The blasts which shook Russia

A spate of bomb blasts in Russia has killed hundreds, posing one of the most serious challenges to the country's stability since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Although the culprits were never established, the authorities were quick to blame Chechens.

Moscow: 9 August 2000

A survivor staggers to safety

Blast rocks Moscow subway
A bomb rips through an underpass packed with hundreds of commuters and shoppers in central Moscow, killing eight people and injuring about 50, almost a year after the last spate of bombs.

Moscow fears more blasts
Steven Rosenberg reports on the atmosphere in the streets of Moscow.

Volgodonsk: 16 September

Blast rocks Russian town (16 September)
A truck explodes outside a nine-storey block in the city of Volgodonsk in southern Russia, killing 17 people.

"Islamic militants have been blamed": BBC TV News report

Who is behind the bombing? (14 September)
BBC's Tom de Waal looks at the likely suspects behind the bomb attacks that have killed hundreds over recent weeks.

Russia's options on violence (15 September)
BBC Russian Affairs Analyst Malcolm Haslett looks at the choices that face the Russian authorities as they tackle the most serious threat yet to post-Soviet Russia's stability.

Security clampdown in Russia (15 September)
A massive security sweep is underway, as many Russians take matters into their own hands, setting up watch committees and registering local residents.

Moscow: 13 September

Dozens dead in Moscow bombing (13 September)
A bomb destroys another apartment block in southern Moscow. The final death toll reaches 118.

Pictures from a shocked city (13 September)

Yeltsin calls for calm (13 September)
President Yeltsin says terrorism has declared war on the people of Russia.

Moscow plagued by terror (13 September)
The second bomb blast in a Moscow apartment block in less than a week brings home to ordinary Muscovites their vulnerability to acts of violence.

Moscow: 9 September

Russia mourns blast victims (September 9)
More than 150 people are killed in two explosions five days apart in Moscow and Dagestan. The Moscow bomb destroyed a nine-storey apartment building in the south-east of the city, while in Dagestan a car-bomb was detonated outside army officers' apartments.

Moscow's blast in pictures (9 September) The final death toll came in the Moscow apartment block came to 94.

BBC's Andrew Harding reports: "Throughout the capital, security forces are on high alert" (9 September)

Analysis: The likely suspects
(9 September) The BBC's Tom de Waal looks at the possible groups that could be behind the bombs

Dagestan: 31 August

Russia hit by new Islamic offensive (5 September)
A bomb goes off in a building housing Russian soldiers in Buinaksk, Dagestan. Later reports reveal 64 people were killed.

Moscow: 31 August

Blast rocks Moscow (31 August)

Diners showered with glass (31 August)
A powerful explosion rips through a shopping centre in the centre of Moscow, injuring more than 40 people. Many of the victims were young people visiting the centre's restaurants and amusement arcade.

Robert Parsons: "Moscow is awash with speculation"

Media mystified by mall blast (1 September)
Russian media is quick to lay the finger of blame on Chechen activists and "Islamists", but some publications speculate on other possible culprits.

Note found at blast scene (1 September)
A previously unknown group calling itself the Revolutionary Writers leaves a note, saying it was behind the bomb. The group says it was a protest against growing consumerism in Russia.

Moscow bomb suspect arrested (2 September)
Police arrest a man said to be the leader of the Union of Revolutionary Writers, Dmitry Pimenov, after reportedly tracing him from a photograph on the group's website.