Oleg Kuznetsov: "People must learn the truth about 1977 Moscow bombings"

This year marks 40 years since a series of terrorist acts were committed in Moscow on January 8, 1977. The criminal case, initiated on these crimes, has not been declassified yet. Author of the book "History of Transnational Armenian Terrorism in XX Century", Oleg Kuznetsov, appealed to the Supreme Court of Russia with the initiative to declassify the case and to erect a monument, dedicated to the victims of these terrorist acts, by publishing a petition: To declassify the case of 1977 Moscow bombings, erect a monument to victims.

As he noted in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza, most of the documents on this case are still unavailable. "In accordance with the existing rules of storage of documents, all criminal cases where highest form of punishment was imposed will be stored in 'top secret' archive. Therefore it's almost impossible to get access to the content of 1977 case and study it, which creates certain difficulties for understanding of Armenian nationalists' terrorism in the USSR, so we can't relly the establish historical truth," he explained.

Part of those events can be studied only based on stories of investigators. "Based on the recollections of people who were investigating this case, in addition to three attacks, which happened on January 8, 1977, including one with a huge death toll in the Moscow metro, there was also an attempt to commit terrorist attack in late October of 1977 at the Kursk railway station's waiting hall. Then, by pure chance, the bomb didn't explode and was found after electric detonator was supposed to activate it: its battery was dead, so the explosion didn't happen. This gave the opportunity to track terrorist group and arrest criminals," he said. 

"37 sets of components for improvised explosive devices were seized during searches at the apartments of suspects. In other words, these people were planning to commit even more attacks. This indicates that terrorists had a serious long-term plan of fight against the Soviet Union. All this information is in the criminal case, but it's impossible to access it, so it's impossible to accurately assess the scope of terrorist activities, which Armenian nationalists planned in 1977," he stressed.

Another important aspect is the circumstances of terrorists' arrest. "They were arrested on November 7, 1977. Why were they arrested on the day of celebration of the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution? Because the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Armenia Karen Demirchyan hindered investigation of the central apparatus of the KGB, which was working in Yerevan at that time. While he participated in the all-Union political celebrations, investigators raided the apartments of suspects, seized evidences, and then arrested terrorists. When Karen Demirchyan returned to Yerevan, he went from the airport to KGB prison of the Armenian SSR, not to work or home, demanding release of suspects. He backed away only after they showed him all the evidences of their involvement in terrorist activities. Materials of this criminal case also show this. These materials include information on terrorists' contacts with the political leadership of the Armenian SSR," Kuznetsov added.

The initiative also includes a proposal to erect a monument, dedicated to the victims of these attacks. "There were a lot terrorist attacks in Moscow, especially in modern time.There are memorial sign in memory of the victims near places were attacks were committed. The petition demands to erect a memorial sign in memory of 1977 bombings victims near the Izmailovo Park in Moscow, just 30 meters from where attack was committed. The petition was sent to the chairman of the Supreme Court, who will decide whether to declassify documents on this case or not, to the Attorney General, who will decided whether these materials will be used, and the mayor of Moscow, who will make a decision on erecting the memorial sign and will coordinate architectural works," he informed.

"We want to ensure that people get all the information on these terrorist attacks, not just a part of it, which only includes names of criminals sentenced to death. The society must have full, detailed information about this case: were there any accomplices,what prompted these people to commit such crimes, what were their motives. Subjective side of this crime is still uncovered, in order to fix it, we must have access to all the materials of this case, which will help to re-create the whole picture of the preparations for terrorist attacks. That's why we demand the access to one of the biggest mysteries," the historian concluded..

5404 people have signed the petition at the moment.