Russia demands Moscow airport owners pay damages in 2011 attack

MOSCOW, July 24 (UPI) -- The head of the Russian Investigative Committee said Friday that the owners of Moscow's Domodedovo Airport must pay damages to the victims of a 2011 terrorist attack that killed 37 and injured 172.

Investigators blame the airport's owners for security lapses that failed to stop the attack.

"The airport's owners have evaded financial responsibility... We have told them they must pay up or be held liable as the facility owners and managers," Alexander Bastrykin said at a meeting of the committee's board, RapsiNews reported. "They didn't flee but continued to live in Moscow. We know them by name, and we are pressing them to repay the colossal damages from the terrorist attacks."

On Jan. 24, 2011, a suicide bomber from the Caucasus region, detonated a bomb in the international arrivals area of the airport. Russia's most wanted man at the time, Doku Umarov, ordered the attack.

Some 28 men connected with the terrorist organization known as the Caucasus Emirate were linked to the attack at Moscow's main international airport, according to Russian investigators. In 2011, 17 of the 28 were killed in special operations, while four were detained.

In November 2013, the Moscow Region Court gave life sentences to Islam Yandiyev and to brothers Ilez and Basir Khamkhoyev. They are serving their terms in a high-security prison, while Akhmed Yevloyev was sentenced to 10 years in a medium-security jail.

Last month, Russian authorities opened the criminal inquiry against a handful of former executives at the airport. Investigators believe that the actions of these owners led to an increase in the airport's vulnerability and civil aviation services that failed to meet security requirements.