Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Russian bloggers think Moscow bombings were false flag attacks

A couple of days ago I wrote about the bombings in Moscow and my suspicion that the Russian security services themselves were behind the attack. My theory wasn't based on any particular facts about the case itself, but rather the Kremlin's long history of committing false flag attacks in the name of terrorists from Russia's North Caucasus.

No more details about the attack have emerged to support this theory (though I suppose they will in the coming months and years, if not sooner), but apparently the Russian blogosphere shares my sentiments:

It is too early to say who organized this terrorist attack. Russian bloggers discuss mainly two versions: Chechen rebels and the state security services. However weird it may sound, the latter version is at least as popular as the former one.

Naturally, no English-language newspaper or magazine has even raised the possibility. I really wish I could read Russian, so that I could investigate the bloggers' claims and accusations, but as it is I'm stuck reading filtered versions of what actual Russians are thinking.

Edit: The NYT has an angle that I hadn't picked up on – while the small-scale, little-reported but quite frequent bombings in the Caucasus (like the one today in Dagestan) almost always targeted police and government officials, the metro bombings was obviously meant to kill civilians. This is probably the most compelling reason to think that it wasn't committed by an insurgent group – people are much more likely to sympathize with terrorists who attack the government than those who attack ordinary (and relatively poor, if they're using mass transit) people.

3 comments:

Asteri said...

I have responded to your comment, I must say Lubyanka building is a bit of a conspiracy is it not?

Stephen Smith said...

Wouldn't be the first time. If they did the 1999 apartment bombings, Nord-Ost, and Beslan, why not this one?

Not to mention – why do the Chechen terrorists seem to have two modes: really primitive and small-scale attacks against police officers close to home, and very complex and large-scale attacks against civilians in far-away places? And why do the Chechens "responsible" always deny it right after the attacks happen, only to contradict themselves later?

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you...especially in Russian.

Stephen Smith said...

...and for god's sake, what the HELL happened in Ryazan? How on earth can anyone explain that away?

(And regarding the choice of location specifically – they didn't blow up their own building, just a train in a metro stop named after their building. I don't recall reading that any Lubkyanka employees were killed or injured in the attack.)