Lubyanka and Culture Park (metro station bombings).  Do we even remember?

On March 29th, 2010, blasts rang out in the Moscow metro, killing more than 40. Four years later, experts told National News Service (NNS) that these tragic events have been largely forgotten, while those responsible for investigating the terrorist attacks merely pretend to do any work.

Four years have passed since the tragedy in the Moscow metro that killed 41 people. It was during the morning rush on March 29th, 2010, that suicide bombers set off bombs in the Lubyanka and Culture Park stations of the Sokolniki metro line. In addition to 41 dead, more than a hundred were injured, with many remaining disabled for life.

The National Antiterrorism Committee (NAC) named two underage Dagestan natives as the perpetrators. Claiming responsibility for the terrorist attacks was Doku Umarov, leader of the armed Caucasus underground. Some specialists, however, thought this was a PR move on his part, while others called Umarov's statement a fabrication. Throughout 2010, the FSB and Interior Ministry reported several times on the “destruction of the organizers” of the terrorist attacks, though no empirical evidence about the “destroyed ones” having been involved in the metro blasts was ever made public.

On the fourth anniversary of this double terrorist attack, NNS is asking the question: do we even remember Lubyanka and Culture Park?

“Some events make a tragic impression and remain in the memory for a long time,” stated Doctor of Medicine Mikhail Vinogradov, forensic psychiatrist and director of the Center for legal and psychological assistance in emergency situations during an interview with NNS. “The first event that rocked the country was ‘Nord-Ost’. It was written about regularly, and talked about, and remembered. But these are events that are being distorted and erased from the memory on purpose; they are also large-scale events at the national level. Today I was paging through the newspapers, but nowhere is there anything about terrorist attacks and blasts in the Moscow subway (in 2010).”

“There are people who feel part themselves to be of one or another tragedy,” Dr. Vinogradov noted to NNS. “And they feel a moral and psychological responsibility to remember the tragedy. Then there are those who feel no responsibility to preserve it in their memory, and bring it before the hundreds of thousands of people in our country.”

“No memorial plaques appeared after the subway bombings,” noted the expert. “This was the task back then of Gayev (Editor: Dmitriy Gayev was the head of the Moscow metro from 1995-2011), and now of some new director. It’s negligence or a misunderstanding on someone’s part. The press should be keeping tight control of this.”

Relatives of victims of the Moscow metro terrorist attacks approached Igor Trunov, chairman of the presidium of the Moscow Bar Association, in order to challenge the NAC, which was investigating the crimes.  Pressure was put on the plaintiffs, however, and they withdrew their complaints.

“The complaint was that nothing is being done,” said Trunov in an NNS interview. “The number of terrorist attacks has not decreased from year to year, while the structure has increased, government funding is increasing and the state is inflating. During the last stage all the government agencies were involved in the national antiterrorist system, including executive branches at the regional, municipal, and federal levels. We’ve the impression that this is some  ‘inflated monster’ that under the guise of state secrets spends its budget on its own personal goals, since the NAC’s site is never updated, no new information appears, and we don’t see any results about effective activity. Also, the personnel system is absolutely opaque.”

“We tried to get this theme out there, to appeal their actions and omissions so that they would say what they were up to in court,” stated the expert. “Perhaps they’d make us sign a nondisclosure statement, but at least it would be clear whether or not they were doing something. When we went to court, however, after a while all the plaintiffs began calling up, horrified, saying they were getting problems from every which way, and so they had to refuse my services; they needed nothing more from me. Senior law enforcement officials figure in all this. Victims of these bombings have been blocked off from me, so in this situation everything remains in limbo. They wept, buried their dead, and moved on.”

According to the expert, “there is very little information on these two events is. These things happen periodically, and can affect anyone, and so people feel themselves to be in danger. What is needed is a law to protect victims of terrorism, as is done in the civilized world. We have two categories of people who remain unprotected: people disabled in terrorist attacks, and orphans whose parents were killed in such. They require prolonged care, but in our country it’s just a one-time payment. A terrorist attack takes place, people die, the relatives are paid a million rubles, and that’s it. But these million rubles don’t solve anything in the case of a disabled person who needs for the rest of his life medication, bandages, and prostheses. Or a small child — he will need textbooks, and to be taken care of.”

Igor Trunov has repeatedly tried to draw attention to the problem, and even organized a meeting on a proposal to make Parliament amend the law on assistance to victims of terrorist attacks.  About 10 people attended the meeting.

“The population, despite the fact that all are in danger, could care less,” the lawyer stated in the NNS interview. “A person thinks: ‘I didn’t get blown up, well, no biggie’ and ‘somebody over there got blown up, well, also no biggie’. It’s a strange situation, and I just can’t accept it. ‘There’s been a tragedy, so let’s all forget about it, that’s so much easier’.”

“I believe that in order to fix things we can’t remain silent,” concluded the expert. “We have to articulate our failures and shortcomings. I thank you (NNS) for not remaining silent.”

In National News Service

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