MOSCOW – Moscow on Wednesday held a day of mourning for the 35 killed in a suicide bombing at its main airport as President Dmitry Medvedev fired a senior official for security lapses that allowed the tragedy.
Grieving Russians were lighting candles and bringing flowers to the Domodedovo airport where a suicide bomber slaughtered 35 people and wounded dozens Monday afternoon.
Churches, mosques and synagogues across the country held services for the victims, Russians queued to donate blood to help treat the wounded, while major TV channels were expected to suspend entertainment programming. Medvedev, who was scheduled later in the day to head to Davos to convince investors Russia can defeat terror, announced he had fired a senior transport official and threatened more dismissals in the future. “All the officials responsible for organising the (security) process must be brought to their senses,” he said in televised remarks.
“Those who did not work properly must be punished,” Medvedev said, saying that he dismissed the head of the interior ministry’s transport administration for the Central Federal District, Andrei Alexeyev. Russian authorities are under pressure after failing to prevent Moscow’s second devastating attack in less than a year.
