Several heavily armed people entered a concert hall in Moscow on Friday evening and opened fire, killing at least 115 people and injuring over 100. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the crime.
It is not the first time that Russia has been the target of Islamist attacks. Resistance to Moscow has been simmering in the Muslim-dominated Caucasus region for decades. A series of attacks over 30 years ago had a significant impact on recent Russian history.
1999: Explosions in apartment blocks
In the turbulent final phase of Boris Yeltsin’s term as Russia’s first president after the collapse of the Soviet Union, there were several explosions in residential buildings in Moscow and the city of Volgodonsk in September 1999, in which several hundred people died. The Kremlin always named Chechen separatists as the perpetrators.
To this day, however, there are rumors that the Russian secret service FSB was behind the attacks. One thing is clear: Vladimir Putin was elected Yeltsin’s successor shortly afterwards and Moscow intensified its bloody intervention in Chechnya.
2002: Hostage taking in theater in Moscow
Several dozen armed people took several hundred people hostage during a performance at the Dubrovka Theater in Moscow. They demanded an end to the Russian occupation in Chechnya. The negotiations lasted three days.
The police finally sprayed gas into the concert hall to incapacitate the hostage takers. At least 130 people died in the liberation operation – including 41 hostage takers. The operation sparked widespread criticism: many people died from the gas used by the special forces.
2004: Attack on school in Beslan
On the morning of September 1, several terrorists took more than 1,000 people hostage in Middle School No. 1 in the small town in the Ossetia region of the Caucasus. They were held in terrible conditions for 50 hours. The ordeal ended in a bloodbath: 330 people died, including 186 children. 400 people are injured. The security authorities stormed the facility, whereupon the hostage takers set off bombs.
The terrorists came from the neighboring republics of Ingushetia and Chechnya. But to this day it is unclear what exactly they wanted. Officially it was said that the terrorists had not set any conditions. But this is denied by those people who were in contact with the hostage takers.
Series of attacks in Russia 1999 – 2004
