The Federal Security Service thwarted a major terrorist attack earlier this month when agents detained a man identified as Alexander Pumane. Two land mines and 200 grams of TNT were found in his car. Pumane admitted to receiving $1,000 to park two cars outside a museum in western Moscow, then died several hours later. But there was a hitch: The body in the morgue wasn't Pumane's.
This has become a time-honored tradition: Following a series of major terrorist attacks, law enforcement skillfully foils a number of fresh attacks in quick succession. The tradition began in 1999 after two apartment buildings were bombed in Moscow, killing 215. Fear gripped the country and confidence in the security services dipped below the boiling point of oxygen.
In response, some FSB agents hopped in their car and planted a few bags in the basement of an apartment building in Ryazan. Residents noticed the goings-on and called the police, who evacuated the building. Police experts conclusively identified the white powder in the bags as hexogen, a powerful explosive. The FSB thanked residents for their vigilance and declared that a terrorist attack had been averted.
Then something unexpected happened. Local cops traced the license plate of the car used to transport the bags and identified the owner. The FSB had no choice but to turn around and announce that the bags contained sugar, not hexogen, and that the whole thing had been a training exercise. To this day, Boris Berezovsky cites the Ryazan affair as proof that the FSB carried out the 1999 bombings. The authorities have stuck by their story about a training exercise.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/09/29/008.html
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