2004 жылғы Ресейдегі әуе кемелерінің жарылысы

2004 bombings of two Russian passenger flights

On the night of 24 August 2004, explosive devices were detonated on board two domestic passenger flights that had taken off from Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia, causing the destruction of both aircraft and the loss of all 90 people on board them. Subsequent investigations concluded that two Chechen female suicide bombers were responsible for the bombings, which were also later claimed by the leader of the Chechen insurgency.

The first to crash was Volga AviaExpress Flight 1303, a Tu 134 aircraft, registered RA 65080, which had been in service since 1977. The plane was flying from Moscow to Volgograd. It left Domodedovo International Airport at 22:30 on 24 August 2004. Communication with the plane was lost at 22:56 while it was flying over Tula Oblast, south east of Moscow. The remains of the aircraft were found on the ground several hours later. Thirty four passengers and 9 crew members were on board the plane. All of them died in the crash. The flight recorders were recovered from the crash site. The flight data recorder showed that the plane was cruising uneventfully at , before indicating some type of high energy event likely originating near the right hand side of the aircraft at seat row 19. Both recorders stopped recording within 2–3 seconds of this event. This was followed by the separation of the fuselage at that location an undetermined amount of time afterward.

Just minutes after the first crash, Siberia Airlines Flight 1047, which had left Domodedovo International Airport at 21:35 on 24 August 2004, disappeared from the radar screens and crashed. The Tu 154 aircraft, registered RA 85556, which had been in service since 1982, was flying from Moscow to Sochi. According to an unnamed government source of the Russian news agency Interfax, the plane had broadcast a hijack warning while flying over Rostov Oblast at 22:59. However, it was later determined that this was the aircraft's Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT), and that the crew of Flight 1047 were not aware of any danger prior to the aircraft disappearing from radar. Chechen field commander Shamil Basayev took responsibility for the bombings in an open letter published on the Chechen separatists' websites on 17 September 2004. He has also denied the Islambouli Brigade's claims. The bombings followed the Moscow metro bombing which left 41 people dead in February 2004 and preceded other deadly attacks in Russia soon afterwards: on 31 August 2004 a bomb killed 10 at a Moscow subway station, and then the Beslan hostage crisis began on 1 September 2004 which would leave over 335 people dead, many of them children.

On 24 August 2004, the bombers were stopped in the airport by police captain Mikhail Artamonov to be searched for weapons and for identification. They were accompanied by two male Chechens. The four of them arrived in Moscow on a flight from Makhachkala. According to the prosecution, Artamonov did not search them, and subsequently was charged with criminal negligence. On 30 June 2005, he was convicted of negligence and sentenced to seven years of imprisonment. An appeal was made against the sentence, and the court subsequently reduced the term to six years. According to investigators, ticket seller Armen Aratyunyan was bribed approximately €140 to sell tickets to the two women without obtaining their correct IDs. Aratyunyan also helped Dzhebirkhanova to bribe the ticket checking clerk, Nikolai Korenkov, with €25 to get on board without the proper IDs. On 15 April 2005, Aratyunyan and Korenkov were convicted of giving and taking bribes. They were sentenced to 1.5 years in a settlement colony (settlement colony convicts have more rights and privileges than people in standard colonies). Twenty one relatives of the deceased passengers filed a civil suit against the security company responsible for checking the passengers, ZAO East Line Aviation Security. They demanded 3,000,000 rubles (approximately €86,600 or US$115,000) in damages per victim. The trial in that case started in Volgograd on 22 February 2007. The security company claimed that it was not liable for damages, but the persons who organized the bombings were. The court handling the civil case sent a request to the prosecutor's office to get an update on the criminal investigation. The investigation was suspended indefinitely on 26 September 2006. According to the investigator who was handling the case, the people helping the suicide bombers at the airport were killed in Chechnya, the people responsible for planning the bombings were not identified (Shamil Basayev, who claimed responsibility for organizing the bombings, was also killed), and consequently the investigation was suspended due to lack of suspects. That civil case was still in court as of 2009. Other passengers' relatives also sued the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, S7 Airlines and two insurance companies, Ingosstrakh and OAO Afes for damages (none of the defendants acknowledge any liability). On 21 October 2007, the court in the latter case found S7 Airlines liable for damages and ruled they should pay the relative of the victim in question 250,000 rubles (approximately €7,000), which was about 10% of what the plaintiffs asked for. S7's initial appeal was rejected by the court on 27 May 2008. A new S7 appeal was successful in April 2009 and the verdict was rejected. Relatives of the passenger appealed against the decision, but their appeal was dismissed in August 2009. They plan to appeal to a higher court.