A remote-controlled bomb killed fourteen people at a Moscow cemetery, exposing the criminalisation of Afghan War veterans organisations in 1990s Russia.
Key Facts
- Date
- November 10, 1996
- Deaths
- 14 people
- Attack method
- Remote-controlled bomb
- Target
- Afghan War veterans group funeral
- Perpetrators
- Andrei Anohin and Mikhail Smurov
- Motive
- Dispute over profits from tax-exempt imports
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Afghan War veterans organisations in Russia were exempt from import taxes on cigarettes and alcohol, creating large profit opportunities. A dispute over these profits led former members Andrei Anohin and Mikhail Smurov to break away and form a splinter group, fuelling violent rivalry within the organisation.
On November 10, 1996, Anohin and Smurov detonated a remote-controlled bomb at the Kotlyakovskoye Cemetery in Moscow, targeting mourners attending the funeral of Mikhail Lihodey, former president of the Afghan War veterans support group. Fourteen people were killed, including veterans and their family members.
The attack exposed how the corrupt environment of gangster capitalism in 1990s Russia, combined with the violent backgrounds of veterans and lucrative tax exemptions, had led to the criminalisation of veterans organisations. It highlighted broader systemic vulnerabilities in post-Soviet civil society institutions.