Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov claims responsibility for Moscow airport attack

Umarov donned combat fatigues and a black skullcap in the video, which was dated the day of the airport bombing. The video was posted online by the Kavkaz Center, which is affiliated with Chechen rebels and also posted the previous video over the weekend. In it, the Chechen told Russians to expect a “year of blood and tears.” He threatened monthly, or possibly weekly, suicide bombings if the Russian government does not change its position on the Caucasus.

"For Doku Umarov, it's clearly important to be seen as a leading figure in the global jihad, someone who can threaten the Kremlin,” Andrei Soldatov, editor of the security news site Agentura.ru, told the Monitor yesterday. “He seems determined to proceed, to keep sending people to strike Moscow.”

The Russian government has taken steps to show resolve against Chechen terrorists after last month’s bombing. The Voice of Russia reports that several Federal Security Service officers along with members of the Foreign Ministry and Federal Agency for Transport Supervision have been fired in the wake of the airport attack.

Top security and transport officials testified before Russia's lower house of parliament on Tuesday about their investigations into last month’s bombing. The House Speaker Boris Gryzlov told the Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti that reports provided by the officials would “help the lawmakers to decide how the legislation should be changed to ensure security of Russian citizens, including on transport.”

Also on Tuesday, Russian news agency Interfax reported that a branch of Umarov’s Caucasus Emirate was “crushed” in the Russian Republic of Bashkortostan.

Police discovered components for making a high-yield bomb – including “1.5 kilograms of ammonium saltpeter, almost 1 kilogram of indusial explosive hexogen, 2 kilograms of metal fragments, and about half a kilogram of aluminum powder” – in the home of the terrorist branch’s leader, the republic’s Interior Ministry told Interfax. Authorities have detained four people they believe are affiliated with the group, which the ministry said plans attacks “in order to upset stability in the region.”

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