BBC MONITORING

CHECHEN WEB SITE SPECULATES MOSCOW BOMB MAY BE PRETEXT TO DEPOSE CITY'S MAYOR

Source: Kavkaz-Tsentr web site, in Russian 9 Aug 00

9th August: Chechen sources in Moscow report that 12 people were killed and 59 were wounded as a result of the bomb explosion in an underpass on Pushkinskaya Ploshchad [Pushin Square]. Our source received this data from the Sklifosovskiy Institute. At the same time, the Russian mass media, quoting Russia's Emergencies Ministry, report that seven died and 53 were wounded.

[Passage omitted: estimates of size of device.]

The Chechen side has said that it was not involved in the Moscow blast. However, representatives of the Chechen special services recalled that they had repeatedly warned that in August-September, the Putin grouping was planning a series of terrorist acts which would be a little less bloody than last year's apartment block explosions in Moscow. This time, the Kremlin regime is trying to use the explosions as a pretext for a purge of staff in order to consolidate its authority and stoke fear and uncertainty in the country with the further establishment of a tough and quasi-democratic authoritarian regime.

The result of this explosion may be a campaign to depose [Moscow Mayor Yuriy] Luzhkov. A Kavkaz-Tsentr correspondent reports that the command of the Chechen mojahedin is closely following how the situation develops in Moscow.