Deadly bomb blast in Moscow

**Nick Miles** (0:00)
This is The Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.
I'm Nick Miles, and in the early hours of Sunday, the 2nd of August, these are our main stories. A bomb blast at a restaurant in Moscow has killed three people and injured many more. So, who was responsible? After his policy climbed down, pressure grows on the head of world football. And tributes to the well-known mountaineer, Nirmal Purja, who died on a treacherous peak in Pakistan with nine other climates. Also in this podcast…

**Lucas** (0:34)
My mum was very like, oh, you've got a detective coming to speak to you, you're in a lot of trouble. So, sat, waiting, oh my gosh, who's going to come? How much trouble am I going to be in?

**Nick Miles** (0:44)
The growing number of young illegal cyber hackers and attempts to rehabilitate them.
In recent months, the Russian capital, Moscow, has become the target of ever increasing numbers of drone attacks from Ukraine. It's brought the conflict closer to ordinary Russians than ever before. Now we're hearing that there's been a bomb blast in the city, in which at least three people have died and more than 20 injured. Emergency services and investigators have been at the scene, but the authorities have so far not confirmed who they believe was the target of the attack. BBC Russia's Olga Ivshina told me what we know so far.

**Olga Ivshina** (1:28)
Russian National Anti-Terror Committee admitted that it has been an explosion in the restaurant in the center of Moscow. The first version was that it might have been a gas equipment, but then they made a statement that this has been an explosive device.
This already means a lot if you decipher this Moscow officials' talk. This means they admit that something extraordinary happened, rather than claiming it was just troubles with some gas equipment. And of course, the fact that the statement was done by National Anti-Terror Committee means that they are treating this as an emergency, and treating it as possible, possible terror attack.

**Nick Miles** (2:10)
Now, Olga, are there other reports coming out from media that's not controlled by the state?

**Olga Ivshina** (2:15)
Yes, so Russian Independent Media has been summarizing information, and it seems that eyewitnesses, which have been on the ground, were saying that possibly it was some military official who had some celebrations in that restaurant, and also they believe that the person who was trying to enter the restaurant, they exploded. They claim this was a woman. So this is not official information, but this is what has been reported by Russian Independent Media, citing their sources, that it has been a woman.
As she was stopped by a security guard at the entrance to the restaurant, she has exploded.

**Nick Miles** (2:55)
Now, in the last couple of years, several senior Russian military figures have been assassinated in and around the Russian capital. What reaction did Moscow have then?

**Olga Ivshina** (3:06)
Indeed, it has been sort of a pattern. Since December 2024, three Russian generals have been successfully assassinated near their houses and one more general has survived the assassination attempt. So clearly, it has been a pattern. Of course, this is not discussed widely publicly because of Russian military laws. The discussion of such things can bring you to jail for several years. But this is a restaurant in the center of Moscow. Of course, it affects mood of people, especially in the big capital. They feel that the war is becoming closer and closer to them. They feel the impact as opposed to a few months or a few years ago, especially for people living in Moscow and in other major Russian cities.

**Nick Miles** (3:53)
Olga Ivshina.
Football, so often dubbed the beautiful game, is still in the middle of an ugly standoff. It features the head of the sports global governing body on one side, with increasing numbers of officials on the other. After days of uproar from regional football bodies, FIFA's boss, Gianni Infantino, scrapped his plans to sell stakes in the World Cup and other competitions to private investors. But that may well not be the end of the matter. The European Confederation, UEFA, said it had lost confidence in Mr. Infantino's leadership. Laura McAllister is the vice president of UEFA, so should he step down?

**Laura McAllister** (4:32)
It's his decision, isn't it? If momentum gathers and other confederations issue statements similar to ours, then I think it would make his position untenable. But let's see how the next 24 hours or so goes. Our responsibility always is to look after European football interests, and we've made that very clear in the statement that the events, not just of this week, but of previous weeks as well in the World Cup over the overturning of the Baligan Red Card due to political interference, and of course various other events have accumulated to give us a sense that the leadership of FIFA doesn't have the best interests of football at heart.