, and I’m not a fan of hysterical live television news. But one could make sound arguments as well for giving tempered advice to viewers, at the very least on how to get to work and what areas to avoid.
Even my friends who despise knee-jerk criticism of even the most minor Kremlin misstep told me they were shocked that they couldn’t get ANY info on the main networks.
The radio and Internet provided extremely timely, informative and helpful coverage, it must be said.
Carl
Carl,
This is my understanding also: that Russia’s federal channels didn’t broadcast information when they should have. And according to the Kommersant article Pyotr links above EuroNews and Russia 24 have “no more than a 2% audience.”
In sense, I think the criticism many have, as declared by Rechkalov in my other post, is totally valid.
I’m not really an expert in strategies to avoid mass panic. But it seems to me that an information vacuum in the country’s primary media outlets would only serve to fuel hysterical speculation. I was standing on Lubyanskaya Ploshchad 45 minutes after the attack listening to Ekho Moskvy with a friend, and we kept hearing talk of a third blast at Prospekt Mira. It turned out to be false, thank heavens, but having officials address the public in a responsible fashion to clarify the facts might have been more productive than showing a cooking competition. Also, it might have been helpful to advise people to stay away from the crime scenes so as not to hamper investigators and rescue efforts.
I tend to think that the relative silence wasn’t merely because the networks were waiting from approval from the Kremlin. People I talked to who were watching the short reports on the Big Three said some of the anchors were visibly trembling. Maybe their ability to do live TV has simply atrophied in recent years because of the lack of editorial independence.
Carl,
Just trying to set record straight on an obviously false meme ‘TV information blackout till 12pm’, that morphed into ’1 hour blackout’ whereas the reality is that the only sin of entertainment channels Russia 1 and Channel 1 is that they did not change their regular programming and put news about bombings into scheduled morning news slots.
Ironically, the same people who complain about over the air Channel 1 or Russia 1 never actually watch them. The place to go for the breaking news is Internet or 3$/mo 50-channel cable in Moscow. That 3$/mo plan includes Russiya 24, RBC TV, EuroNews, France 24 and Deutsche Welle; 10$/mo (less than the cost of the Internet plan) gets 100 channels, including BBC, CNN, RT and CNBC Europe.
Pyotr,
Efforts to set the record straight can only be lauded, so I certainly appreciate your vigilance. Naturally, anyone with any sense of the contemporary information landscape knows how and where to get timely, accurate information. But given what the government knows about how a majority of Russians get their news, it seems the right thing to do in that situation would be to have the leading television networks relay at least basic, helpful information to viewers at regular intervals. Kudos to Rossia 24, which I personally, as a journalist, turn to when I need breaking news from a domestic outlet. It sounds like they did a reasonable job with the story (I wasn’t at home to watch on Monday). But NTV waiting until 10 a.m. is somewhat perplexing.
Carl
Sean,
EuroNews and Russia 24 are the news channels and people use them for the breaking news. NTV/Russia 1/Channel 1 are entertainment channels with few scheduled news slots.
Carl,
News segments in 1/2 h and 1h intervals and running caption for the entertainment channels is helpful enough to me. Both Euronews and Channel 1, or any TV station, for this matter, were equally useless in this case for the people who needed information most – the ones stuck underground.
re: NTV, looks like NTV got news about the bombings too late to include in 8;00am-8:30am news slot and their next scheduled slot is at 10am.
How many of the people in this thread turn to TV first to get breaking news? Even if you were theoretically in front of a TV during rush hour? I’m not trying to argue that is was fine and dandy not to announce the bombings on the TV news. Let’s assume it was irresponsible journalistic ethics to do that. I’m trying to get some idea of the repercussions of not announcing it. Thinking about my own life, I’d turn first to my cell phone and the Internet. But that’s a pretty recent development – I remember I was glued to the tv after 9-11. Still, I have to agree with Pyotr that the people who would have needed the news most were probably not at home in front of a tv.
Let me emphasize that Rechkalov is a liar.
Given that time line of when, what and on which channels was reported is clear now, if you hear a statement that bombings were not announced on Russian TV news you need to keep in mind that it is a lie. If someone says that Channel 1 and Russia 1 did not report the bombings or that they were substantially late, that’s a lie. A bold faced lie is statement from Rechkalov that people were using foreign sources because information from Russian sources was not available. In each and every case (Internet, Radio, TV) Russian sources were faster than foreign ones. People who say that foreign news outlets had reported facts that could not be found from Russian sources are liars.
The sin of Channel 1, Russia 1 and NTV is that they did not switch to emergency programming dedicated to the bombings as news TV stations like RT did.
Time lines collected from different blog comments:
7:56 – 1st bombing
8:13 – Business FM, Kommersant FM radio report
8:15 – Ekho Moskvy, RSN radio report
before 8:20 – TASS wire
8:22 – Approximate time of the coverage start for Russia 24
8:30-8:45 – RT report (the fastest TV channel to report and the source of the info and coverage for Rechkalov’s “vrazheskie golosa”)
8:36 – 2nd bombing; by this time there is no doubts that terrorist attack is in progress. After this time news segments for Channel 1, NTV and Russia 1 have updates on bombings.
8:40 – several bloggers mentioned that Russia 1 and Channel 1 had running caption about bombings at this time.
8:45 – CNN report
8:55 – Russia 1 reports bombings
9:00 – Channel 1 dedicates the majority of the regular news segment to the bombings;
9:30 – Approximate time of the coverage start for over the air in Moscow REN TV
10:00 – news segment in which NTV reported bombings
Compare this time line with the drivel Rechkalov was pushing, namely that timely information was not available from the Russian sources and that they were forced to turn to conveniently unidentified Western news outlets.
Pyotr, thanks for the timeline. May I post it as an official post?
Sean, sure, please use if it looks helpful.
Pyotr,
You seem to be misinterpreting Rechkalov’s words. Nowhere does he say timely information wasn’t available from “Russian sources”. Clearly, as your above timeline shows, Russian sources did provide relatively timely information. He specifically criticizes the “главные федеральные каналаы”. Those are, as we know, Channel One, Rossia 1 and NTV, and they are not, as you suggest above, “entertainment channels”. As Rossia 1 says of itself on its web site:
“Визитной карточкой телеканала “Россия 1″ всегда являлись “Вести”, которые можно смело назвать главной информационной программой страны.”
TNT, CTC, MTV, MuzTV — those are entertainment channels. The Big Three are where an overwhelming majority of Russians prefer to get their news, according to opinion polls.
What is indeed wrong is Rechkalov’s following statement:
“Вместо этого на главных федеральных каналах с момента первого взрыва и до 9 утра пели, плясали, готовили завтраки, снимали боль движением рук.”
Channel One and Rossia 1 had tickers running across the screen before 9 a.m., and both ran reports, as you say, at around 9 a.m. So you’re right to call Rechkalov out on that.
Then, however, it was back to singing and stretching and cooking.
R.I.P to the Victims.
Damn these terrorists!!!!.
Carl,
“Big Three” are entertainment channels with complexly managed (local and regional news for local markets plus federal/international news) news slots. The main thing they concentrate on is popular ratings and entertainment. People ARE NOT watching those channels for the news but exactly for soap operas, cooking, Pugacheva and Petrosyan.
“Rossia 1″ may flatter itself on “Vesti” or take pride in ability to deliver local news as part of it, but that does not make any of the “Big Three” a news channel. They do not do breaking news, and something like “Vesti” is an daily summary of events.
Things that are false in Rechkalov:
И _только_ “Раша тудэй” работала как положено ― давала картинку и комментарии. Работая на весь мир, этот канал просто обязан соблюдать мировые стандарты журналистики. А для своих сгодится утреннее шоу с кривляющимися звездами.
Обыватель умеет добывать информацию самостоятельно. .. Кто постарше ― слушал “вражеские голоса”.
Российские федеральные телеканалы благоразумно ждали сигнала сверху, сами они уже разучились правильно освещать события.
“Vrazheskie golosa” is a reference to foreign news sources.
Also note that when Borodina says that EuroNews and Russia 24 have less than 2% viewers [I sure hope she is not inventing her numbers], this only means that people do not watch pure news channels. Say, Russia 24 is available for free over the satellite and is currently can be watched with the switch of the remote, according to Russia 24, to 50 million viewers in Russia.
As Dieter from “Sprockets” might say, this debate has become tiresome. I will post on it no more, forever.
Re April 2 2010 comment by Hoezkuldur:
When the 7/7 bombings happened here in London, the media quickly noted that this might be in response to “Blairs War.” The government – of course – quickly denied such a sequence could even be true…
Do people continue to go about their daily business because they are tough? More that the ordinary citizen can do nothing in the face of the State Terrorism being practiced by his own government and accepts that the assymetric response by disaffected parties is almost inevitable. I continued to use the “tube” straight after the bombings because i had daily committments to attend to. Of course the thought did occur to me that the bombers aimed at the wrong target and i might be next…but i understood and sympathised with the sentiment behind the bombing probably better than Blair could ever do.
Neither the US, nor Russian nor British government would ever admit that it is their own psychopathic policy that causes some citizens to rebel. Those rebels know first hand how State Terrorism has affected millions of Chechnians and Afghans and Iraqis.
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