that he was not a lot to do of course the unity of command was supposed to be with the president so we'll see what happens now. because in this situation of course a lot of people want to use this situation politically. i can already see i can picture in my mind the nationalists you need to hear all advantage pictured in my mind some of that position and it's also going to be meek and you know it's one of the you know what agency should be involved in this interagency infighting all kind of politics about you i really hope that that doesn't get so intense or because of the people's security and safety or the job number one here and that's what the president just told us but it's showing that the the authorities are reacting in every way they can actually in the years i've lived here seeing the modernization the technological technology is used right now it's gone up immensely helicopters came in in march to evacuate people and that was within forty minutes thirty

minutes of the blast you had something like that so the authorities are saying that they can do everything they can now how how do we stop it in the future i'm sure that. you know israel can shut down in a heartbeat you know because it's a state ok russia is not moscow is not a militarized city and far from it if i could just step in for a moment and dimitri please stay with me here we can now of course live on a boy who can give us the latest details on this continuing our developing situation and hello to you. and what do you know but unfortunately this situation remains very very latest death toll that i heard personally is thirty people killed more than one hundred thirty one people injured twenty of them are still in a very very critical condition. and so thirty one a thirty one dead there one hundred thirty injured we we had some comments earlier from a lady who owns a cafe shop on one end of the building and she said that the bus. lost that came

from the luggage collection or was so severe that many many many meters down to her end of the airport the plaster was already coming in from the walls obviously a sign of a very serious explosion here that we just had the russian president addressing the media and the public saying that new investigative measures are underway new security regimes to be implemented and airports and public transport your thought on that oh well first of all let me give you a brief description of the luggage claim area the dumb idea there airport after i flew through with just a few days ago and i have to tell you that for such a big airport in douma did it was the largest airport in russia. the baggage claim area is fairly compact i would say the size of bali to have a quarter of a football field and it has three or four per se and it is usually at these hour it is usually packed with people some of them are looking for their backs some of them are exhausted after their long travels so usually at such situations vigilance is

slackened and people may not pay too much attention to what is happening near them and this is also maybe one of the reason why terrorists elected this particular venue because again it would be packed with people and. these these hours are some of the busiest abbey domodedovo airport so that's why the death toll is so big and it continues unfortunately it continues to rise out of this this deadly blast has taken place less than a year after another terror attacks in the moscow metro forty people died that day would you join a comparison between the two i've been speaking to people of ellan dimitrius. it seems that the finger of blame is already pointing in that geographic direction your thoughts well you know the terrorist attacks i know it's rare in russia in fact each year several dozen them down sometimes. more than

a hundred of them are rad just across russia but most of them take place in their summer turbulent north caucasus region so maybe people here in moscow may have felt somehow insulated from all those terror but definitely this perception was shattered once again today it was shattered previously during those horrible days in march that you just mentioned when two suicide bombers from chechnya detonated themselves during the morning rush hour killing thirty nine people and you don't immediately after that attack. a lot of public criticism was directed at the law enforcement and security agencies for not preventing those blasts from happening because. security forces it was revealed after the blast security forces have long been knew that the following that these suicide bombers were associated with the terrorist organizations in fact they were wives of major terrorist who were on

russia's most wanted list and it's well known even publicly that terrorist organizations in the north caucuses have been trying to recruit. females as suicide bombers possibly because because they are more easily manipulated possibly because security forces have paid last attention to them and you know i bet that would be a lot of public criticism directed at the authorities both law enforcement and the security authorities at the domodedovo airport this time around especially because airport is a closed facility you just cannot get in there without being probably examined and let me remind you about another terrorist attack that was associated with the damage to their airport back in two thousand and four when two planes a region eighteen from the domodedovo airport were blown up need air of their own.

to go not by suicide bombers female suicide bombers who did what and it was later discovered that. these women managed to buy tickets and get into the plane without showing any proper identification in fact there were some speculation that they actually bribed police officials and he allowed them to do you say he was later convicted but never the last see you know the human factor you could never write it off and we know that they did have a management has tried really hard if you improve security at that facility and he indeed it's over the past two years it's become one of the most comfortable airports to travel to and from russia but nonetheless i'm pretty sure that they will have to do a lot of work to make sure that people are no longer if they will not be afraid to use that facility once again on sunday when we have the. madrid bombings last year here in the center of moscow having time to go off during rush hour when there

would be much passenger capacity on the trains and now we have this blast that has already been cited by officials of terrorism is anything to be said of to russians to a lot of traveling this time of the year is the timing post to our russian tourists coming back into town after perhaps escaping the moscow winter temperatures is now a heavy time for transport in the moscow weapons well i mean. why it's in russians like to travel and of course we have the peak of winter holidays and winter travel is already. old we're still most people have returned to their word but again some of the passengers and some of the travelers may have been trying to use these opportunity to travel to get their possibly cheaper tickets to get possibly cheaper at home still a committee and again. these airport the domodedovo airport he's always been and no

matter what time you go there it's always packed with people and again these. period of time between i would say three pm and eight pm is probably being was busy is at any airport here in russia and there are a lot of passengers coming in and out so you know they eat obviously terrorists are trying to you see like the time when they kill when they can kill the largest amount of people the largest number of people that's how they make their statement and obviously they've managed to do that today and fortunately. in their reporting live from moscow thank you. by now let's get some more analysis on this and talk live to dr john goebel international security director at the asia pacific foundation let's cross live now to london for more more developments on this what is a very very fluid situation the doctor thank you for joining us today you're hearing

about this blast at the moscow airport just about two hours ago now you're the international security director of the asia pacific foundation what are your initial thoughts on hearing this news. unfortunately it appears to be another mass casualty attack targeting russia's transportation infrastructure of course we saw what took place last year more and more school next roads and now this time by carrying out a major attack at the airport illustrates the fact that terrorist groups probably were linked to those in the caucuses if you like to their effort beyond the confines of the caucuses itself and that we shouldn't forget that the transportation systems have come under attack in the past in russia i think the most notable comparison would be just on the eve of the school siege to.

suicide bombers took down to domestic flights leaving moscow airport so we know that this is nothing new but unfortunately as we enter the twenty eleven tenth anniversary of september eleventh a lot of groups around the world will want to carry out attacks and of course russia is not immune to terrorism and of course the fact that the transportation routes are very useful in inflicting mass casualty attacks and dr carol you are you our security adviser moments ago we watched the russian president addressing the media and the public via the television now regarding his reaction post this a blast of domodedovo airport he was saying that special security regime is must be implemented at all airports but he was also saying that some forms of security programs are not functioning as they should what would you say to that because we've heard from our analysts and to me too babbage in the studio people of el here as well saying that there are to some extent loopholes when it comes to total total

security in the city. well we have to bear in mind that ten years since september eleventh aviation security is not full proof or immune from terrorist groups they are constantly looking for areas and ways of exploiting terrorism whether it's through taking advantage of. the security being lax or finding technical ways of bringing on board explosive substances bear in mind what took place in two thousand and six in the u.k. could be a liquid bomb plot where individuals were thinking not for conducting a very sophisticated attack by targeting a number of flights leaving london to the u.s. and canada and they were going to use a liquid explosive that would have appeared on any detection system at an airport there's also the issue of profiling by too often we've gone down the part of their

profiling by fueling that are terrorists to certain demographic after we've seen in the case of russia that many terrorists actually are women. they don't really attract that much for me as it would in that men or a certain ethnic talk to go i'm sorry if i could just jump in here just for a moment we are we were just showing a moment ago there we are the pictures are back now and these are pictures from domodedovo airport showing the immediate aftermath of what at least according to experts at least one suicide blast in the international luggage collection part of the terminal. i think the pictures speak for themselves you can see the disaster we can we can see casualties now and then whatever the case whether it's one or more explosions certainly that is that is a significant attack right there we were speaking to dr such an go all international security director at the asia pacific foundation thank you thank you

for your time. and we're all right now. we have had a chance to speak to some eyewitnesses who were there at the time of the blast or the blast that so let's now see what they have to say on this. i meant to departures zone of the demanded of our airports right now they've just announced that the airport is working normally all the flights are department on time i'm not sure about the international arrivals though the airport staff don't know where they will be diverted to and they came here about half an hour ago i was waiting at passport control here that there was a blast at their rivals area that was already a lot of smoke at the very claim area there were a lot of people crowded there because the escalator stopped the staff all denies the mergence exit but the door was very narrow and people crowded they mediately so the stuff started breaking the walls to let the people out soon after the airport stopped receiving the arriving flights everyone left the passport control area and started leaving the baggage claim area only those who hadn't received their luggage

stayed. in a cafe at domodedovo airport one of my colleagues was taken to hospital she is in intensive care the blast happened in the arrivals area that's the left wing of the airport the explosion must have been very strong because our cafes about one hundred meters from the arrivals area and when we heard the blast plaster started falling from the ceiling. and it's going to give you a bit of background on the largest airport in russia dominated by international airport it's the largest airport in terms of passenger traffic connects to hundreds of cities around the world it's a located about twenty two kilometers southeast of the center of moscow where here we see the latest pictures right now of the aftermath of at least one suicide blast a dumb idea to port twenty two clicks south southeast of the heart of moscow the number of passengers using the airport exceeds twenty two million per year over nine hundred thousand use the airport during winter holidays in two thousand and

ten two thousand and eleven currently about seventy. seven airlines russian and foreign offer regular flights to comedy out of and the flights from the airport cover two hundred forty one national and international routes and. it's one of the three major moscow airports along with. and it will provide once again these pictures here certainly tell quite a story in the international luggage pick up area and this is the pictures the latest pictures here of the aftermath of at least one bomb going off thirty one dead one hundred thirty injured and a russian president dmitri many here there has ordered extra security to be put in place of all moscow airports and we do know the moscow and moscow district governor on their way to here is what the russian president had to say in recent minutes in response to what's gone down at the russia's biggest airport let's have a listen to that. yes. for the shoulder.

to see still as you know there has been an explosion in the airport and the preliminary version is that it is a terrorist attack. and people have been killed and injured. have just talked to the heads of our health care and emergency ministries mostly. we need to do everything we can to make sure which is the good news that the victims get immediate medical help or from currently many ambulances are heading for the method of a. future and i would like to express my condolences to the relatives of the victims. speak. as the news and know about the law enforcement aspect of the incident you see first of all we need to a solution to impose. emergency regime you know airports. and an all inclusive major transport hubs of moscow pollution. so please

mr levin saying as the minister of transport together with the minister of this whole affair is he to do a request to turn pows relevant procedures and cooperation of the federal security service to them to make sure you know gordon's for instance the security legislation that he used to make sure that all investigative action she should listen to the are taken and as far as the investigation is concerned. when it has tabulation investigation committee used. to carry out all required actions immediately on site in the food chain you know you look at the moment you. must. have ordered the maid the mayor of moscow and the governor of the moscow district movement to head to domodedovo. you could. and we need to make sure that all actions are carried out. through and wants to obtain as much information as

possible and try to investigate the incident without delay. the conditions that the speech should be the best and of course from the security point of view and points of view of security in the airports and and on other transport obstacles and the need to pay very close attention to that complex because we have. a whole number of other. of laws conditions and regulations on the topic after certain events and now we need to to reasonable examine how they are exploited and observed because what happened now is the reason shows that's not all of the laws that should be in the midst of active and applied now other than because they are used correctly and we need to sort these things out along the conditions the shipment and machine over but to give answer at the moment is to provide help and support and assistance to those who suffered in the attack from the action itself and as for everything else

all measures should be carried out in accordance with the current legislation you believe in is going to tell me the truth i have given months structures to the home ministry and the federal security service please get down to the russian president dmitri medvedev having an emergency meeting with emergency officials and transport officials to discuss the data but last time that's russia's biggest happened we have reports of at least one suicide bomber at least one suicide bomber detonating his vest in the luggage international pick up area of domodedovo airport we cannot cross live to. give us more details on what president. putin had to say not that they place. this special meeting with the investigative committee with the prosecutor general and the the transport ministry president medvedev first of all said that we should be hot on the. we'll straight away off and try and track down whoever is responsible for doing this they should be hot on

the heels of those people he also expressed his condolences to the victims and said that the first priority right now is to get medical assistance and psychological assistance to those hurt and traumatized by this blast he also noted that. after last march's met metro bombings and the earlier bombings on the no ski express train in both of those instances special anti-terrorist measures were put in place and they should be looked at now to see how they're being implemented and how well those things are those measures are working it's also to be noted now that the moscow mayor and the governor of the moscow region are currently on their way to the airport itself those are all the latest details. we've been showing some pretty dramatic pictures here of the latest pictures that is of the aftermath of the explosions going off in the luggage collection area in the international terminal of domodedovo as you were saying though the moscow mayor in the moscow

district governor they are currently on their way to the airport where security i can only imagine is extremely high a mandatory evacuation of passengers a shutting down of operations what do you think the moscow mayor and moscow district governor hope to achieve by rushing to deal with the enemy to assess the situation what do you think their expectations are and what can we expect. will instances such instances obviously as you've just said the situation is very chaotic very few people know what's going on and in such instances as well as emergency ministries personnel it's very important to try and show some leadership to show that their government is responding fast to the to the events as they unfold so by going there both the mayor and the governor showing that the local authorities are on top of the situation. concern they'll be able to provide leadership. up to date and get all up to date information as it happens the actual

science the blast but the good president his office is staying in the capital and coordinating efforts there as we've just heard from this meeting but i think that the presence of the mayor and the governor there are not only a sign but also a real developments that the local government is trying to coordinate efforts as efficiently and as and as fast as possible as you as as you were saying you know with the russian president waiting wasting no time at all to get straight on television to or to assure the public to assure those who are tuned in that you know this is under control of the investigation has begun security measures are being implemented and that the powers that be are on the case are not putting my thank you. back in the studio here with our people of el the host of crosstalk and always offering us some analysis on what's going on here we saw some pretty powerful blast here but you're saying it that kind of beats the point i think i

think we should show those pictures again as gruesome as they are the latest pictures from says it see them again because this is really what it's all about the from the perpetrators point of view they want to show their handiwork here they're showing their masters what they can do they've shown that they have the ability to do it they pulled it off peculiar a lot of people whoever did this is very proud of themselves right now and the people that are working with them i believe and it's just my opinion to be on the borders of this country and they want to show that they can pull this off and it's a fundraiser they do it from time to time because overall they're not going to succeed here in russia i mean russians are very very stoic people they've gone through this before we've had a riff attacks here it's to have sex and after we've gotten really little sympathy outside of russia's borders ok who was the first person that called george w. bush on nine eleven it was glad and we're proud. ok i hope i hope mr obama called president medvedev today because it happened to us again and we don't get the input

the that we deserve to be on the borders of this country i'm talking about the west let's let's talk about what happened on the last march major bombings here in moscow two key stations that you and i are very familiar with here pocket two just down the street from the odds are building here. we have two events there in it in a coordinated a very short space amount of time we've had one or more blasts and one a centralized location that of dumb idea if your what are the chances what are the concerns for a continuation for something more so i mean you know just thinking about looking at those gruesome pictures i mean when we think of protecting airports what are we really thinking about we don't want somebody get a bomb on an airplane that's what we're thinking about when we think of airports we're not top of mind is not arrivals because that's when the jobs don't right you ended your trip you're leaving and i think that this was a the evil genius behind this attack because you're looking at people arriving to

go somewhere so their baggage security needed i might feel like i didn't go that far you know new security but if you're coming in so you know what if you're coming in to meet loved ones or pretending to be loved ones you can walk straight in the door and it's like a claim is a lot more access right there getting into the terminals obviously we all know that to get you know you get your ticket after you go through security again then there's another security check how many security checks are there in the way out of a flight it's not the same it's a very different calculus right there what we may have is just really tightening that down but i think it should be done absolutely should be done ok people that don't need to be there shouldn't be allowed there you're not going to be able to meet your loved ones and to get on to the sidewalk or even further away from the airport because every transportation hub in the world is a target for terrorists possible targets for terrorists but when it comes to the moscow authorities the moscow security force. the intelligence here they're not going to take this lying down as we know the moscow man he's on route to the

airport as he is the most. all of those people i would want to be in the room with dmitri medvedev behind closed doors ok i would not want to be there ok because there's huge responsibility as if we if we just take a moment here with brand new pictures here the latest pictures from the region. here in the russian capital we're seeing some emergency services. came by there. and essentially we've got a rush to our say with security forces and investigators as well here more pictures of the immediate moments following the last blast and yes we do see bodies on the ground this is rather graphic footage here but it does show the effect of whether it's one or more suicide bombers painted this this was no small attack this is a pretty big it mean for there are cameras there i mean i'm not a specialist with explosives obviously but to look at that kind of blast either someone very heavy said looking walk in there or that was multiple it could have

been. electronically from a distance i mean we have seen this. before with the two women in the in the metro last year in march where you know you do your they get hooked up and then somebody from a telephone calls that they just call them up and then it explodes so we're going to be looking at you know i want to take a step back right here i mean we have to look at precedent and what has happened in the past and what kind of terrorist attacks have been here we should look in one direction instantly. to a certain group of people let's not do that that is not the right way to do this we have to have an open mind and we have to think about all possibilities and let the physical evidence tell us what to do assume anything until we get a look at the data. across from him giving us some analysis in the in the set. up to date now thirty one killed one hundred thirty injured here the. this is a terrorist attack according to the investigative committee the police say at least

one at least one suicide bomber was responsible for the blast of blasts at russia's domains you have airport here in moscow more details to come right here at r.t. stay with us. hungry for the full story we've got it first the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers.