RUSSIA/FILE: Muscovites mourn metro bomb victims one year on

Record ID: 357153

  • Title: RUSSIA/FILE: Muscovites mourn metro bomb victims one year on
  • Date: 30th March 2011
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (MARCH 29, 2011) (REUTERS) LUBYANKA SQUARE IN CITY CENTRE ENTRANCE TO LUBYANKA METRO STATION EXTERIOR SIGN READING "METRO STATION LUBYANKA" YOUNG MAN LAYING FLOWERS AT MEMORIAL SITE INSIDE METRO FLOWERS, LIT CANDLE LIT CANDLE ON FLOOR YOUNG WOMEN LAYING FLOWERS FLOWERS ON TABLE PEOPLE WATCHING (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) MUSCOVITE YELENA, SAYING: "I don
  • Embargoed: 14th April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVAC6YJVNOKFUXI92B54YT7AQWEK
  • Story Text: From early morning on Tuesday (March 29) Muscovites have been bringing flowers to a memorial site at the Moscow Lubyanka metro station to commemorate victims of double bomb attack which killed 40 people and injured dozens one year ago.
    One year on many Muscovites said they still didn't feel safe even in the capital of Russia where security has been tightened.
    "I don't feel safe in the centre of Moscow. I don't' feel that my relatives are in safety in general, because the terror attacks happen and nobody stops them. They happen not only in Moscow but across the country as well," said a Muscovite Yelena at the Lubyanka metro station, one of the last year's bomb attack sites.
    Other Muscovite believe the authorities are undertaking efficient measures to prevent further bomb attacks in the city.
    Alexander Romanov survived last year blast at Lubyanka. He said the attacks were scary but he felt the government has done a lot since than to can protect the people.
    "I think it has become safer because some efforts have been made [to secure safety]. It's obvious that active efforts are being made to prevent such tragedies," Alexander said after laying flowers at Lubyanka metro station memorial site .
    However fears of a new bombing campaign against the Russian heartland increased after the January 24 suicide bombing at Moscow's Domodedovo airport bomb attack.
    A poll conducted last month by a state-run pollster showed that 80 percent of Russians were afraid that they or a member of their family could become victims of "terrorist attacks", up from 61 percent two years ago.
    "I have a grandson, and I worry about him, about my daughter, my husband. I worry about everyone, not only about my relatives, but about everybody. I feel sorry for all of them [victims]," said Muscovite Valentina Lisina who also survived the bomb attack at Lubyanka last year.
    Fourty people were killed in two consecutive suicide attacks in Moscow metro on March 29, 2010.
    The first bomb tore through a packed Moscow metro train just before 8 a.m. as it stooped at the Lubyanka station, close to the headquarters of the FSB. It killed at least 23 people.
    The second bomb was detonated less than 40 minutes later in a train waiting at the Park Kultury metro station, killing at least 12 people.
    More than 70 people were taken to hospital after the two attacks.
    Russia's FSB security service blamed militant groups linked to the North Caucasus for the attacks. Islamist Chechen rebels claimed responsibility and had threatened further attacks against the Russian cities.
    A decade after federal forces drove separatists out of power in the second war in Chechnya, the Kremlin is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency throughout the North Caucasus, where militants want to create a separate Islamic state.
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