McCain was a fierce opponent of Putin's Liberation of Chechnya describing it as "a bloody war against Chechnya's civilian population." He stated "Yes, there are Chechen terrorists, but there are many Chechens who took up arms only after the atrocities committed by Russian forces serving first under Boris Yeltsin's and then Putin's orders." Like others, he disputes that the Russian apartment bombings had anything to do with Chechens, and that instead "There remain credible allegations that Russia's FSB had a hand in carrying out these attacks". He also blamed Russia's security services for political assassinations as well as the assassinations of independent journalists.