A Hijack Scare

There are times that I tend to be a little melodramatic. This is one of those times.

About a week ago, the flight that Slava and I will be taking on August 18 had a hijacking scare. The flight is to Moscow from Mineralniye Vody in the North Caucasus. On July 29 a passenger on this flight refused to let the other 104 passengers and crew leave the plane, demanding direct talks with Putin about terrorist activity. There was a 2 ½ hour standoff until police disguised as medics boarded the aircraft, ostensibly to help a passenger who was ill. The would-be hijacker was unarmed and made no direct threats, according to first-hand reports. He simply made demands to meet with authorities and mass media representatives. That was enough, apparently, to scare people.

Although hijacking an airplane is punishable here by up to eight years in prison, the man is more likely to face up to five years on charges of “illegally depriving people of freedom.” Hmm… I can think of other people here in Russia who might be vulnerable to such charges…

August is a month to dread for Russian leaders. Remarkably bad events have happened year after year… In 1991 there was the attempted coup of Soviet leadership (I was here then; my write up of that experience is on an old floppy disk somewhere). In 1998 Russian financial institutions imploded with government debt default (I was here for that one, too). In 2000 there was the sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine (Americans were indirectly blamed until evidence indicated otherwise). In 2004 there were bombings of two passenger jets, and on “August 32” (the 1st of September), terrorists in North Ossetia took 1,100 children and adults hostage in the town of Beslan; 300 people died. In 2009 an accident at Sayano-Shushenska hydropower station in Siberia killed 75 people. I think that 2010 will go down as the year of the terrible heat wave and drought, when fires consumed acreages of peat bogs, wheat fields, and even whole villages.

It’s 4:00 am local time, and normally I’m not up quite so early. Slava and I have a flight from Ekaterinburg to Mineralniye Vody (“Mineral Waters”) leaving at 6:10 am. I have little idea what life will be like for the next 10 days. I do expect to be able to blog occasionally, although perhaps not quite as often as while in E-burg. In the meantime, pay attention to any breaking news coming from the Caucasus. If possible, I’ll later give you a first-hand report.