Underground World: Palatial Platforms on Moscow Metro
BBC: The Moscow Metro is used by millions of Russian commuters every day - but is often described as an underground art museum.
Steve Rosenberg looks at some of the ornate stations, meets the people who keep the network running smoothly, and reveals some of the more unusual practices that go on underground. Watch BBC video » | Tuesday, April 02, 2013
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
After Attacks in Russia, Fears of Xenophobia
Lilya Paizulayeva, a Chechen in Moscow, worries about profiling and said, “This whole week I have felt like a stranger in this city.” Photo: The New York Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES: MOSCOW — Lilya Paizulayeva descended into the subway anxiously, trying to keep her distance from the crowds and the newly deployed and heavily armed police officers. She cringed at the train’s loud metallic shriek, pressing herself to the wall.
She was not scared of suicide bombers — she feared being taken for one herself.
With her jet-black hair and large dark eyes, Ms. Paizulayeva, a 26-year-old native of Chechnya, looks very much the daughter of Russia’s fiery North Caucasus region, from where, investigators say, two young women traveled to Moscow to blow themselves up last week in the rush-hour throngs, killing at least 40 people.
While for many the attacks are an unsettling reminder of the female suicide bombers who have terrorized this city for years, women from the Caucasus, particularly from Chechnya, say they worry about the return of the arbitrary arrests, xenophobic attacks and open hostility that many experienced after similar terrorist attacks in the past.
“Psychologically, I feel a kind of alarm inside,” said Ms. Paizulayeva, who was born in Chechnya’s capital, Grozny, and fled to Moscow in 1995 with her family when the war there started. “Though I’m dressed like a local, I think that perhaps someone could attack me in the metro,” she said. “This whole week I have felt like a stranger in this city.”
Though Russian citizens, Chechens and others from the North Caucasus are often seen as foreigners in Russia, especially here in the capital, and are frequently associated with immigrants from the countries of Central Asia that were former Soviet republics. More than 1,000 miles from Moscow, Chechnya has its own language, religion and customs, as well as a history of violent separatism that many in the rest of the country find alien in the best of times and threatening in the worst.
There have already been several reports of revenge attacks against people from the Caucasus in the wake of the bombings. Last week a brawl broke out on a subway train when a group of passengers insisted on inspecting the bags of several people who appeared to be from the Caucasus, according to the Sova Center, an organization that tracks xenophobic violence.
Attacks against people with darker skin and hair typical of those from the Caucasus are not uncommon in Russia. >>> Michael Schwirtz | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A Chechen terrorist who is Russia’s most wanted man has claimed responsibility for the Moscow metro bombings on Monday and promised to bring all out war to Russia’s streets.
Chechen-born Islamist extremist Doku Umarov. Photograph: The Telegraph
In a chilling video posted on an internet website considered to be a mouthpiece for Russia-based radical Islamists, Doku Umarov, a Chechen-born Islamist extremist, said he had ordered the attack on Moscow in revenge for an alleged massacre of civilians perpetrated by Russian special forces in February.
The alleged massacre occurred on the border between the southern Russian republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia and saw up to twenty-two people killed.
The authorities said it was a counter-terrorism operation and that the victims were Islamist militants but human rights groups claimed the victims were innocent civilians picking garlic in the forest.
“Therefore the war is coming to your streets and you will feel it on your own lives and on your own skins,” Doku Umarov told ordinary Russians in the video broadcast.
You will no longer ”serenely watch the war in the Caucasus unfolding on your TV screens, serenely watching and not reacting to the excesses and crimes of your gangs which are sent to the Caucasus under Putin’s leadership,” he added. >>> Andrew Osborn in Moscow | Wednesday, March 31, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Moscow began an official day of mourning this morning as another victim of yesterday's Metro bombings died from her wounds, taking the death toll to 39.
Flags few at half mast on government buildings and at the Kremlin, while the main television channels dropped entertainment programmes and advertising from their schedules.
Five people remain in critical condition in hospital after two suspected women suicide bombers detonated bombs packed with bolts and pieces of metal on two subway stations during the peak rush hour yesterday morning.
Commuters left flowers and lit candles in memory of the victims of the attacks at Lubyanka Metro station, where at least 23 people died, and the Park Kultury station, where a second explosion left at least 12 people dead.
The explosions have been blamed on suspected Islamic militants from the Northern Caucasus region, where several prominent separatist leaders have been killed recently by Russian security forces. The bombers may have been so-called Black Widows, Chechen women who have lost family members in the civil war. >>> Times Online | Tuesday, March 30, 2010
A firefighter and Interior Ministry officers work near the entrance of the Lubyanka metro station in Moscow. Photograph: The Wall Street Journal
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: MOSCOW—Two bombs ripped through Moscow's subway system Monday, killing at least 34 people on their way to work. Officials said two female suicide bombers may have been responsible.
The first explosion occurred at about 7:52 a.m. local time (11:52 p.m. ET), killing at least 19 people at the Lyubyanka metro station, not far from the Kremlin, Moscow chief prosecutor Yuriy Syomin told reporters at the scene. About 11 were wounded.
"One could presume that the explosives were strapped to someone's body," Mr. Syomin said.
Half an hour later, some 15 people were killed by a blast at the Park Kultury station, on the same metro line, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov told reporters. "The blasts were caused by two suicide female terrorists," he said.
Both bombs exploded when the doors to the metro carriage were open, injuring passengers inside the train cars and on the platforms deep underground in the world's busiest subway system, according to officials.
A female suspect with dark hair and a black dress was seen on surveillance video, said Vladimir Markin, an investigator for the prosecutors office. >>> Richard Boudreaux, Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and William Mauldin | Monday, March 29, 2010
—Ira Iosebashvili contributed to this article
Moscow Metro Blasts: Female Suicide Bombers Kill 35
THE TELEGRAPH: Two female suicide bombers known as “black widows” blew themselves up in Moscow’s busy metro during morning rush hour killing at least 35 people, according to the Russian authorities.
A further 40 people were reported badly wounded.
Though no group has so far claimed responsibility for the atrocity, security sources said early indications suggested that the suicide bombers were from the volatile North Caucasus region that includes Chechnya.
If that is right, it would be the first time since 2004 that Islamist extremists have struck the Moscow metro, raising the terrifying spectre of a new bombing campaign aimed at Russia’s biggest cities.
Prosecutors opened a criminal case immediately, saying they would be working on the basis that the explosions were the work of terrorists.
The bombers struck two separate metro stations in central Moscow – Lubyanka and Park Kultyry - in a carefully coordinated attack.
At least 22 people were reported dead at the Lubyanka metro station, which is situated close to the headquarters of the FSB security service, the successor agency to the KGB.
Witnesses said an explosion tore through one of the carriages as the train was coming into the station killing commuters onboard as well as people standing on the platform. Dozens were reported wounded.
One witness, a policeman, said the bomb went off as the train’s doors opened and people poured out. Officials said the suicide bombers were wearing belts around their bodies packed with explosives. There were unconfirmed reports that they had set off the bombs using their mobile phones.
A second explosion at the busy Park Kultyry metro station located close to Moscow’s famous Gorky Park followed about forty minutes later. >>> Andrew Osborn, in Moscow | Monday, March 29, 2010
LE FIGARO: Selon les autorités russes, deux femmes ont actionné des bombes dans deux stations différentes, tuant au moins 36 personnes.
Le métro était bondé, ce lundi matin, dans la capitale russe. Alors que les Moscovites se rendaient au travail, deux violentes explosions ont causé la mort de plusieurs dizaines de personnes. La première déflagration a eu lieu à 7h50 (5h50 en France) à la station Loubianka, au centre de la capitale russe et à quelques encablures du siège principal du Service fédéral de sécurité (FSB, ex-KGB). La violente explosion s'est déclenchée à proximité du second wagon du train et a tué au moins 24 personnes, à la fois sur le quai et dans la rame de métro, et plusieurs dizaines de blessés.
Environ 50 minutes plus tard, vers 8h40 (6h40 en France), une seconde explosion à la station Park Kultury a fait 12 morts et 15 blessés, selon les forces de l'ordre. >>> Par lefigaro.fr | Lundi 29 Mars 2010
Zwei Explosionen erschüttern Moskauer U-Bahn: Selbstmordattentäterinnen sprengen sich in die Luft – Dutzende von Toten
NZZ ONLINE: Terror in der Moskauer Metro: Mitten im Berufsverkehr haben sich am Montagmorgen Selbstmordattentäterinnen in zwei Zügen der Moskauer U-Bahn in die Luft gesprengt und mindestens 35 Menschen mit in den Tod gerissen. Mehr als 70 Fahrgäste wurden verletzt.
Wie der russische Inlandsgeheimdienst FSB mitteilte, zündeten die Frauen ihre Sprengsätze an den Stationen Lubjanka, wo auch die Geheimdienst-Zentrale liegt, und Park Kultury im Zentrum der russischen Hauptstadt. Hunderte Rettungskräfte waren im Einsatz.
Zuletzt hatten islamistische Terroristen aus der Konfliktregion im Nordkaukasus immer wieder damit gedroht, im ganzen Land Anschläge zu verüben. Nach Angaben von Ermittlern tragen die Anschläge auf die Metro die Handschrift der Islamisten.
Die Sprengstoffanschläge mit einer Wucht von 3 beziehungsweise 1,5 Kilogramm TNT erfolgten im Abstand von weniger als einer Stunde: der erste um 7.56 Uhr Ortszeit (5.56 Uhr MESZ), der zweite 44 Minuten später. Täter möglicherweise aus dem Nordkaukasus >>> (sda/reuters/ddp)/ii. | Montag, 29. März 2010
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Iran: Tehran Metro 2009
Thursday, July 05, 2007
"Rien n'indique qu'il s'agisse d'une attaque terroriste”
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Une rame du métro de Londres a déraillé jeudi matin à l'heure de pointe, faisant une vingtaine de blessés légers, a annoncé la police britannique qui a écarté à ce stade une piste terroriste.
"Rien n'indique qu'il s'agisse d'une attaque terroriste", a affirmé un porte-parole de la police, qui parle d'un "incident relativement mineur".
"L'obstruction d'une voie" pourrait être à l'origine de ce déraillement, a pour sa part indiqué un porte-parole de la compagnie gestionnaire du métro londonien, Transport for London (TFL).
Les alertes à la bombe dans les transports se sont multipliées en Grande-Bretagne, placée pendant plusieurs jours en alerte terroriste maximale après les attentats de Londres et Glasgow vendredi et samedi dernier. L'alerte a été abaissée du niveau "critique" (attentat jugé imminent) au niveau "grave" (attentat probable") mercredi, après l'arrestation de huit suspects. Londres: une rame de métro déraille faisant une vingtaine de blessés (suivant)
