In september 1999, slechts enkele weken nadat de 46-jarige Vladimir Poetin premier van Rusland werd, werden vier flatgebouwen in verschillende Russische steden opgeblazen. Honderden mensen kwamen om het leven terwijl ze sliepen. Het land raakte in paniek: gezinnen sloegen op de vlucht, bewoners hielden dag en nacht wacht bij hun woningen, en Rusland werd gegijzeld door angst.
Maar wie zat er achter deze aanslagen? Die vraag heeft geleid tot huiveringwekkende theorieën. De regering wees al snel naar Tsjetsjeense militanten, en veel journalisten volgden dat verhaal. Toch begonnen er al snel geruchten te circuleren: was er misschien iets veel sinisterders aan de hand? Meer dan 25 jaar later zijn verslaggevers die de bomaanslagen destijds van dichtbij meemaakten het nog steeds oneens over wie de explosieven plaatste en met welk doel.
Presentator Helena Merriman keert terug naar deze cruciale gebeurtenis, samen met de journalisten die er toen bij waren. Wat zagen zij destijds scherp? En wat werd in de chaos van dat moment over het hoofd gezien?
NEW in The History Bureau – Putin and the Apartment Bombs
In September 1999, just weeks after a 46-year-old Vladimir Putin became Prime Minister, four bombs blew up four apartment buildings across Russia, killing hundreds of people while they slept. The attacks plunged the country into panic. Families fled their homes. Residents patrolled their blocks around the clock. An entire nation paralyzed by fear.
But who did it? It’s a mystery that has fuelled some chilling theories.
The government blamed Chechen militants. Many reporters agreed. But then the whispers started. Was something even more sinister going on?
Over 25 years later, journalists who covered the bombings still can’t agree on who planted the explosives or why.
Presenter Helena Merriman returns to the story with the reporters who were there on the ground. What did they get right first time around? And, in the chaos and confusion of unfolding events, what did they miss?
The History Bureau revisits the defining stories of our times with the reporters who first covered them.
Who bombed the four apartment buildings?
The reporters who covered this story look back with over 25 years of distance to answer a one question: who do they think bombed those four apartment buildings back in September 1999? Was it the Chechen militants the government blamed? Or was it an FSB plot – to create a climate of fear so that one of their own – Vladimir Putin – could step in as the hard man the country needed – and become President? Or is that nothing more than a wild conspiracy theory?
In Season 1 of The History Bureau, presenter Helena Merriman returns to one of the most contested – and consequential – stories in modern Russia. In September 1999, just weeks after Vladimir Putin became Prime Minister, four bombs blew up four apartment buildings across Russia. The bombs exploded in the middle of the night, killing hundreds of people while they slept. In this season, Merriman returns to the story with the reporters who were there on the ground. What did they get right first time around? And, in the chaos and confusion of unfolding events, what did they miss?
Presenter: Helena Merriman
Series Producer: Sarah Shebbeare
Executive Editor: Annie Brown
