- The Kremlin faced growing accusations of a cover-up yesterday
as Russian officials announced that the black boxes of two crashed passenger
jets had failed to yield evidence of a terrorist attack.
-
- The two aircraft blew up and crashed within minutes of
each other after take-off on Tuesday night, killing all 89 crew and passengers.
-
- Russia's free media speculated that the security services
were deliberately playing down suspicions of terrorism in an attempt to
spare the Kremlin the embarrassment of admitting to serious lapses in security.
-
- Despite earlier statements that suggested the black boxes
were in good condition, officials said yesterday that they were damaged
and would require lengthy analysis that may not yield results.
-
- The FSB, the Russian security service, said on Wednesday
- when the investigation was only a few hours old - that there was no evidence
of terrorism. Critics say the announcement was hasty and politically motivated.
-
- An explosives expert working at one of the crash sites
was quoted in the liberal daily Kommersant as saying: "Our guys had
not even got down to work when they heard on the radio that no evidence
of a terrorist act had been found."
-
- State-run television officials are reported to have told
colleagues that instructions had been relayed from above that the word
terrorism was to be avoided in broadcasts.
-
- However, most independent experts concluded that a terrorist
attack was the only feasible explanation for the crashes.
-
- The leading theory put forward by explosives experts
was that a member of ground staff attached timed bombs to the tail sections
of the aircraft, possibly by magnets, shortly before take-off from Domodedovo
airport, Moscow.
-
- Another possibility was that baggage containing explosive
devices was loaded on to the planes by ground staff.
-
- Several daily newspapers quoted FSB sources as saying
they were now working on the assumption that terrorists were responsible,
despite the vague official statements.
-
- An FSB source told Russki Courier: "Our main task
now is not to find out who did it but how explosives could have got on
board."
-
- Chechen separatist rebels have long vowed to disrupt
an election due to be held this Sunday to replace President Akhmad Kadyrov,
the pro-Moscow leader assassinated in May.
-
- According to Kommersant, sources in the FSB said playing
down the possibility of terrorism "was just a game of words"
and the Kremlin would come clean after the election.
-
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