This is Part I of the Open Media Research Institute's Daily Digest. Part I is a compilation of news concerning Russia, Transcaucasia and Central Asia. Part II, covering Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe is distributed simultaneously as a second document. At least 14 people are still missing. The explosive device, thought to equal 50 kg of TNT, blew up in a building inhabited by officers of the Russian Border Guards and their families.
Observers believe that a specially trained terrorist group detonated the bomb.
Possible suspects include opponents of the Chechen peace process, black marketeers in caviar, or local drug dealers. Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin visited the site of the explosion, while the Chechen government condemned the terrorist attack and sent condolences to the families of victims. Procurator-General Yurii Skuratov on 15 November ordered an investigation into a Moskovskii komsomolets article that contained a transcript of an alleged conversation among Presidential Chief of Staff Anatolii Chubais, First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Ilyushin, and presidential aide Sergei Krasavchenko, Russian and Western media reported. Chubais and Ilyushin also discussed ways to prevent Skuratov from bringing criminal charges against the two campaign aides and how to retrieve documents connected to the case from Skuratov. Presidential Chief of Staff Chubais, First Deputy Prime Minister Ilyushin, and presidential aide Krasavchenko all categorically denied that they met on 22 June and charged that the transcript published in Moskovskii komsomolets was fabricated, Russian media reported on 15 November.