Russians have reacted with shock and grief to the tragic terrorist bombing of Moscow’s Domodedovo airport on January 24. Here we present translations of some of the comments left on the website of RFE/RL’s Russian Service and other popular Russian-language websites:
RFE/RL's Russian Service
Artur (Moscow): I am a Chechen and I’d like to express my condolences to the entire Russian nation! But please, sirs, look at the roots of the situation. We are being murdered every day – not 35 a day, but hundreds of children, old people, and women. We cried every day because no one sympathizes with us. Look – all the foreign leaders rushed to sympathize with the Russians and I agree. But why is there no sympathy for us? Are we living on Mars?
Believe me that not all Chechens are terrorists. Among the majority of slain fighters were smart young people with higher educations. They didn’t want to kill people, but they were turned into terrorists. They are avenging their murdered relatives. Please, pay attention to our unhappy nation. Forgive this blasphemy.
Jill (Russian Federation): Artur, it is the custom for you to avenge everything. But this is a terrible sin in the Orthodox religion. Smart, educated Chechens do not become fighters. Let them go into politics and rebuild their wounded homeland. Why are you in Moscow? Why don’t you help your people? Your president is a bandit? Your people are blackmailers? I don’t want to pay attention to what is happening down there. Establish order yourselves. I don’t want to go there or to vacation down there. I don’t trust you. You smile and hide a knife behind your back. I would give Chechnya its independence just to see what that changes. But I am certain it would change nothing. The explosions won’t end and the Chechens won’t leave Moscow. It is all farce and lies.
Fyodor (St. Petersburg): What boorishness and pettiness it is to talk about politics when people are dying!
Truth (Russia): You are right, Fyodor! Read the posts below. They haven’t managed to carry away the bodies and wash away the blood from the airport hall and this forum is full of anti-Russian attacks. And Putin is already (!) accused of starting his election campaign. Isn’t that just what those who arranged this terrorist act want? By the way, the opponents of Radio Liberty are not, before the conclusions of the investigators, blaming anti-Russian foreign organizations for financing a terrorist war against Russia, although that would be more justified.
Unidentified: In Dusseldorf, Cologne, and Berlin there is also no control of access to airports. The point isn’t about control – in crowded places you can always place a bag with explosives using a suicide terrorist. The point is the system and pity for innocent people. The rhetorical question is: Why are there no such events in Switzerland or Norway?
Guest (Soviet Union): Yeltsin destroyed the country. A country where nothing like this could ever happen.
Ekho Moskvy
Samogon: They will murder another passerby in Makhachkala, blame him for organizing the terrorist act, and close the case. The heads of the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service will get medals.
Diatel: It is because our parliament has been turned into a bureaucratic office stamping the laws. Our courts are an appointed structure that works either according to orders or for money. Because we have an executive power that is responsible only to itself and only works on goals that it sets for itself.
SRogov: I think that separating the Muslim countries of the North Caucasus through a referendum would reduce the pressure on Russia, since it would be harder to explain to potential suicide bombers why they are sacrificing their lives in a foreign country. But in Russia now this is much simpler because most likely they find suicide bombers among those whose relatives have been killed by Russian soldiers. In Ukraine and the Baltic states they don’t have explosions.
gazeta.ru
Vasilyelim: The last private airport is being taken from its owners at the cost of the lives of dozens of innocent people. After Medvedev’s statement [holding the private company in charge of airport security responsible] it sure looks that way. In general you can see the readiness of the authorities to talk about this theme. Someone else wrote correctly – they are a band of enemies of the people.
Owod-rus: The president of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, expressed his sympathy “to the entire Russian nation and particularly to the families of the victims.” And is that all? Where is the decisive condemnation of those who are guilty of such acts? Or is the Euro parliament only capable of criticizing “the bloody tyrant” Lukashenka, during whose presidency absolutely nothing has happened that even remotely reminds one of what is happening in Russia right now?
“Komsomolskaya pravda”
Vasily: America is to blame for everything – you can’t doubt that for a second. They arranged explosions in Cuba, sponsored terrorists in Nicaragua (for which they were condemned by the United Nations), supported death squads in Vietnam, El Salvador, Colombia. Then they sponsored the mujahedin in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union and now they are conducting a war in Russia through the Chechens. We don’t need to pressure the Caucasus. We need to act against the imperialism of the Western transnational oligarchs who only value one thing – MONEY.
Vitkus: When we bought our apartment, there were cockroaches there. We sort of passively fought against them, figuring it was no big deal. After all, cockroaches are everywhere, right? But at some point there were suddenly a lot of them. A huge number. One night a whole host of these creature was on my head. A couple crawled into my ears. I needed a doctor to get them out. We poisoned them for a week. It was a hard battle and we used the most powerful weapons. Since then, we have had no cockroaches in our house. Just one cute little moth flutters around…
translations by Robert Coalson
RFE/RL's Russian Service
Artur (Moscow): I am a Chechen and I’d like to express my condolences to the entire Russian nation! But please, sirs, look at the roots of the situation. We are being murdered every day – not 35 a day, but hundreds of children, old people, and women. We cried every day because no one sympathizes with us. Look – all the foreign leaders rushed to sympathize with the Russians and I agree. But why is there no sympathy for us? Are we living on Mars?
Believe me that not all Chechens are terrorists. Among the majority of slain fighters were smart young people with higher educations. They didn’t want to kill people, but they were turned into terrorists. They are avenging their murdered relatives. Please, pay attention to our unhappy nation. Forgive this blasphemy.
Jill (Russian Federation): Artur, it is the custom for you to avenge everything. But this is a terrible sin in the Orthodox religion. Smart, educated Chechens do not become fighters. Let them go into politics and rebuild their wounded homeland. Why are you in Moscow? Why don’t you help your people? Your president is a bandit? Your people are blackmailers? I don’t want to pay attention to what is happening down there. Establish order yourselves. I don’t want to go there or to vacation down there. I don’t trust you. You smile and hide a knife behind your back. I would give Chechnya its independence just to see what that changes. But I am certain it would change nothing. The explosions won’t end and the Chechens won’t leave Moscow. It is all farce and lies.
Fyodor (St. Petersburg): What boorishness and pettiness it is to talk about politics when people are dying!
Truth (Russia): You are right, Fyodor! Read the posts below. They haven’t managed to carry away the bodies and wash away the blood from the airport hall and this forum is full of anti-Russian attacks. And Putin is already (!) accused of starting his election campaign. Isn’t that just what those who arranged this terrorist act want? By the way, the opponents of Radio Liberty are not, before the conclusions of the investigators, blaming anti-Russian foreign organizations for financing a terrorist war against Russia, although that would be more justified.
Unidentified: In Dusseldorf, Cologne, and Berlin there is also no control of access to airports. The point isn’t about control – in crowded places you can always place a bag with explosives using a suicide terrorist. The point is the system and pity for innocent people. The rhetorical question is: Why are there no such events in Switzerland or Norway?
Guest (Soviet Union): Yeltsin destroyed the country. A country where nothing like this could ever happen.
Ekho Moskvy
Samogon: They will murder another passerby in Makhachkala, blame him for organizing the terrorist act, and close the case. The heads of the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service will get medals.
Diatel: It is because our parliament has been turned into a bureaucratic office stamping the laws. Our courts are an appointed structure that works either according to orders or for money. Because we have an executive power that is responsible only to itself and only works on goals that it sets for itself.
SRogov: I think that separating the Muslim countries of the North Caucasus through a referendum would reduce the pressure on Russia, since it would be harder to explain to potential suicide bombers why they are sacrificing their lives in a foreign country. But in Russia now this is much simpler because most likely they find suicide bombers among those whose relatives have been killed by Russian soldiers. In Ukraine and the Baltic states they don’t have explosions.
gazeta.ru
Vasilyelim: The last private airport is being taken from its owners at the cost of the lives of dozens of innocent people. After Medvedev’s statement [holding the private company in charge of airport security responsible] it sure looks that way. In general you can see the readiness of the authorities to talk about this theme. Someone else wrote correctly – they are a band of enemies of the people.
Owod-rus: The president of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, expressed his sympathy “to the entire Russian nation and particularly to the families of the victims.” And is that all? Where is the decisive condemnation of those who are guilty of such acts? Or is the Euro parliament only capable of criticizing “the bloody tyrant” Lukashenka, during whose presidency absolutely nothing has happened that even remotely reminds one of what is happening in Russia right now?
“Komsomolskaya pravda”
Vasily: America is to blame for everything – you can’t doubt that for a second. They arranged explosions in Cuba, sponsored terrorists in Nicaragua (for which they were condemned by the United Nations), supported death squads in Vietnam, El Salvador, Colombia. Then they sponsored the mujahedin in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union and now they are conducting a war in Russia through the Chechens. We don’t need to pressure the Caucasus. We need to act against the imperialism of the Western transnational oligarchs who only value one thing – MONEY.
Vitkus: When we bought our apartment, there were cockroaches there. We sort of passively fought against them, figuring it was no big deal. After all, cockroaches are everywhere, right? But at some point there were suddenly a lot of them. A huge number. One night a whole host of these creature was on my head. A couple crawled into my ears. I needed a doctor to get them out. We poisoned them for a week. It was a hard battle and we used the most powerful weapons. Since then, we have had no cockroaches in our house. Just one cute little moth flutters around…
translations by Robert Coalson
