Terrorist attacks are believed to have increased significantly in recent years. Compared to the relatively quiet times of the USSR, this is true, but the average number of victims and terrorist attacks (especially if you take into account the whole world) still remained at the same level.
Revolutionary terrorism: terrorist attacks in the Russian Empire
The first terrorist attacks in St. Petersburg occurred in the days of Tsarist Russia. In the Russian Empire, terrorism was predominantly individual in nature and was directed against government officials and high-ranking officials. Often, ordinary people suffered as a result, bystanders who were unfortunate enough to be close to the place of the planned or committed murder.
At the end of January 1878, Vera Zasulich made an attempt on the life of the St. Petersburg mayor, the criminal was acquitted by a jury. Two years later, in the Winter Palace, a Narodnaya Volya member detonated a bomb, an attempt on the life of Emperor Alexander II. Then 11 officers carrying the guard died. Followingthe attempt on Alexander II was successful for the terrorists: the emperor was killed by a bomb in 1881.
Terror attacks in St. Petersburg did not stop: the victims of the Social Revolutionaries, Narodnik revolutionaries and Narodnaya Volya were the inspector of the St. Petersburg security department (1883), the Minister of Internal Affairs (1904), the head of the prison (1907), the head of the security department (1909). In St. Petersburg in 1907, an attempt was made on the life of Pyotr Stolypin, twenty-seven people were killed by an explosion, more than a hundred bystanders and officers were injured.
Was there any terrorist attacks in the Soviet Union?
Terrorist attacks in St. Petersburg, as well as in the republics under Soviet rule in general, were a relatively rare phenomenon. Most of the attacks were carried out by supporters of separatist movements with the aim of fleeing the USSR. Several terrorist attacks were recorded during the years when the Bolsheviks came to power, and since the 1970s, activity has increased significantly.
Separately stand out in the chronology of the terrorist attacks committed in Russia (RSFSR), the events of June 1970, which received the name "Leningrad Aircraft Business". Then an attempt was made to hijack the plane by a group of citizens who wanted to emigrate from the USSR. Several members of the underground Leningrad Zionist group hoped by their actions to induce the world authorities to put pressure on the Soviet Union and obtain permission for the free exit of Jews to Israel.
All participants in the alleged terrorist act were arrested in front of the plane's gangway. They have been charged withanti-Soviet agitation, treason to the motherland (activities of the group and illegal migration) and an attempted theft on an especially large scale (meaning a passenger plane).
The organizers were first given capital punishment, other participants in the hijacking received from 4 to 15 years in prison. Relatives of the group members who contributed to the commission of the crime to any extent were not held accountable. The intervention of major political figures in many countries and numerous protests around the world forced the death sentence imposed earlier on the organizers to be commuted to fifteen years in prison. Reduced terms for other participants.
Terrorism in Russia: The Chechen war and gangs from the North Caucasus
Terrorist acts in Russia are largely connected with internal conflicts. Terrorist attacks in St. Petersburg were relatively rare: Moscow, Dagestan, Stavropol Territory, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, Ingushetia became frequent targets of terrorists and gangs.
Terrorist attacks in St. Petersburg in recent years
Despite another round of intensification of the international fight against terrorism, the number of attacks and the number of victims of terrorists in recent years has increased slightly. In 2007, there was a terrorist attack in St. Petersburg in the metro (more precisely, near the lobby of the Vladimirskaya station). In general, subways, train stations or public transport stops are often chosen by terrorists as targets due to significant congestionpeople.
The attack in St. Petersburg on October 8, 2015 also did not cause any casu alties, but an elderly woman was seriously injured, in whose bag an explosive device was found. Then Russia intervened in the Syrian war, and by analogy with the conflict in the North Caucasus, that day, many expected terrorist attacks.
Another 2015 attack that significantly affected St. Petersburg occurred with Flight 9268 over Sinai. The liner crashed near the city of El Arish. On that fateful day, all the passengers and crew on board perished. Most of them lived in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region.
Recently, another event occurred that seemed to herald a terrorist attack in St. Petersburg. November 2016 could be another fatal date for the Northern capital. At the end of October, a passer-by received a note from an elderly Asian woman. A crumpled piece of paper read: "A terrorist attack near the Kirovsky Prospekt metro station." The woman took the note to the police. Two weeks later, FSB officers detained a group of people who planned to carry out large-scale terrorist attacks on Ligovka and Nauki Avenue. Thanks to the operational activities of the special services, they managed to avoid victims.
