Translated material
“Very serious conclusions”
Local police will be held responsible for the terrorist attack in Stavropol
The Investigative Committee for the Stavropol Territory opened a criminal case against officials of the regional Main Department of Internal Affairs who allegedly showed negligence in ensuring security during a concert at the Stavropol Palace of Culture and Sports, where the terrorist attack took place on May 26. The fact that the blame for the explosion, which killed seven and injured about 50 people, will partially fall on the Stavropol police officers, became clear on Friday after a statement by the presidential envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District (NCFD) Alexander Khloponin. Speaking after a meeting of security forces in Stavropol, the plenipotentiary also said that the investigation has “real leads and suspects” and expressed confidence that the terrorist attack will be solved in the “near future.”Officially, no one has been detained in connection with the explosion in Stavropol, and unofficial information from a number of sources that appeared over the weekend about the detention in Ingushetia of two to six suspects in organizing and carrying out the terrorist attack was resolutely denied by the Ingush authorities and security forces yesterday.
An explosion in the center of Stavropol occurred on May 26 at 18.45 near the Aquarium cafe, which was closed for repairs, which is located a few meters from the main entrance to the Palace of Culture and Sports of Trade Unions. The terrorist attack occurred just 15 minutes before the start of the concert of the state dance ensemble from Chechnya “Vainakh - the Legend of the Caucasus”, and therefore at the time of the explosion there were many people near the building. According to preliminary data, an improvised explosive device, which was hidden in a juice box, went off near the cafe. The bomb was filled with destructive elements - pieces of reinforcement and metal balls. In addition, the building structures surrounding the cafe played the role of damaging elements. The power of the explosive device was about 400 grams of TNT. Experts believe the bomb was equipped with a clock mechanism or was activated remotely.
The investigation is working on several versions of what happened. According to them, the terrorist attack could have been organized by members of a gang, nationalists or businessmen who did not divide the Aquarium and the Palace of Culture and Sports between themselves. In addition, a version is being considered according to which the terrorist attack could have been a consequence of an interethnic conflict or was committed to intimidate the city, in order to influence the adoption of any decision by the authorities. In connection with the explosion, a criminal case has been opened under the articles “terrorist attack”, “murder of two or more persons” and “illegal manufacture of explosives”.
On Friday, a meeting of representatives of local security forces was held in Stavropol with the participation of the regional governor Alexander Gaevsky and the presidential envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District Alexander Khloponin. The main news of the meeting was the words of the presidential envoy that the police who did not ensure security during the concert were brought to criminal liability. “As of today, criminal cases have been initiated against the relevant people who were responsible for ensuring security based on facts of negligence. Very serious conclusions will be drawn specifically in relation to the services that showed negligence in organizing and conducting this event,” the plenipotentiary said. Mr. Khloponin also commented on the progress of the investigation into the terrorist attack itself: “There are real versions, suspects. There is confidence that the terrorist attack will be solved in the near future. A strong, professional team is involved in the investigation. The task set by President Dmitry Medvedev is quite tough.”
In addition, the plenipotentiary said that the meeting discussed issues of general safety for residents in the North Caucasus Federal District. “There is a clear plan to ensure it. Issues of combating corruption in the district were also considered. The territory of the district must be the territory of the law,” he said and appealed to government officials with a request to conduct “an active dialogue with the population.” The plenipotentiary also asked journalists to take a balanced approach to covering events in the region and “not to intimidate people with comments.” "There's a big difference between vigilance and intimidation," he said.
On Saturday, information about the initiation of a criminal case against Stavropol police officers was confirmed by the SKP. The investigation is being conducted under the article “negligence resulting by negligence in the death of two or more persons,” which provides for up to seven years in prison. “The investigation established that on May 26, 2010, responsible officials of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate improperly conducted a survey of the territory near the Palace of Culture and Sports of the city of Stavropol without using the full range of measures and technical means, which did not allow timely detection of the explosive device,” reported the Investigative Committee of the Stavropol Territory .
According to official data, there are no specific suspects in the terrorist attack. “According to one of the five versions, several people are being checked for involvement in the terrorist attack. If confirmed, they may become suspects in this case,” said Ekaterina Danilova, a representative of the Stavropol SKP, on Friday, without explaining which version we are talking about.
On the same day, a source in the security forces of Ingushetia reported that two residents of Ingushetia were detained in the republic on Thursday, possibly involved in the terrorist attack, one of whom is a traffic police officer. This information was almost immediately denied by the Ingush FSB. On Sunday, the situation largely repeated itself - an anonymous source in the law enforcement agencies of the North Caucasian Federal District reported the detention of six suspects in Ingushetia. As the source stated, according to the investigation, among those detained are both the organizer and the perpetrators of the crime. According to him, the detainees, including three men and three women, are members of the gang underground. Around the same time, an anonymous source, this time in the security forces of the Stavropol region, reported that not six people, but three, were detained in connection with the terrorist attack. “Currently, three local residents who were involved in the terrorist attack in Stavropol have been detained in Ingushetia. The person who planted the device at the entrance to the Stavropol concert hall has also been identified; she is a resident of Ingushetia and is currently wanted,” the source said.
At the official level, these data were decisively refuted. “The information about the detention of six suspects in this case has not been confirmed, as well as the information about two people detained in the republic, which took place two days ago,” said the press secretary of the President of Ingushetia, Kaloy Akhilgov, yesterday. “We do not confirm the disseminated information,” the FSB Directorate of Ingushetia said yesterday. “There are no detainees involved in the terrorist attack in Stavropol in Ingushetia. Someone really wants to find an “Ingush trace” in this terrorist attack,” the republic’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said in turn.
Meanwhile, the situation in the North Caucasus continues to remain tense. In Dagestan on Saturday, another terrorist attack was committed against police officers. According to the SKP, the explosive device went off at 8.45 at the entrance to the city of Kaspiysk next to the building of an inactive stationary traffic police post. The bomb was planted a meter from a parked police car VAZ-2107. As a result of the explosion, one police officer received shrapnel wounds and died in the hospital, the second was shell-shocked. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan, the explosive device was planted in the bushes on the side of the road on Lenin Street and went off as the traffic police squad passed by.
Another terrorist attack planned for Saturday in Kaspiysk was prevented. An improvised explosive device was discovered on Saturday morning under a BMW car belonging to a city police officer. The bomb was discovered by the car owner himself, who approached the car and showed increased vigilance, most likely in connection with the morning terrorist attack in the city. Local explosives experts managed to neutralize the explosive device. “The attackers placed an aluminum pan filled with a mixture of aluminum powder and ammonium nitrate under the front wheel of the car. The pressure fuse was located under the front wheel of the vehicle. The bomb's power is estimated at 3 kg of TNT. The mine was neutralized using a hydrodynamic destroyer,” the press service of the FSB Directorate of Dagestan reported. The representative of the department emphasized that Sovetskaya Street, where the car was parked in the courtyard of a residential building, is one of the busiest in the city, especially taking into account the weekend. “We can talk about a prevented large-scale terrorist attack,” the FSB noted.