Terror plot thwarted, say Russians

The Observer ^ | June 08 2003 | Nick Paton Walsh

[knighthawk]

A major terror attack on the city of St Petersburg during its tricentennial celebrations was thwarted last weekend, according to Russian security sources.

A plot to drive trucks laden with explosives into the city where dozens of world leaders and thousands of civilians were attending the festivities, was planned by 'Islamic fundamentalists' said one senior official who confirmed the threat was 'serious'.

He added the perpetrators had been identified, but were still at large. He declined to provide further detail for risk of disclosing 'operational data'.

Security was so tight at the summit - one of the largest gatherings ever of world leaders in one place - that roads, buildings and airports were closed around the city. The festivities were attended by 55 heads of state, prior to the G8 summit in Evian.

The security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, referred to the seizure in mid-May of two large Kamaz lorries filled with explosives in northern Ossetia, a region of southern Russia that borders the separatist war-torn republic of Chechnya. The trucks, considered too dangerous to be moved when they were intercepted, were detonated by Russian explosive experts.

'There were about 500kgs of explosive on board,' said the security source. He would not confirm the seizure was directly linked to the threat against the summit, insisting the plot was 'stopped at an early stage'.

Chechen Islamist rebels have used 'truck bombs', driven by suicide bombers, to devastating effect twice in the past six months. A pair of vehicles, laden with explosives, levelled the Moscow-backed Chechen administration building in December, killing more than 46 people, after a Kamaz truck rammed the compound's checkpoints.

Last month, another truck bomb killed 59 in an attack on a local branch of the Federal Security Service, the FSB, in the northern Chechen village of Znamenskoye. A similar incident in St Petersburg would have humiliated Putin.

The most recent plot was not thought to have been specifically aimed at the world leaders - including George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schröder.

[knighthawk]

Ping

[gcruse]

We should be thankful for the Chechens,
for without them, Russia would come down
on the side of Old Europe in all their dealings
with us.

[RussianConservative]

Not likely, Russia and America long term allies, even when Britian and America enemies.

[gcruse]

I sorta meant that as tongue in cheek. I still think, though, that Russia cannot easily accept the idea of a unipolar world and will align with Germany and France against the US. This will fail, ultimately, but would you agree that Russia values getting into the European economy more than close ties to the US?