Many people are sure that the Moscow Metro is the safest in the world. But even here there were tragic incidents organized by terrorist groups.
First explosion
Surprisingly, the first explosion in the Moscow metro occurred in Soviet times. Back in 1977, three people committed the terrorist act - Zatikyan, Stepanyan and Baghdasaryan. The first bomb planted by them worked between the Izmaylovskaya and Pervomayskaya stations. After a while, the second and third bombs exploded on Bolshaya Lubyanka and Nikolskaya streets.
As a result of this terrorist act, seven people said goodbye to life immediately, another 37 received various injuries. The Moscow metro was temporarily closed. The explosion on the Arbat-Pokrovskaya line was classified.
The mystery behind the seven seals
Do not forget that all the events took place at a time when the government tried to keep silent about all kinds of tragedies. The consequences were quickly eliminated, no one in the city spoke of the tragedy. Some information leaked to the media only three years later.
The perpetrators, of course, were punished. The trial took place in the strictest confidence and very quickly. Relatives of the criminals did not even have time to come to say goodbye to them before being shot. According to some modern historians, such a quick response could mean a fabricated case, but no one still knows the truth.
19 years later
The attacks in the Moscow metro resumed in 1996. Then a home-made device filled with TNT exploded. The bomb was planted directly under the passenger seat, and no one noticed an unknown black object. The accident occurred between the stations "Tula" and "Nagatinskaya". The tragedy claimed the lives of four people, another 14 could not get out of the cars themselves. Passengers with minor injuries had to get on the rails to the nearest station.
There was a lot of talk about who was to blame. It seems that Chechen fighters admitted to their deeds, but after checking the data, this information was not confirmed. The leaders of the separatist groups were also interrogated, but they denied any involvement. The case remained unsolved.
New Year 1998
The morning of January 1, 1998 began with a terrible message: "Terrorist attacks committed in the Moscow metro." Only a fortunate event helped this event not become a tragedy. An unknown ownerless bundle with wires and a clock was found by the train driver early in the morning when he was heading for service. He immediately carried the bomb on duty at the station. While she called the post and told the situation, the mechanism worked.
Fortunately, the force of the explosion was small, and the attendant and two more cleaners were slightly injured. But the psychological trauma they received was more severe. The investigation of the event has come to a standstill. There is a version that this attack, and the one that occurred two years earlier, are interconnected.
The beginning of the 21st century
From the beginning of the 21st century, people began to fear descending into the subway. The reason for this was the explosion of the Pushkinskaya metro station in Moscow. Perhaps due to the fact that this terrorist attack was most thoroughly described in the media, or maybe because there were much more victims than all the time before, but it was from the 2000 attack that a serious threat loomed over us.
The history of the incident is as follows. At about 6 p.m., just at rush hour, two unknown people of Caucasian ethnicity approached one of the kiosks at the Pushkinskaya metro station. They wanted to make a purchase for currency, but the seller at the kiosk refused to do so, indicating that there was an exchange office nearby. The men headed there, leaving their personal belongings nearby on a bench. When they did not return for a long time, the kiosk seller drew attention to the bag and immediately called for a guard, who was at the other end of the hall. The moment he was heading for the bomb, an explosion occurred.
The tragedy claimed the lives of 12 people, about 120 more were injured. The severity of the strikes was also increased by the fact that in addition to TNT, there were various sharp iron objects in the bomb.
At first, the investigators managed to get on the trail of the criminal group, but as the subsequent course of events showed, they had nothing to do with this incident. The perpetrators of the death of a dozen people were never found.
year 2001
Metro bombings in Moscow continued. The next explosion occurred at the beginning of February 2001 at the Belorusskaya station. But this event caused a lot of questions and discussions.
At about 18:50 in the evening, someone unknown left a black bag under a marble shop near the stop of the first train car. A few minutes later, an explosion sounded. Its power was small, and the shop took the brunt of the blow. Several people were hospitalized.
A terrorist attack or not a terrorist attack?
If these are terrorist attacks in the Moscow metro, then why did the criminals act so weakly? The bomb had only 200 grams of TNT, and although this is quite a lot, it was not filled with shrapnel elements, as they do to increase damage. Moreover, the bomb was planted under the bench, and if it was a meter further, there would have been much more victims. The investigation has come to a standstill. There were many versions, but not one of them was confirmed or refuted.
February again
February was the fateful month for the Moscow subway. This time, an explosion in the Moscow metro thundered on February 6, 2004. The tragedy is associated with the name of one Chechen rebel - Pavel Kosolapov. It is his investigation that considers it the organizer of this and several other terrorist attacks in the capital.
Explosions in the Moscow metro in February 2004 were distinguished by the fact that this time the bomb was not planted, but it was carried by a suicide bomber. He went into the subway at rush hour, which falls from 8 to 10 in the morning. It was during this period that the largest number of people rushing to work. Unsuspecting passengers boarded the second car of a train moving along the Zamoskvoretskaya line. The explosion occurred between the stations Paveletskaya and Avtozavodskaya.
The tragedy claimed the lives of 41 passengers, several hundred more received various injuries. Many people simply could not get out and gasped from the smoke that arose as a result of the fire. Three wagons and hundreds of people suffered from the bomb. This time the attack was prepared very carefully. The bomb was assembled to the highest level and filled with many striking elements - nuts, bolts, screws, nails.
This time, the investigation managed to find the ends. Not only Pavel Kosolapov, but also several of his associates were involved in the attack. Some of them were caught. A trial was conducted over them, the decision of which stated a life sentence.
Another explosion in 2004
In 2004, terrorist attacks and accidents in the Moscow metro became more frequent. The capital was seized by horror and panic. In just one year, two attacks in the subway, two blown up aircraft, many attacks in urban public transport. Accident at the metro station "Riga" formally can not be attributed to the tragedies in the subway, because the event occurred on the surface, near the entrance. But the headlines continually sounded in the media that the purpose of the terrorists was precisely the metro, but for some reason they were unable to get below the surface of the earth.
So, the story begins at about 8 pm on the last day of the summer of 2004. Everyone hurries home, because tomorrow is the first day of September, and you need to properly prepare the children for school. At the entrance to the subway police are on duty. Such precautions have been introduced because of the increasing attacks. It seemed to one of the employees that a certain woman hesitated at the entrance to the subway. She was stopped and asked to provide documents. The woman turned and walked away. It was at that moment that there was an explosion. The unknown turned out to be a suicide bomber, and a bomb was planted in her purse.
No casualties. A large amount of TNT and torn items led to the fact that three people died on the spot, seven more were injured, incompatible with life, and they died on the way to intensive care. Hundreds of wounded were sent to hospitals.
One of the victims managed to find a fake passport in the name of Nikolai Samygin. The investigation came to the real name of the terrorist - Nikolai Kipkeev. In this tragedy, he played the role of curator. His task was to follow the suicide bomber so that she went down to the subway. But since she could not do this, but decided to detonate a bomb right at the entrance, her accomplice suffered as well. Subsequently, two more people involved in the explosion were detained. All of them were sentenced to life imprisonment in prison.
The last metro explosion in Moscow
After the tragedies of 2004, there was a lull for six whole years. The life of the capital returned to its previous course, all the wounds were patched, when suddenly … A series of explosions in 2010 stunned everyone. These events have become the most loud and powerful in their psychological impact. Terrorists have proven that they are not sleeping, have not calmed down, but are ready to wage a systematic destructive war.
Explosions in the Moscow metro thundered with a difference of about half an hour. The first occurred at the Lubyanka station. According to eyewitnesses, a woman approached the carriage of the train that approached, the doors opened and after that there was an explosion. His strength was so powerful that immediately killed 24 people. It was on Monday, at 7.30, and the metro was crowded with passengers. To close the subway completely seemed unrealistic, so the rescuers only blocked the affected station to eliminate the consequences.
All other lines worked, and this did not prevent the second female suicide bomber from carrying out her sinister plan at the Park Kultury station. The scheme was similar: a train approached, an explosion rang out. The power of this bomb was less, as a result of which 12 people died immediately. Later, four more could not be saved by resuscitators. The account of the wounded and injured was several hundred.
Explosions in the Moscow metro were just the starting point for a further series of attacks already on the surface of the earth. It was a whole chain of targeted actions of a gangster group. The investigation almost immediately managed to get on the trail of criminals. As reported later, the organizer of general chaos, Magomedali Vagabov, was eliminated.
