An Odd Reluctance To Call It Terrorism

For Russians, the Kremlin's initial response to last Tuesday's nearly simultaneous plane crashes seemed all too familiar: another example of President Vladimir Putin's state of denial over the unflattering reality of the war in Chechnya. The catastrophe, which killed 90 people, occurred just a few days before a disputed presidential election in that breakaway republic; the two flights had departed from the same Moscow airport; the planes crashed within a minute of each other; eyewitness reports suggested that an explosion had downed one of the planes; and a hijack distress call preceded the crash of the other plane. Yet Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) and its Transport Minister reflexively rejected the explanation that seemed obvious: terrorism.

It didn't take long for the official line to unravel. By Saturday, FSB officials admitted that traces of explosives had been found on the wreckage of both planes and said they were checking the backgrounds of two women whose Chechen-sounding names were on flight manifests. No relative or friend has yet inquired about the women's fates. A group of Chechen fighters is known to have been in Moscow in recent weeks, according to both Chechen and FSB sources, and a group with ties to al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the attacks. But why the official reluctance to consider the most obvious of explanations? Perhaps because, two years after guerrillas took 800 people hostage at a Moscow theater in a botched operation, the incident makes it much harder for Putin to play his favorite role: the only man capable of reining in the Chechen rebels.