President Yeltsin focused his ire on Chechnya, ordering its borders completely sealed off and vowing to crush the terrorist threat Moscow claims it represents; Chechnya's political leaders and even its Islamic separatist warlords have denied involvement in the bombings. Putting the squeeze on Chechnya risks restarting the inconclusive 1994-96 war between Moscow and the breakaway republic in which tens of thousands of people were killed. And rumors continue to swirl around the capital that the bombing campaign will be the pretext for everything from a state of emergency in which Yeltsin cancels elections to an early Yeltsin resignation followed by snap presidential elections in which his securocrat prime minister rides to victory on a wave of fear. The government's inability to prevent bombs from going off all over the place has not only left Russians vulnerable to conspiracy theories, it's also drowned out the more prosaic concerns of corruption and economic mismanagement in the nation's political debate.
Another Russian Bomb Highlights Nation's Woes
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The bombers' message to Russians is simple: Your government is unable to protect you. Despite the massive security clampdown following two mass-killer bombs, the third apartment bombing within a week killed 13 people and injured 115 early Thursday. The latest attack came in the southern city of Volgodonsk, near the breakaway republic of Chechnya, reinforcing the Kremlin's charge that the Moscow blasts have been the work of the region's Islamic separatist guerrilla movement. But more embarrassing for the authorities was the fact that the very building destroyed in the attack had been subjected to an extensive security search as part of the nation's clampdown on terrorism only this time, rather than place the explosives inside the building, the attackers simply used a truck bomb.