APARTMENT BOMBINGS OF SEPTEMBER 1999

A series of explosions ripped through apartment blocks in the cities ofMoscow, Buynaksk inDagestan, and Volgodonsk in theRostov Oblastbetween 4 and 16 September 1999. The death toll of the combined bombings approached 300. Occurring around the same time asShamilBasayev’s incursion into Dagestan, the bombings were a key factor in Moscow’s decision to embark on a secondChechen Warlater that year. According to a 2002 federal investigation, the bombings were organized by Achemez Gochiyayev, an ethnicKarachay, and ordered by the Arab-Circassian Ibn al-Khattab. A number of figures in and outside of Russia, most notablyBoris Berezovsky, have asserted that the bombings were a false flag operation by theFSBto bringVladimir Putinto power, though little evidence has ever been brought to light that would support such a theory.