Chechen Rebel Claims Moscow Outage Responsibility
May 27 - Associated Press/AP Online
A rebel-linked Web site said Friday that Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev had claimed responsibility for the power outage that plunged Moscow into chaos two days earlier.
Russian officials have blamed worn-out equipment for Wednesday's power
failure, which began with an explosion and fire at a 40-year-old substation.
The Federal Security Service declined comment on Friday's claim and telephone
calls to the Industry and Energy Ministry were not answered.
But Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko was quoted earlier in the
day as rejecting speculation that a terrorist act was responsible for the
blackout.
"I think that this is not a terrorist act. We are just using old
equipment, from 1958, which needs to be replaced," Khristenko told the
RIA-Novosti news agency, the Gazeta.ru news Web site reported.
The blackout affected millions of people in Moscow and the surrounding
region, stranding subway riders and trolley passengers, and leaving entire
neighborhoods in the dark.
The outage spread in a cascade effect, reaching as far as the Tula region,
120 miles to the south. Electricity was restored across the capital Thursday.
"The Russian authorities are willfully lying, hiding the real reason for
the 'technological catastrophe,' as well as trying to cover up the very serious
consequences of this special operation we carried out," Basayev said
according to the Web site, which he has used in the past to claim responsibility
for terrorist acts.
Basayev is Russia's most-wanted man, and is seen as the driving force behind
the Chechen insurgency since Russian security forces killed guerrilla leader
Aslan Maskhadov on March 8.
Basayev has claimed responsibility for many of Russia's most deadly terrorist
attacks, including the 2002 Moscow theater hostage-taking and September's school
siege in southern Russia in which more than 330 people died.
Russia's atomic energy agency issued a statement Friday denying that a
malfunction had occurred at any nuclear facility on Wednesday or the following
days. The statement apparently came in response to rumors of an accident at a
reactor in Obninsk, about 60 miles southwest of Moscow.
"All Rosatom (state atomic energy agency) facilities, including at
Obninsk ... are working normally," the statement said, adding that the
power outage had no "substantial influence" on Rosatom enterprises.
The head of the nation's electricity monopoly, Anatoly Chubais, has come
under heavy criticism over the power outage. Prosecutors interrogated him about
the blackout for four hours Thursday, news agencies reported, stressing that he
was called as a witness.
In March 2004, police discovered a powerful bomb in an apartment building
near Moscow and disposed of it without casualties. Russian newspapers at the
time quoted security officials as saying the flat had likely been leased by a
group headed by Basayev, with the purpose of blowing up gas pipes, power lines
and other industrial infrastructure around the capital. For far more extensive news on the energy/power
visit: http://www.energycentral.com
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