UPDATE 11-Two Russian Planes Crash, Attack Feared

Reuters ^ | Wed Aug 25, 2004 03:44 AM ET August 25, 2004 03:44 EST | Oliver Bullough

[mondoman]

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Two Russian passenger planes crashed almost simultaneously late on Tuesday killing all 90 on board, and security officials said they were investigating a possible terrorist attack.

The planes disappeared from air traffic controllers' radar screens within minutes of each other and one, carrying 46 passengers and crew, sent a hijack alarm before crashing near the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.

President Vladimir Putin ordered the FSB security service to investigate the crashes, which came before Sunday's presidential election in Chechnya where rebel separatists have threatened to disrupt the poll with violence.

"The fact that both planes took off from one airport and disappeared from radars around the same time can show it was a planned action," the Interfax news agency quoted an aviation source as saying.

"In such a situation one could not exclude a terrorist act."

Witnesses on the ground heard an explosion on board the second plane, a Tu-134 carrying 44 passengers and crew, just before it crashed near Tula, 90 miles south of Moscow.

There were no foreigners on board the planes, which both took off from Moscow's Domodedovo airport.

"Around 11 p.m. (1500 EDT), give or take five minutes, there was this strange noise in the sky, then this torn-up book fell onto our garage," a local man told NTV television, holding up the book with its tattered pages.

HIJACK REPORT

News agencies quoted security officials saying they could not rule out a terrorist act, while Rostov prosecutors opened a criminal probe into the crash of the Sibir Airlines Tu-154 en route to the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

"A minute before the plane disappeared from the radar screens the interior ministry received a report from an air traffic controller that there had been an attack on the crew," Interfax quoted an Interior Ministry official as saying.

A Sibir spokesman said: "We are considering an act of terror as one possibility, especially after we received an automatically generated telegram from the Sochi air control center that the plane had been hijacked."

CHECHEN VIOLENCE

The incidents came against a backdrop of mounting violence in Chechnya, where Moscow has been battling separatists for a decade. Rebels launched a major raid in the local capital Grozny last week and have promised more attacks.

Moderate Chechen separatists denied any role in the crashes.

"Our government has nothing to do with terrorist attacks. Our attacks only target the military. This is part of the Russian propaganda plan to besmirch the struggle of the Chechen people," Farouq Tubulat, a spokesman for Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, told Al Jazeera television.

The plane which crashed near Tula, operated by Volga-Aviaexpress, came down after nearly reaching its cruising altitude. The company said the plane was in good shape and its passengers had undergone all necessary security checks.

"I rule out pilot error, because even in the most serious conditions which can affect this kind of plane, such as loss of control or fire, the crew always has time to pass on information to the ground," Yuri Dmitriev, director of Volgograd airport, told Russia's First Channel television.

An Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman said there was no chance of anyone surviving as the plane fell from 30,000 feet. Wreckage was spread over several miles with some pieces about the size of a car, TV footage showed.

Three minutes after the Volga-Aviaexpress Tu-134 crashed, air traffic controllers lost contact with the Sibir Tu-154. Its wreckage was not found until Wednesday morning.

Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu told Russian television that nearly all of the victims' bodies had been found, and flight recorders from both planes had been recovered.

He did not speculate on the causes of the crashes, but said Putin was being fully briefed on the crash investigation.

(Additional reporting by Maria Golovnina in Moscow and Miral Fahmy in Dubai)

[null and void]

Indeed. Banning headscarfs is an effective first step, no?

[Atlantic Friend]

Banning headscarves is a step in the right direction, yes, as long as we're talking integration and not competition.

The way I see it, granting the headscarf recognition will lead to granting special classes for Muslims (because they could be shocked by gym, biology, and even History), which will lead in special powers granted to Muslim clerics, which will lead in the demise of this here Republic.

Should I live under your roof, I'd have to abide to your rules, and that is only fair. Should I begin to say, "heck, I live there, too, so I should have my say about how this house is kept and about which rules to abide", then it'd be high time to explain a few things to me, like how it's going to hurt me when you press the trigger.

[null and void]

YOU get it. I fear too many of your countrymen don't.

Time will tell. It's going to be a rough ride for civilization.

[Atlantic Friend]

Yes, it sure will be. To many people we are living the 1930s all over again. While this might be a sobering prospect, I also think that, if it's true, it has its silver lining.

You know, I read a lot about French politics before WW2. Basically, the country was run by a totally inept group of politicians, and only held together because of the corps of the civil servants maintained the internal structures of the Third Republic. Citizens despised the politicians, who could care less about the shadows stretching all over Europe because they were too busy playing their little games of power.

WW2 was catastrophic for France, economically. The country was occupied, and this means looted by the German war machine. But politically, I always found it was remarkable as how the political elites had been removed from office. A small minority was tainted by the collaboration with the Nazis, and was eliminated.

But even the vast majority of democratic bigwigs got booted out of office, and opened the way for younger, more able and more idealistic leaders. Jean-François Deniau called this the "Munich curse" : every Western politician who took part or supported the Munich agreement was eliminated, and sometimes in a very physical way.

In some horrible way, WW2 opened a moment of moral clarity in History, a moment which has not come to pass, but which has faded in our memories, perhaps. Today, we face the same mortal perils, from a different direction.

I sure hope Western nations will show the world our moral values have the same resilience as in these dark hours.

[null and void]

Good analysis. Thanks.

[Atlantic Friend]

Ah, just my two cents (a truly Western expression now we've swithced to Euro currency) !

[killjoy]

What, the USA went to Iraq to fight Chechens ? Because it's most probably Chechen groups that are behind these attacks...

Most of the Zarquawi (sp?) attacks against US troops are being done by Chechens. This has been proven.

[null and void]

Just 2¢ maybe, but it gives me some cause for hope. I don't get many opportunities for hope these days...

[risk]

I sure hope Western nations will show the world our moral values have the same resilience as in these dark hours.

Bump, AF! I hope you run for higher office one day in France. You could be in a good position to influence us as well as your countrymen and fellow EU "citizens."

[Atlantic Friend]

"I hope you run for higher office one day in France"

Ah-ha, watch out, for you might get what you're asking for ! LOL.

Politics have always interested me, especially international politics, which to me have more to do with moral rectitude, analytical capabilities and common sense than any other field of public activity.

But hey, even if in some grandiose fantasy of mine I presided over this country's destiny, I'm sure of one thing : I'd get blasted 10,000 times a day on this here Forum ! LOL

I'll strike a deal with you : should I get into politics full-time, I'll still lurk around here so I can be flamed and defend my positions.