2004 Russian aircraft bombings

Volga-AviaExpress Flight 1303 and Siberia Airlines Flight 1047 bombings

Company type	Terrorist attacks
Industry	Aviation
Founded	24 August 2004
Headquarters	Moscow , Russia
Area served	Russia
Products	Domestic passenger flights (targeted)

Template:Infobox aircraft occurrence During the night of 24 August 2004, two domestic passenger flights departing from Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia, were destroyed by onboard explosions. Both aircraft were completely destroyed, resulting in the deaths of all 90 individuals aboard.

Investigations later identified two Chechen women acting as suicide bombers as responsible for these attacks. The leader of the Chechen insurgency subsequently claimed responsibility for the bombings.

Flights

Note: All times below are local time, UTC +4. Both incidents occurred within Russia.

Volga-AviaExpress Flight 1303

The initial crash involved Volga-AviaExpress Flight 1303, a Tupolev Tu-134 registered RA-65080, which had been operational since 1977. This flight was en route from Moscow to Volgograd. It departed Domodedovo International Airport at 22:30 on the evening of August 24, 2004. Contact with the aircraft was lost at approximately 22:56 while it was flying over Tula Oblast, roughly 180 kilometres (110 mi) south of Moscow. Wreckage was discovered on the ground several hours later. The airplane carried a total of thirty-five passengers and nine crew members—all perished in the accident.

Flight data recorders were retrieved from the crash site. Analysis revealed that the aircraft had been cruising normally at an altitude of 8,100 metres (26,600 ft), until a sudden high-energy event occurred near seat row 19 on the right side of the fuselage. Both flight recorders ceased functioning within two to three seconds following this incident. Subsequently, the fuselage separated at that point after an unspecified interval.

Siberia Airlines Flight 1047

Shortly after the initial crash, Siberia Airlines Flight 1047, which departed from Domodedovo International Airport at 21:35 on 24 August 2004, vanished from radar and subsequently crashed. The aircraft involved was a Tu-154, bearing registration RA-85556, in operation since 1982, flying the route from Moscow to Sochi. According to an anonymous official cited by the Russian news agency Interfax, the plane reportedly sent a hijack alert while over Rostov Oblast at 22:59. However, it was later clarified that this signal originated from the aircraft's Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT), and there was no indication that the crew of Flight 1047 were aware of any threat before the plane disappeared from radar. The aircraft lost radar contact shortly thereafter and crashed. On board were 38 passengers and 8 crew members; no survivors were found. Wreckage was discovered on the morning of 25 August 2004 approximately 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) from the work settlement of Gluboky in Kamensky District, Rostov Oblast.Template:Fix/category

The flight recorders were retrieved as part of the investigation. Analysis of the flight data recorder and wreckage indicated a high-energy event similar to that experienced by Flight 1303 occurred near seat row 25 on the right side while cruising at 12,100 metres (39,700 ft) altitude. This explosion caused rapid cabin decompression, damage to elevator and rudder control systems, significant electrical power loss, and extensive harm to the fuselage and tail sections. The ELT was activated approximately half a second after the blast, either manually by crew or automatically. Although the flight data recorder ceased functioning shortly after the explosion, the cockpit voice recorder continued until impact. Recorded conversations revealed that most crew communications focused on issues related to cabin pressure loss and electrical failures. The crew appeared completely unprepared for the blast event, with no evidence suggesting awareness of an onboard explosive device detonation.

Responsibility

The nearly simultaneous nature of these crashes led to widespread speculation about terrorist involvement. Russian President Vladimir Putin promptly directed the Federal Security Service (FSB) to conduct a thorough investigation. By 28 August 2004, FSB investigators had detected traces of the explosive compound RDX in debris recovered from both aircraft. According to reports from Itar-Tass on 30 August 2004, the FSB declared unequivocally that "both airplanes were destroyed as a result of terrorist attacks." A relatively obscure organization known as the Islambouli Brigades claimed responsibility; though these assertions remain unverified. The group stated that five operatives were aboard each flight; however, experts have expressed doubts regarding both the feasibility and necessity of such numbers of terrorists on each plane.Template:Fix/category

Further inquiry revealed that two female Chechen suicide bombers triggered the explosions: Satsita Dzhebirkhanova aboard Siberia Airlines Flight 1047 and Amanta Nagayeva on Volga-AviaExpress Flight 1303; both originated from Grozny. Nagayeva’s brother had vanished three years earlier under circumstances believed by his family to involve abduction by Russian forces. Chechen field commander Shamil Basayev publicly accepted responsibility for these bombings in an open letter posted on separatist websites such as Kavkaz Center on 17 September 2004. He estimated that executing these attacks cost him around US$4,000. Basayev also denied any connection with claims made by the Islambouli Brigades.Template:Fix/category

These bombings followed closely after the deadly Moscow metro bombing, which resulted in 41 fatalities earlier that year in February. They preceded additional fatal attacks within Russia shortly thereafter: on 31 August 2004, an explosive device detonated at a Moscow subway station killing ten people, followed by the onset of the Beslan hostage crisis on 1 September 2004, which ultimately claimed over 335 lives, including many children.

Arrests and trials

On 24 August 2004, police captain Mikhail Artamonov intercepted the bombers at the airport for a weapons search and identification check. Accompanying them were two Chechen men. The group of four had arrived in Moscow aboard a flight from Makhachkala. Prosecutors later argued that Artamonov failed to conduct the necessary search, resulting in charges of criminal negligence against him. On 30 June 2005, he was found guilty of negligence and received a seven-year prison sentence. After an appeal, the court reduced his sentence to six years.

Investigators revealed that Armen Aratyunyan, a ticket agent, accepted a bribe of about €140 to issue tickets to the two women without verifying their proper identification. Additionally, Aratyunyan assisted Dzhebirkhanova in bribing ticket inspector Nikolai Korenkov with €25, allowing boarding without valid IDs. On 15 April 2005, both Aratyunyan and Korenkov were convicted for bribery offenses and sentenced to one and a half years in a settlement colony—a penal institution granting more freedoms than standard prisons.

Families of twenty-one victims initiated a civil lawsuit against ZAO East-Line Aviation Security, the firm responsible for passenger screening. They sought compensation amounting to 3,000,000 rubles (roughly €86,600 or US$115,000) per deceased individual. The trial commenced in Volgograd on 22 February 2007. The security company denied liability for the damages, attributing responsibility instead to those who orchestrated the bombings. The civil court requested updates from the prosecutor’s office regarding the criminal investigation. However, on 26 September 2006, the investigation was indefinitely suspended. According to the lead investigator, accomplices who assisted the suicide bombers at the airport were killed in Chechnya; those who planned the attacks remained unidentified (including Shamil Basayev, who had claimed responsibility but was also deceased). Consequently, due to insufficient suspects, the probe was halted. As of December 2009, this civil case was still ongoing.

Other relatives of victims filed suits against the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, S7 Airlines, and two insurers—Ingosstrakh and OAO Afes—seeking damages; none of these defendants admitted fault. On 21 October 2007, a court found S7 Airlines liable and ordered them to pay one victim’s family 250,000 rubles (approximately €7,000), which represented about one-tenth of the amount claimed by plaintiffs. S7's initial appeal was rejected on 27 May 2008. However, a subsequent appeal succeeded in April 2009 when the verdict was overturned. The victim’s relatives challenged this decision but their appeal was dismissed in August 2009; they intended to pursue further appeals in higher courts.

External links

• Official statement from S7 Airlines regarding the bombing
• (in Russian) Investigation report. Interstate Aviation Committee.
• (in Russian) Conclusions of the State Commission on the causes of the Tu-154 and Tu-134 air disasters on 24.08.2004 – Ministry of Transport
• Russian crash investigations underway (CNN).
• Explosive residues detected (CNN).
• Terrorist bombs caused Russian plane crashes (Reuters, 30 August 2004).