Russia blames terrorists as dozens killed in train crash
Top government officials among the dead, as Moscow blames homemade bomb that could signal renewed campaign by Chechen rebels
* Luke Harding in Moscow
* guardian.co.uk, Saturday 28 November 2009 21.15 GMT
Russia was tonight coming to terms with its most deadly terrorist attack in years after investigators confirmed that a powerful improvised bomb caused Friday's devastating train crash in which at least 26 people, including several top government officials, were killed.
The head of Russia's FSB counter-terrorism agency, Alexander Bortnikov, said the bomb, hidden on the railway line between Moscow and St Petersburg, contained the equivalent of 7kg (15.4lb) of TNT. Officers had found "elements of an explosive device", he said.
Today two huge cranes lifted up wreckage at the crash site as workers searched for the missing. Officials said 18 people were still unaccounted for. Nearly 100 people injured in the crash were being treated in hospitals. Russia's president, Dmitry Medvedev, called for calm amid speculation the explosion could be the start of a new campaign by Chechen extremists. "We need there to be no chaos, because the situation is tense as it is," he told Russian TV.
The luxury Nevsky Express was carrying 682 passengers and 29 crew from Moscow to Russia's second city St Petersburg. It was derailed at 9.34pm on Friday, close to the village of Uglovka, 250 miles north west of Moscow.
Yesterday witnesses described how they heard a "tremendous crash" as the train derailed. "At exactly 9.30pm, 15 minutes after we had passed Bologoye [in the Tver region], we heard an almighty slap," survivor Boris Gruzd told radio station Ekho Moskvy. "It seemed to me as if we had lost a wheel or smashed through some kind of obstacle. I didn't hear any explosion."
Gruzd said the train driver braked severely. The passengers then spent 30 minutes unaware that the last three wagons of the 14-carriage train had flown off the rails. "The first wagon was 1.5-2kms away from the rest of the train. The second had completely flipped over. The third had come off the rails, but was near the main part of the train and was still standing vertically. As far as I know nobody from this wagon was seriously hurt."
Passenger Igor Pechnikov described being in the second of the three derailed cars. "A trembling began, and the carriage jolted violently to the left. I flew through half of the carriage," he said.
Gruzd said that the passengers immediately began collecting warm clothes and mattresses to help the injured. But he said it was extremely difficult to reach people trapped in the mangled carriages – with rescuers peering into the gloom and using flashlights.
So far investigators have not said who they believe planted the homemade bomb. In the days before the crash villagers reported seeing a suspicious individual. "As far as theories go … our main version is that this was an explosion of an unknown device, by unknown individuals. Put simply, it was an act of terror," Vladimir Yakunin, Russia's railways minister, said yesterday.
Yakunin said the incident was "analogous" to another derailment on the same line three years ago, also involving the Nevsky Express, in which 19 people were injured. Russian prosecutors blamed that derailment on Chechen rebels, who have been fighting an on-off war against the Russian state for two decades.
According to Ekho Moskvy, a radical neo-Nazi group opposed to migrants from the former Soviet republics of central Asia has claimed responsibility for Friday's crash, which paralysed train travel yesterday and delayed 27,000 passengers. Other nationalist groups later denied the report.
There seems little doubt that the Kremlin will point the finger of blame at Islamist insurgents currently waging a guerrilla campaign across the north Caucasus. Rebel fighters have carried out numerous attacks in recent months, including suicide bombings, in their apparent attempt to establish an Islamic caliphate.
Russian prosecutors said they believed Pavel Kosolapov, an ex-solider and former associate of the late Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev, masterminded the previous derailment. Kosolapov is currently on the run. Prosecutors have arrested two residents of Ingushetia and charged them with helping carry out the 2006 attack.
Yesterday, investigators said they had discovered a 3ft crater beneath the rails where the bomb had gone off. Reuters, however, said that its reporters at the scene had been unable to find it. Earlier, Russian news agencies had quoted transport officials as saying the cause may have been an electrical fault. Russia has a poor record of serious accidents caused by Soviet-era infrastructure.
Among the named dead so far were several senior Kremlin bureaucrats, including Boris Yevstratikov, the head of Russia's Federal Reserve Agency, and Lyudmila Mukhina, a deputy head in the Federal Fishing Agency. A former St Petersburg senator, Sergei Tarasov, also died.
Russia: Fatal train crash blamed on bomb
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Re: Russia: Fatal train crash blamed on bomb
Russian train wreck 'an act of terror'
CNN November 28, 2009 1:06 p.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* Investigators probing derailment of train in Russia say they have found "elements of an explosive device"
* At least 26 people killed and 100 hurt in derailment between Moscow and St. Petersburg
* No immediate word on who or what group might have been behind the action
Moscow, Russia (CNN) -- Investigators have found "elements of an explosive device" at the site of the derailment of an express train in Russia and believe an act of terror caused the deadly incident.
The derailment killed at least 26 people and injured about 100, but there was no immediate word on who or what group might have been behind the action.
"One can say with certainty that that was indeed an act of terror," Vladimir Markin, spokesman for the investigative committee of the Russian prosecutor's office, told CNN.
He would not elaborate on exactly what kind of "elements of an explosive device" the investigators discovered earlier, but said the crater found beneath the railroad bed was "1.5 meter by 1 meter in size."
Later Saturday morning, a second device went off on nearby tracks going the opposite direction, Vladimir Yakunin, head of Russian Railways, told Russian TV. He said no one was injured in the smaller explosion.
Markin said investigators are "studying the site of the accident, questioning the witnesses and conducting all kinds of forensic and technical examinations."
Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov said, "Criminology experts have come to a preliminary conclusion that there was an explosion of an improvised explosive device equivalent to seven kilos of TNT.
"Several leads are being pursued now. A criminal case has been opened under Article 205 ("terrorism") and Article 22 ("illegal possession or storage of weapons or explosives") of the Russian Criminal Code."
Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said on TV that there are possible suspects in this crime.
"There are several people who could be involved in this crime," he said. One of them, he said, is a "stocky-built man of about 40 years old, with red hair."
"There are some traces left at the crime scene which could help in the investigation," he said. "We are getting a lot of information now, and I am very thankful for people who have responded to our requests to render their assistance in investigating this crime."
A total of 681 people -- 20 of them employees -- were on the Nevsky Express as it traveled from Moscow to St. Petersburg on Friday night. The Nevsky Express is Russia's fastest train, equivalent to a bullet train.
The crash happened at 9:25 p.m. (1825 GMT) when the train was 280 kilometers (174 miles) from St. Petersburg, Russian state radio said.
At least three carriages carrying more than 130 people derailed and turned on their sides, and emergency workers were working to free anyone who may still be trapped inside.
Yakunin told Russian TV that the company will pay a compensation of 500,000 rubles ($17,240) to the victims' families and 200,000 rubles ($6,897) to those injured.
The crash happened 44 minutes after another high-speed train, the Sapsan, had successfully traveled from Moscow to St. Petersburg on the same rails, a representative of the Russian Transport Police said during a video conference call Saturday.
In August 2007, an explosion on the tracks derailed the Nevsky Express, injuring 60 people in what authorities called a terrorist act. About 27,000 passengers on 60 trains were facing delays Saturday as a result of the accident, Russian State TV reported.
CNN's Maxim Tkachenko contributed to this report
Russia police issue appeal after blast derails train
Page last updated at 14:57 GMT, Sunday, 29 November 2009
BBC
Russian police are appealing for witnesses following a bomb blast which derailed an express train north of Moscow on Friday, killing 25 people.
The BBC's Richard Galpin, in Moscow, says investigators want to talk to a group of people seen close to the scene shortly before the derailment.
Forensic experts returned to the crash site on Sunday to comb the debris of the Nevsky Express for clues.
No-one has claimed responsibility for the explosion.
Police said an "improvised explosive device" derailed the last three carriages of the express, one of Russia's fastest trains, which links Moscow with St Petersburg.
Foreigners injured
Officials originally said 26 passengers had been killed, but revised the figure down on Sunday.
More than 100 people were injured, some of them seriously. Authorities said six foreigners were among them - an Italian, a Belgian, an Azerbaijani, two Belarussians and one Ukrainian.
Our correspondent says the investigation is focusing on witnesses who may have seen suspicious activity near the town of Bologoye, about 400km (250 miles) north-west of Moscow.
In particular, a group of people were seen milling around the track on Friday.
Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev told Russian media they believed several people had taken part in the attack.
He released a description of one suspect - a stocky man of about 40 with red hair - based on statements from local residents.
Correspondents say key suspects in the investigation will be militants from the volatile North Caucasus region and extreme Russian nationalists.
The Nevsky Express is an expensive, high-speed train popular with government officials and business executives.
In 2007, a bomb on the same line derailed a train, injuring nearly 30 passengers.
That blast has been blamed on Chechen separatists.
CNN November 28, 2009 1:06 p.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* Investigators probing derailment of train in Russia say they have found "elements of an explosive device"
* At least 26 people killed and 100 hurt in derailment between Moscow and St. Petersburg
* No immediate word on who or what group might have been behind the action
Moscow, Russia (CNN) -- Investigators have found "elements of an explosive device" at the site of the derailment of an express train in Russia and believe an act of terror caused the deadly incident.
The derailment killed at least 26 people and injured about 100, but there was no immediate word on who or what group might have been behind the action.
"One can say with certainty that that was indeed an act of terror," Vladimir Markin, spokesman for the investigative committee of the Russian prosecutor's office, told CNN.
He would not elaborate on exactly what kind of "elements of an explosive device" the investigators discovered earlier, but said the crater found beneath the railroad bed was "1.5 meter by 1 meter in size."
Later Saturday morning, a second device went off on nearby tracks going the opposite direction, Vladimir Yakunin, head of Russian Railways, told Russian TV. He said no one was injured in the smaller explosion.
Markin said investigators are "studying the site of the accident, questioning the witnesses and conducting all kinds of forensic and technical examinations."
Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov said, "Criminology experts have come to a preliminary conclusion that there was an explosion of an improvised explosive device equivalent to seven kilos of TNT.
"Several leads are being pursued now. A criminal case has been opened under Article 205 ("terrorism") and Article 22 ("illegal possession or storage of weapons or explosives") of the Russian Criminal Code."
Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said on TV that there are possible suspects in this crime.
"There are several people who could be involved in this crime," he said. One of them, he said, is a "stocky-built man of about 40 years old, with red hair."
"There are some traces left at the crime scene which could help in the investigation," he said. "We are getting a lot of information now, and I am very thankful for people who have responded to our requests to render their assistance in investigating this crime."
A total of 681 people -- 20 of them employees -- were on the Nevsky Express as it traveled from Moscow to St. Petersburg on Friday night. The Nevsky Express is Russia's fastest train, equivalent to a bullet train.
The crash happened at 9:25 p.m. (1825 GMT) when the train was 280 kilometers (174 miles) from St. Petersburg, Russian state radio said.
At least three carriages carrying more than 130 people derailed and turned on their sides, and emergency workers were working to free anyone who may still be trapped inside.
Yakunin told Russian TV that the company will pay a compensation of 500,000 rubles ($17,240) to the victims' families and 200,000 rubles ($6,897) to those injured.
The crash happened 44 minutes after another high-speed train, the Sapsan, had successfully traveled from Moscow to St. Petersburg on the same rails, a representative of the Russian Transport Police said during a video conference call Saturday.
In August 2007, an explosion on the tracks derailed the Nevsky Express, injuring 60 people in what authorities called a terrorist act. About 27,000 passengers on 60 trains were facing delays Saturday as a result of the accident, Russian State TV reported.
CNN's Maxim Tkachenko contributed to this report
Russia police issue appeal after blast derails train
Page last updated at 14:57 GMT, Sunday, 29 November 2009
BBC
Russian police are appealing for witnesses following a bomb blast which derailed an express train north of Moscow on Friday, killing 25 people.
The BBC's Richard Galpin, in Moscow, says investigators want to talk to a group of people seen close to the scene shortly before the derailment.
Forensic experts returned to the crash site on Sunday to comb the debris of the Nevsky Express for clues.
No-one has claimed responsibility for the explosion.
Police said an "improvised explosive device" derailed the last three carriages of the express, one of Russia's fastest trains, which links Moscow with St Petersburg.
Foreigners injured
Officials originally said 26 passengers had been killed, but revised the figure down on Sunday.
More than 100 people were injured, some of them seriously. Authorities said six foreigners were among them - an Italian, a Belgian, an Azerbaijani, two Belarussians and one Ukrainian.
Our correspondent says the investigation is focusing on witnesses who may have seen suspicious activity near the town of Bologoye, about 400km (250 miles) north-west of Moscow.
In particular, a group of people were seen milling around the track on Friday.
Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev told Russian media they believed several people had taken part in the attack.
He released a description of one suspect - a stocky man of about 40 with red hair - based on statements from local residents.
Correspondents say key suspects in the investigation will be militants from the volatile North Caucasus region and extreme Russian nationalists.
The Nevsky Express is an expensive, high-speed train popular with government officials and business executives.
In 2007, a bomb on the same line derailed a train, injuring nearly 30 passengers.
That blast has been blamed on Chechen separatists.
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Re: Russia: Fatal train crash blamed on bomb
Police hunt bomber behind Russian train crash
Chechen rebels suspected of carrying out deadly terrorist attack on train travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg
* Luke Harding in Moscow
* guardian.co.uk, Sunday 29 November 2009 18.42 GMT
Russian investigators were today hunting for the bomber behind Friday's train crash, in which 25 people died and nearly 100 were injured when their luxury express travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg was blown off the rails.
Russia's interior minister, Rashid Nurgaliev, said investigators were following several leads. They were attempting to trace a number of suspects spotted in the village near the site of the crash, including a stockily built man with red hair.
Nurgaliev said his officers were preparing to release a photo-fit of the man, aged about 40. But he cautioned: "This is preliminary information. We need to verify it." Sources said locals had noticed strangers in the sparsely populated rural district in the Tver region.
The Nevsky Express was carrying 682 passengers and 22 crew from Moscow to Russia's second city, St Petersburg. It was derailed at 9.34pm, close to the village of Uglovaka, 250 miles north-west of Moscow.
Another body was recovered from the wreckage this afternoon. Relatives were identifying the dead at a morgue in nearby Tver. Some 92 injured passengers were being treated in hospital and 12 people were unaccounted for, officials said.
Yesterday the head of Russia's FSB counter-terrorism agency, Alexander Bortnikov, said a powerful improvised bomb caused the derailment, sending the last three wagons on the 14-carriage train hurtling off the rails. Officers recovered "elements of an explosive device", containing the equivalent of 7kg (15.4lb) of TNT, he said.
The Kremlin has declined to say who it believes carried out the bombing amid speculation that the terror attack was the work of Chechen rebels. On Saturday a radical neo-Nazi group, Combat 18, also claimed responsibility. Other nationalist groups later denied the report.
The state-controlled TV channel Vesti hinted today that investigators were concentrating on a Chechen link. Vesti said they were looking at Pavel Kosolapov, an ex-soldier and former associate of the late Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev.
Russian prosecutors accused Kosolapov of carrying out a similar attack in 2007, also on the Nevsky Express between Moscow and St Petersburg, in which 19 people were injured. He remains on the run. Prosecutors arrested two residents of Ingushetia and charged them with helping to carry out the earlier derailment.
Alexei Malashenko, an expert on the north Caucasus at Moscow's Carnegie centre, said Friday's bombing could have been the work of Chechen rebels. He said: "I think [the rebels] want revenge. They want to create an Islamic space, even within the framework of Russia."Over the last two years the Islamists' insurgency in Russia's volatile north Caucasus has dramatically worsened, with the Muslim republics of Ingushetia, Chechnya, Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria in a state of near civil war.
Rebel fighters have carried out numerous attacks in recent months, including suicide bombings, in their apparent attempt to establish an Islamic caliphate.
The state-run railway company Russian Railways said train traffic was fully restored after repairs on the busy line between the capital and St Petersburg.
President Dmitry Medvedev called for calm , while the leader of the dominant Russian Orthodox church, Patriarch Kirill, urged Russians not to give in to fear, saying they should help authorities and "display firm will for a victory over terror".
"Our people have been challenged. A demonstrative crime of which any one of us could have been a victim has been committed. They want to frighten everybody who lives in Russia," he said.
Chechen rebels suspected of carrying out deadly terrorist attack on train travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg
* Luke Harding in Moscow
* guardian.co.uk, Sunday 29 November 2009 18.42 GMT
Russian investigators were today hunting for the bomber behind Friday's train crash, in which 25 people died and nearly 100 were injured when their luxury express travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg was blown off the rails.
Russia's interior minister, Rashid Nurgaliev, said investigators were following several leads. They were attempting to trace a number of suspects spotted in the village near the site of the crash, including a stockily built man with red hair.
Nurgaliev said his officers were preparing to release a photo-fit of the man, aged about 40. But he cautioned: "This is preliminary information. We need to verify it." Sources said locals had noticed strangers in the sparsely populated rural district in the Tver region.
The Nevsky Express was carrying 682 passengers and 22 crew from Moscow to Russia's second city, St Petersburg. It was derailed at 9.34pm, close to the village of Uglovaka, 250 miles north-west of Moscow.
Another body was recovered from the wreckage this afternoon. Relatives were identifying the dead at a morgue in nearby Tver. Some 92 injured passengers were being treated in hospital and 12 people were unaccounted for, officials said.
Yesterday the head of Russia's FSB counter-terrorism agency, Alexander Bortnikov, said a powerful improvised bomb caused the derailment, sending the last three wagons on the 14-carriage train hurtling off the rails. Officers recovered "elements of an explosive device", containing the equivalent of 7kg (15.4lb) of TNT, he said.
The Kremlin has declined to say who it believes carried out the bombing amid speculation that the terror attack was the work of Chechen rebels. On Saturday a radical neo-Nazi group, Combat 18, also claimed responsibility. Other nationalist groups later denied the report.
The state-controlled TV channel Vesti hinted today that investigators were concentrating on a Chechen link. Vesti said they were looking at Pavel Kosolapov, an ex-soldier and former associate of the late Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev.
Russian prosecutors accused Kosolapov of carrying out a similar attack in 2007, also on the Nevsky Express between Moscow and St Petersburg, in which 19 people were injured. He remains on the run. Prosecutors arrested two residents of Ingushetia and charged them with helping to carry out the earlier derailment.
Alexei Malashenko, an expert on the north Caucasus at Moscow's Carnegie centre, said Friday's bombing could have been the work of Chechen rebels. He said: "I think [the rebels] want revenge. They want to create an Islamic space, even within the framework of Russia."Over the last two years the Islamists' insurgency in Russia's volatile north Caucasus has dramatically worsened, with the Muslim republics of Ingushetia, Chechnya, Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria in a state of near civil war.
Rebel fighters have carried out numerous attacks in recent months, including suicide bombings, in their apparent attempt to establish an Islamic caliphate.
The state-run railway company Russian Railways said train traffic was fully restored after repairs on the busy line between the capital and St Petersburg.
President Dmitry Medvedev called for calm , while the leader of the dominant Russian Orthodox church, Patriarch Kirill, urged Russians not to give in to fear, saying they should help authorities and "display firm will for a victory over terror".
"Our people have been challenged. A demonstrative crime of which any one of us could have been a victim has been committed. They want to frighten everybody who lives in Russia," he said.