March 07, 2026

Putin and the Apartment Bombings


Putin and the Apartment Bombings

Few remember that Russian President Vladimir Putin, before he became president, was a wildly unpopular Prime Minister, serving in the final days of Boris Yeltsin's rule. Then came the 1999 apartment bombings throughout Russia, which killed hundreds and were publicly linked to Chechnya and led to the Second Chechnya War, which led to a rise in Putin's popularity, and his eventual reelection as president (having assumed the role at the end of 1999 when Yeltsin stepped down).

A new BBC podcast, The History Bureau, delves deeply into this important historical episode to ask a lot of questions and seek some answers, especially about the purported FSB involvement in the attacks. It's a daunting task, given the history of people investigating the bombings being murdered with poison, bullets, and more.

Pair this with the BBC's 2023 podcast that delved into Putin's biography and his unlikely rise, and you'll have hours of listening.

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Some of our Books

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From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.

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93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

The Little Humpbacked Horse
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The Little Humpbacked Horse

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.

Faith & Humor
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Faith & Humor

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

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Woe From Wit (bilingual)

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