by Павел ДИНЕЦ , Максим МИРОШНИЧЕНКО, Мария ЯШИНА, Евгения РУДНИЦКАЯ, Николай ЛИСИЦЫН
translated by Phil
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Today the deadline given by the President to find the Dnepropetrovsk terrorists expires. City leaders will be gathering later for a meeting. Meanwhile, the city is alive with life: the spring wedding rush is on, the parks are full and no one is suffering from trash can phobia.
Panic stopped as soon as mobile phones started working again.
Recalling the scary events of April 27th in Dnepropetrovsk one remembers the lack of police on duty and the moment when they were suddenly everywhere. One also remembers the unplanned change in design of the local trash cans. After the explosions at the downtown tram stops one finds light metal fences set up everywhere. And for those stops that the first and fourth horrible devices ripped apart we now have nothing left of a tram stop whatsoever.
Panic prevailed in the first hours after the attacks but began to subside later that day as mobile phones were reactivated. As people were able to call family and loved ones to make sure they are okay, they began to calm down. This also helped remove tension among the people and spread the message that even though a terrorist act occurred, no one was killed.
As early as Friday evening KP correspondents watched as some businesses went on holiday break and began to forget the recent explosions. The very next day many of these people were riding around the city in wedding processions, celebrating.
That Sunday the weekend really began as the parks started filling with thousands of people. On Karl Marx Avenue, where the explosions took place, people were moving about as normal. Clowns entertained kids on the center square while music played and a carousel went around.
Most importantly no one was suffering from trash can phobia (remember it was in trash cans that all four bombs were placed). Men, women and children passed by them all day long and street vendors set up next to them.
Last year's events are related to the recent terrorist acts.
Saturday, the day after the bombings, President Viktor Yanukovich arrived in Dnepropetrovsk. After consulting with law enforcement officials, the President visited a hospital that was treating the wounded. Yanukovich gave fruit and candy to the injured children and promised them tickets to a local theater. To the adults he promised rehabilitation at health resorts. His cabinet has already allocated half a million hryvnia to pay for it.
Experts are still trying to find out exactly what kind of devices were used, Attorney General Viktor Pshonka told the press. It is clear that the terrorists constructed it to create shrapnel damage and therefor placed it in the trash cans.
Head of the State Security Service Igor Kalinin spoke a little more freely:
"One theory is that these explosions are connected with the explosion last November 16th outside the Central Department Store," he said. "The handwriting is the same and the device was also placed in a trash can."
Today a meeting is being held with coordination staff and journalists to further investigate the bombings. Meanwhile, authorities have continued to say little instead insisting that "the theories put out earlier remain in place." The number of theories has diminished however, with areas of the investigation having progressed sufficiently.
Speaking about the fewer possible theories they may be pursuing, and probably keeping in mind his political future, Igor Kalinin urged on Friday that we shouldn't rush to "politicize the bombings". His first deputy Vladimir Rokitsky, on the tv show "Shuster Life" even said that he doubted it was even a terrorist attack saying, "Today I wouldn't publicly announce that this is an act of terrorism. Give us time to understand everything about the crime."
A rendering of the people possibly involved in the terrorist act. They were captured on a surveillance camera not far from one of the bombs. Men, 30-45 years old, medium height, Slavic appearance
Who will receive two million?
"According to information we now have, I'm more inclined to believe that the bombings were organized by mentally unstable people," the first deputy chairman of the Security Service, Alexander Skibinetsky, told KP. "There was no real motivation behind the attacks, only to cause a panic. If this were a real terrorist attack it would have been different. There is unlikely any political motivation..."
"It was purely criminal in nature," said the chief of the investigation for the Interior Ministry of Ukraine, Vasyl Farinnik, on Inter TV.
A source from Dnepropetrovsk USBU [a university] gave a similar version in an interview with Rossikaya Gazeta. "A war is going on in the city between criminal business groups. Two weeks ago an influential businessman Gennady Axelrod was murdered..." However, the criminal link to this crime is not very strong.
"When someone wants to intimidate a businessman use a bomb near his home, car or office not one at a tram stop where businessmen never venture. There have been lots of examples of these kinds of bombings in Ukraine," says Oleg a former employee of the Ukrainian Security Service. "When you create panic in a city like Dnepropetrovsk you are either crazy or you want something from the government. Maybe they have even listed some demands but the Security Service has kept them quiet in the interest of the investigation..."
Remember the May 4th deadline that the President set to investigate the bombings and search for the criminals.
The next day after the bombings the Dnepropetrovsk administration has announced a two million hryvnia reward for information helping to find the criminals. So far though law enforcement has not said whether anyone has tried to claim the reward.
Meanwhile...
Exploding bags in Kherson, Train station searches in Sumy
On one hand the explosions in Dnepropetrovsk have increased people's vigilance, but on the other increases in prank calls of terrorist acts have also risen. The first victim of undue panic was a suitcase stuffed with old newspapers. People in Odessa and alerted police on April 27th, April 30th and again on May 1st. In Kherson bomb technicians were called up to diffuse two harmless bags that ended up only containing air. One of the bags was in a tree while the other was in a trash can around which the area was evacuated for 50 meters.
In Sumy residents started to panic when police flooded the train station. It turned out that a townsperson had heard a conversation of two people on the street and from it decided that they were going to blow up the town. And even in Chernigov the police report that a real bomb was found! A homemade device was found in a trashcan on Popudrenko Square and disarmed on the spot. A criminal investigation has been started but it looks to be the work of hooligans.
An explosives expert even recalls an event in Zaporozhia. On the night of May 1st all the intelligence agencies were on edge after someone called the Ministry of Emergency Situations saying "I'm a terrorist! I will blow all of you up!" They found and arrested the troublemaker. It turns out he had damaged his brain from drinking vodka and sniffing glue.
Additionally
Internet users have already found a terrorist.
Once the video of the first explosion at the intersection of Karl Marx Ave and Serov St first appeared on the internet, watchful users have already identified one of the suspects. Video from a camera on a house across the street from the tram stop "shows an interesting character in the lower right corner," writes one of the bloggers. He comes to the edge of the road for a few seconds before the explosion, reaches into his pants (for a mobile phone) and walks a few more steps away. Around him people are walking and running while he only stands and watches. I think this is the guy who planted the explosives. He is the only one behaving as if he knew about the explosion."
