MOSCOW, July 28: Conspiracy theories about the bombings that swept Russia in 1999, killing some 300 people, and which helped to spark the second Chechen war, have gained new ground after the revelations of a former Russian intelligence agent.

The Russian authorities insist that separatist Chechen rebels were behind the series of devastating apartment block blasts in September 1999 — two in Moscow, and one each in the southern Russian cities of Volgodonsk and Buynaksk.

But Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian agent now exiled in Britain, on Friday presented testimony from Achimez Gochiayev, the chief suspect for the attacks, as fresh proof that the FSB (former KGB) secret service was behind the blasts.

In a declaration distributed to journalists, Gochiyaev says that a school friend he believes to be an FSB agent advised him to rent underground premises beneath four apartment buildings in Moscow for commercial purposes.

Two of these buildings were destroyed in explosions on September 9 and 13, 1999, killing more than 200 people.

After the second blast on September 13, Gochiyaev says he warned the police of the risks of further attacks in the other buildings and they discovered explosives there.

The FSB claims that Gochiyaev, from the North Caucausus republic of Karachayevo-Cherkessia, was working for Chechen warlords Shamil Basayev and Khattab, who have been accused of masterminding the deadly bombing campaign in Russia. On Friday it released photographs showing Gochiyaev next to Basayev.

Litvinenko’s and Gochiyaev’s charges against the FSB met with some skepticism from Sergei Kovalev, lawmaker and former Soviet dissident, who heads the independent team investigating the attacks and who dismissed their evidence as “insufficient at this stage.”

However, some experts are convinced that the conspiracy theory has some truth to it.

“Litvinenko’s accusations are not unfounded. Chechen rebels were incapable of organising a series of bombings without help from high-ranking Moscow officials,” former KGB colonel Konstantin Preobrazhensky said.—AFP