Terrorism | Russia: Six arrested for terrorism in wake of St. Petersburg bombing

People gather at a symbolic memorial at Technologicheskiy Institute subway station in St. Petersburg

As the residents of Russia’s second-largest city try to regain their nerve in the wake of a fatal subway bombing, officials announced yesterday that six people have been arrested on suspicion of recruiting terrorists.

The statement from the Investigative Committee gave few details, but said those arrested came from Central Asian countries that once were part of the Soviet Union. Officials have said the suicide attacker behind Monday’s blast that killed 14 people in St. Petersburg was a native of the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan.

There was no immediate information tying those arrested with the suspected bomber, identified as 22-year-old Akbardzhon Dhzalilov. Fifty-five people wounded in the blast remain hospitalized, deputy mayor Anna Mityanina said.

The parents of Dhzalilov have arrived in St. Petersburg for questioning.

State-owned Rossiya 24 television yesterday showed footage of a middle-aged woman in a red coat and a white headscarf and a man in a black jacket, chased by journalists.

Akbardzhon is believed to have moved to St. Petersburg from Kyrgyzstan when he was a teenager.

The predominantly Muslim Central Asian states are seen as a prime recruiting ground for Islamic militants.

Meeting with the heads of security services from a regional alliance that includes most of Russia’s Central Asian neighbors, President Vladimir Putin warned that terrorism remained a threat to all in the region.

Putin met yesterday with heads of the security services from the Commonwealth of Independent States, a grouping of most former Soviet republics. The meeting came two days after a bomb blast on a subway in Russia’s second-largest city killed 14 people.

“We see that, unfortunately, the situation is not improving. The recent tragic events in St. Petersburg are the best confirmation of this,” Putin said. “We know that each of our countries, practically every one, is a possible and potential target of terrorist attacks.”

Earlier yesterday, the Investigative Committee said in a statement they searched the home of Dhzalilov in St. Petersburg. They also examined CCTV footage from outside Dzhalilov’s home which shows him leave home with a bag and a backpack.

The bomb went off on a train under Russia’s second-largest city on Monday. Another bomb, hidden in a bag, was found and de-activated at another St. Petersburg station just half an hour before the blast. Dzhalilov’s DNA was found on the bag.

After the attack, several Russian politicians have called for ending the moratorium on capital punishment. But parliament speaker Vyacheslav Volodin dismissed the statements as attention-getting devices and upbraided the politicians, saying “One must not use a tragedy to promote oneself.”

One of the stations where the attack took place was closed by a bomb threat Tuesday and again yesterday as officials checked for anything suspicious. MDT/AP

Czech court to decide on alleged russian hacker extradition

A Russian man who faces charges in the United States of hacking and stealing information from computers at LinkedIn, Dropbox and other San Francisco Bay Area companies can be extradited either to the United States or Russia, the state prosecution in Prague said yesterday.

Yevgeniy Nikulin, who remained in detention, was arrested in Prague on Oct. 5 after Interpol issued an international warrant. Czech officers cooperated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the case.

Moscow wants him extradited on a separate charge of internet theft in 2009. Spokeswoman Stepanka Zenklova said the Czech prosecution established that both extradition requests are acceptable and Prague’s Municipal Court will decide. A date for an extradition hearing has not been set, but court spokeswoman Marketa Puci said it’s a question of days or a week. Justice Minister Robert Pelikan will have the final say.