Ha'aretz - 04.22.2003

 

 

 

 

Police seek motive behind bomb near Moscow synagogue

By Yossi Melman, Ha'aretz Correspondent 

Russia's FSB security service is trying to establish the possible motives behind a bomb planted close to a Moscow synagogue, late Sunday night. The device, discovered by a resident of a nearby building while walking his dog, was neutralized by police sappers. 

The man reportedly saw a cable and smoking fuse close to a parked car, just a few meters away from the Polyakov Synagogue, the third largest synagogue in Moscow. Witnesses reported seeing a skinhead teenager who apparently planted the device. It took police sappers several hours to dismantle the bomb. 

Police are looking into two possible avenues of investigation: one is that the device was planted as an act of revenge or as a warning, whose motives were criminal or business-related. Indeed, police told the Associated Press yesterday that the device was likely aimed to scare a local resident. 

"The device had a fuse and contained saltpeter, aluminum powder and picric acid but lacked a detonator," said Yevgeny Gildiyev, a spokesman for the Moscow police. "It could be set on fire, but couldn't explode." 

The other option is that the device was meant to cause damage to the Chabad-run synagogue. Israel's ambassador to Moscow, Alec Milman, who this week presented his letters of credence to President Vladimir Putin, told the Russian media yesterday that he was certain the police and security forces would find those responsible for the act. 

Sources in Israel are also uncertain about whether the bomb was actually aimed at the synagogue, or its placement was just coincidence. 

Rabbi Berel Lazar, the leader of Russia's Lubavitch Orthodox Jewish community, however, described the incident as an "act of intimidation." 

"The incident threatens and intimidates both Moscow's Jewish community and society at large," Lazar said, according to the Interfax news agency. "It's an attempt to damage the atmosphere of tranquillity, confidence and safety that has taken shape over recent years." 

"They would like to kill us," Isaak Kogan, the synagogue's rabbi, said on Russia's NTV network. 

The Russian Jewish Congress called the incident a "terrorist attack." In a statement, the group urged "Russian society to rebuff all manifestations of extremism and terrorism." 

Extremist groups in Russia have frequently targeted synagogues with small-scale bombings and other attacks and desecrated Jewish cemeteries.

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Ha'aretz/AP - 04.21.2003

Police find mock bomb near Moscow synagogue

By The Associated Press and Ha'aretz Service

MOSCOW - Russian police said Monday that a mock bomb placed next to a Moscow synagogue was likely aimed to scare a local resident, but leaders of the Jewish community called the incident an act of intimidation. 

A local resident tipped off police late Sunday about a suspicious object resembling a bomb that was placed near his car, which was parked next to the Polyakov Synagogue in central Moscow. After sniffer dogs detected explosives, police evacuated residents of a nearby building and sappers destroyed the object with a water cannon. 

"The device had a fuse and contained saltpeter, aluminum powder and picric acid but lacked a detonator," said Yevgeny Gildiyev, a spokesman for the Moscow police. "It could be set on fire, but couldn't explode." 

He said the fake bomb was likely intended to scare the car owner, a businessman who had received threats before. 

"We believe this incident had no relation to the synagogue," Gildiyev said in a telephone interview. 

However, Rabbi Berel Lazar, the leader of Russia's Lubavitch Orthodox Jewish community, described the incident as an "act of intimidation." 

"The incident threatens and intimidates both Moscow's Jewish community and society at large," Lazar said, according to the Interfax news agency. "It's an attempt to damage the atmosphere of tranquility, confidence and safety that has taken shape over recent years." 

"They would like to kill us," Isaak Kogan, the synagogue's rabbi, said on Russia's NTV television. 

There is no official anti-Semitism in today's Russia, but extremist groups have frequently targeted synagogues with small-scale bombings and other attacks and desecrated Jewish cemeteries. Russian nationalists also publish virulently anti-Semitic newspapers that are available on the streets of many cities. 

Moscow authorities stepped up security Sunday in the capital, fearing extremists would carry out attacks on the day of Adolph Hitler's birthday, Israel Radio reported Monday. 

A bomb was found in the synagogue two years ago, but it did not explode, the radio said.