The Moscow Metro Bombings that occurred yesterday morning were certainly a shock to us all, but especially to those of us here in Russia. Immediately after we found out, we became concerned about our fellow students in Moscow, and were obviously worried and frustrated at the lack of information we had early that morning.
The bombings took place during rush hour on the Moscow Metro (one of the busiest in the world, carrying over 7 million people a day) at two of the most popular stops. The first was at the Lubyanka station, which is located right under FSB building, the KGB's successor. The second bombing occurred about 45 minutes later at Park Kultury station, near Gorky Park. There were 38 deaths and dozens of injuries. We now know that the two female suicide bombers that committed these acts are presumably rebels from the North Caucasus region, which includes Chechnya. It has been said that this was a retaliation act for the recent killing of separatist leaders in that area by Russian police.
The metro was up and running again that night. There is now tighter 'security', aka Russian police standing armed at metro entrances. I even noticed the police doing the same at the St. Petersburg Metro.
Putin, using his well-known inspirational rhetoric, attempted to instill a sense of Russian nationalism by saying that the bombers "would be scraped from the sewers." This brings up the question of what will happen next in regards to the security of the Russian people--many speculate that Putin will take this opportunity to curtail civil liberties under the pretense of national security, something Putin has been criticized for doing before. No doubt political opposition will be more harshly suppressed as well (as if it wasn't already).
Whatever political action lies ahead, this is still first and foremost a tragedy and my heart goes out to all of those affected by it. Please keep them in your prayers.
President Medvedev
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