There are a few important details on explosion in Sochi. Or I should say explosions – plural.
This isn’t the first explosion this year in Sochi, and it isn’t the first with human casualties. It is, in fact, fourth. I didn’t write about previous ones because.. well, because of the same reasons I don’t blog every day — no time, and plenty of other information I’d happily share. Also, the investigators weren’t officially linking them together, which meant it could be criminal related, not terror.
All that changed today. All four explosions are now officially linked into single criminal case. Here’s the chronology of the incidents:
April 7 — in Lazarevsky district of Sochi a bomb exploded in a man’s handbag that was abandoned on a theater’s staircase, while police officer tried to inspect it; he lost both arms
June 11 — bomb hidden in metallic flask exploded killing one man
June 30 — one man from Taganrog, Russia was killed in a bomb explosion
August 7 — two people died in an explosion on a beach in Loo in Lazarevsky district
St.-Petersburg’s Channel Five news reports investigators are saying they know who organizers are, and expect to make some arrests soon. This is good news. No other details are known at this time.
There was another incident, that is not linked to this case officially, but people in the city believe it is related. That is one bomb was recently found, had a timer, and was successfully disarmed by Sochi police, no one was hurt.
So, why ARE things exploding and people are dying in Sochi? I guess we can’t say for sure until the investigation is over, but everyone seems to be sure — and this was the story all alone from the first two explosions, not just in light of recent events — that it is Georgia’s way to ruit tourist season on Russia’s biggest resort.
See, Abkhazia, the other de-facto independent Georgian republic, unlike South Ossetia, is doing rather well, due to its great location on the Black Sea coast and steadily increasing stream of Russian tourists. In fact, most of Abkhazia’s economy is based on the summer tourism. Georgia is constantly trying to prevent successful seasons, and earlier this year it’s fleet tried to attack some boats on a route from Sochi to Abkhazia. Abkhazia set its coast guard to actively protect the ships, and Russia warned Georgia that it will not stand by if Georgia attacks ships with Russian citizens again. Attacks stopped… but explosions started in Abkhazia, killing several people. In response to this, Abkhazia immediately closed the border with Georgia, and explosions stopped… but they started in Sochi. And that is why everyone believes in Georgia’s involvement.