"The Russian apartment bombings were a series of explosions that hit four apartment blocks in the Russian cities of Buynaksk, Moscow and Volgodonsk between 4 and 16 September 1999, killing 293 people and injuring more than 1,000, spreading a wave of fear across the country.
To date, no one has taken responsibility for the bombings; the Russian government blamed Chechen militants, although they, along with Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov, denied responsibility.
The bombings, together with the Dagestan War, led the country into the Second Chechen War. Then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's handling of the crisis boosted his popularity and helped him attain the presidency within a few months.
...
A number of historians and observers have stated that the bombings were a false flag attempt, coordinated by Russian state security services to bring Putin into the presidency.
Those who hold this view point to a number of pieces of evidence, including the Ryazan incident, the fact that the Volgodonsk bombing was erroneously announced three days before it happened by Russian Duma speaker Gennadiy Seleznyov, and the fact that supposed prime suspect Achemez Gochiyayev told police that he was being set up by the FSB, and notified police about two still-unexploded bombs, which they were able to find and deactivate in time.
Also notable are the untimely deaths of various observers who called the official story into question: Kovalev Commission members Sergei Yushenkov and Yuri Shchekochikhin (both of whom were apparently assassinated in 2003), and former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, who blamed the FSB for the bombings in two books, and was poisoned by FSB agents in London in 2006."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_apartment_bombings
To date, no one has taken responsibility for the bombings; the Russian government blamed Chechen militants, although they, along with Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov, denied responsibility.
The bombings, together with the Dagestan War, led the country into the Second Chechen War. Then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's handling of the crisis boosted his popularity and helped him attain the presidency within a few months.
...
A number of historians and observers have stated that the bombings were a false flag attempt, coordinated by Russian state security services to bring Putin into the presidency.
Those who hold this view point to a number of pieces of evidence, including the Ryazan incident, the fact that the Volgodonsk bombing was erroneously announced three days before it happened by Russian Duma speaker Gennadiy Seleznyov, and the fact that supposed prime suspect Achemez Gochiyayev told police that he was being set up by the FSB, and notified police about two still-unexploded bombs, which they were able to find and deactivate in time.
Also notable are the untimely deaths of various observers who called the official story into question: Kovalev Commission members Sergei Yushenkov and Yuri Shchekochikhin (both of whom were apparently assassinated in 2003), and former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, who blamed the FSB for the bombings in two books, and was poisoned by FSB agents in London in 2006."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_apartment_bombings