The Little Bang Theory

On the morning of 16 September 1999, in Volgodonsk (Rostov region), an explosion occurred – a truck loaded with hexogen detonated near a nine-storey apartment building, resulting in the deaths of 19 people and leaving around a hundred injured.

As we know, the timeline of our Universe begins with the Big Bang. The timeline of Vladimir Putin, who, with the continued indulgence of Western democracies, still has every chance of becoming the bloodiest dictator of the 21st century, also begins with a bang, but a smaller one. More precisely, with a series of explosions, through which a nondescript, insecure short man from the FSB started building his police state, which later descended into overt fascism and religious obscurantism.

The explosion in Volgodonsk was the third in a series of "September bombings" in 1999, marking the start of numerous bloody terrorist attacks that occurred in Russia during the dictatorship of Putin. At that time, in 1999, the "Kremlin moth" (as Putin was informally called) had not yet even become president – formally, this position was still held by the aged Boris Yeltsin, who was drinking himself to death and too terrified of the strengthening FSB bloc to consider the consequences of his decisions. By that time, Putin, under guarantees of immunity for Yeltsin's "family," had already been appointed as acting head of the country, and no one doubted his victory. From today's perspective, it is amusing to read the naive predictions of Russian liberal journalists of that time, who claimed that "reasonable, negotiable people" had finally come to power in Russia, with whom it would be easy to interact and who would "bring order to the democratic chaos." This short-sightedness can only be explained by the subconscious paternalistic dreams of liberal Russia about the return of the "strong hand," always symbolised by the figure of the "leader of the people," Joseph Stalin.

The series of terrorist attacks that marked the "era of Putinism" occurred in three Russian cities – Buynaksk, Moscow, and Volgodonsk. They all followed the same script and bore the same hallmarks, behind which the FSB’s hand was evident. 

These attacks, which claimed the lives of 307 people and injured about 2,000, became the foundation of the power structure of the new Kremlin rulers. After them, the gradual and inexorable curtailing of democratic freedoms and the transition to a police regime regulating social life began.

They also served as a moral preparation for public opinion for the new wars of the century, the first of which was the Second Chechen War, which finally crushed the last sprouts of democracy in the Republic of Ichkeria and brought to power Putin's "pocket dictator" and attack dog, Ramzan Kadyrov.

There were supposed to be four bombings, but the last one, due to a lack of coordination among local security forces, failed. The sacks of hexogen, later dubbed "Ryazan sugar," which FSB agents tried to plant in a residential building in Ryazan, were accidentally discovered by local police officers. The case, of course, was hushed up, but another sacrifice to Putin was avoided.

However, even minor failures in executing their misanthropic plans did not prevent Putin and his subordinates from continuing to collect the bloody tribute for the regime. The next high-profile terrorist attack was the hostage-taking at the Dubrovka theatre in 2002. Forty Chechen militants took over the theatre building, which held about 900 spectators attending the Russian musical "Nord-Ost." The militants, led by Movsar Barayev, demanded negotiations, but by then Putin had already formulated his response to terrorist attacks – "we will whack them in the outhouse," which, translated from FSB jargon into human language, meant "no negotiations with terrorists." During the assault, the Chechen militants were shot, but the poisoned gas that was released into the building before the assault began led to the deaths of 174 hostages (according to one version from human rights activists, the real data is still classified).

In 2004, explosions occurred on two Russian civilian planes with a one-minute interval. The planes were flying from Moscow to Volgograd and Moscow to Sochi. Female suicide bombers were on board, and responsibility for the attacks was claimed by Chechen field commander Shamil Basayev.

The seizure of 1,100 hostages at a school in Beslan in 2004 ended in the same tragedy as "Nord-Ost" – according to official reports, 334 people died during the storming, mostly children. The members of the Riyadus Salikhin group, involved in the hostage-taking, demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya and the recognition of the Republic of Ichkeria's independence. Undoubtedly, the methods chosen for political struggle were horrific, but it must be remembered that there would have been no Dubrovka attack, no plane bombings, and no Beslan tragedy if Russia had not continued to suppress national movements in the republics that did not want to be part of Putin's FSB empire. Beslan finally cemented the power of the security bloc in Russia, significantly restricting the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens and strengthening the powers of dictator Putin.

In 2009, the Nevsky Express was bombed, but this attack was merely "preventive," as by the late 2010s, the Russian state had fully transitioned to dictatorship. A short and bloody war had already taken place in Georgia, and less than five years remained before the start of the "hybrid war" in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea.

The last high-profile terrorist attack, which occurred after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, took place at the Crocus City Hall concert venue on 22 March 2024. Before the concert of the pro-Putin rock band "Piknik," unidentified terrorists opened fire on the audience and then set the building on fire. This attack took place despite numerous warnings from Western intelligence agencies that a terrorist act was being planned in Moscow and that citizens should avoid attending mass events. According to representatives of Ukrainian intelligence, the attack was a provocation planned by Russian security services under Putin's orders, with the goal of finding a "Ukrainian trace" and justifying even harsher strikes against Ukraine and escalating the military conflict. Whether Putin succeeded in this is difficult to say, as the spineless Russian society was already indulging the genocidal war waged by their intoxicated president. However, based on numerous photo reports from Z-soldiers, missiles and bombs used to attack Ukraine were long inscribed with the words "for Crocus City Hall."

Is dictator Putin preparing new disasters and tragedies for his silent and obedient people? The question is rhetorical. He undoubtedly is. And as long as the Russian tyrant remains in power, no one can consider themselves safe or naively believe that holding a Russian passport will protect them from the bombs, explosives, and bullets of their own security services. Putin has mastered the "The Little Bang Theory" far too well to stop using it in practice until someone puts an end to it.