Love and the bomb: how, because of problems in the family, a resident of Kiev almost killed 176 people

August 17 , 1988 from A Tu-154B plane with 176 people on board took off from Kiev to Kuibyshev (now Samara). Among them was 46-year-old Larisa Grib. Together with her daughter, she flew to visit her sister Polina.

It could have been an ordinary family vacation, if it had not been overshadowed by one unpleasant event. An improvised explosive device was found in the luggage of a Kiev woman. Who put it there and why, read in our material.

On August 17, a plane from Kiev landed at Kuibyshev airport. Arriving Kiev women were met by the daughter of Larisa's sister - Galya. They all went home together, where the woman immediately began unpacking luggage to distribute gifts to relatives. She was carrying with her scarce goods at that time: meat, butter, sausage and cheese. The total weight of the luggage was about 15 kilos.

When the women opened the box, instead of the capital's products, they saw a box filled with nails inside. Larisa's husband packed her luggage before leaving. But why did he need to put a box inside and hammer it with nails? "There's something wrong here," the Kiev woman decided and began to open the boards.

What lay inside caused them misunderstanding and horror. A strange ticking device with wires, a balloon and bags of some kind of liquid resembled a bomb that they once had to see in a movie. Larisa thought that her luggage was mixed up at the airport, so she took a box and went to find out where her groceries were. But when the woman arrived at the scene, police officers and special services began to deal with her.

During the interrogation, it immediately became clear that the passenger herself did not even know about the presence of a bomb in her luggage. Then they began to consider other versions, among which were a terrorist attack due to anti-Soviet views, a domestic motive and a mental illness of the suspect.

The first in the list of people who were probably involved in the installation of the bomb was Larisa's husband Vasily Grib. However, the biography of the man characterized him as an exceptionally conscientious Soviet citizen: a retired military man, served in the Far North, was awarded the medal "For Impeccable Service", worked as an engineer at the Kiev plant "Generator", was a member of the CPSU. The investigators could not find anything defamatory and suspicious. Despite this, the man decided to establish surveillance.

The very next day, having learned that the plane on which his wife and daughter were flying landed safely, Vasily urgently left somewhere in his car. Fortunately, due to his excitement, he did not even notice that several cars were following him.

Vasily Grib the day after the departure of his wife and daughter

The investigators, who were driving behind, perfectly managed to see how the man throws some objects on the side of the road, then drives deep into the forest belt and repeats this action several more times. After studying the subjects, they were finally convinced that it was Vasily Grib who organized the attempted terrorist attack. But why?! That was still to be found out.

The Grib couple had been together for more than 20 years, raised two daughters and, as Larisa herself assured, lived "soul to soul." However, after talking with colleagues and friends of the couple, the investigators found out that not everything was so cloudless in their family. It turned out that Vasily had already been caught cheating several times, because of which Larisa was very jealous of him, carried out regular checks of pockets, asked to report for almost every penny spent and periodically arranged scandals.

And she could be understood. One day Larisa found out that a friend from the Far North, with whom Vasily constantly communicated on the phone, turned out to be ... a woman. An affair with a 32-year-old resident of Igarka, Galina Galanina, began during Vasily's service and gradually acquired a serious character. The lovers even managed to live in a civil marriage and together brought up Galina's sons from past relationships. But soon Grib had to resign and return to Kiev, where another family was waiting for him.

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During the interrogation, the man admitted that he did not have the courage to divorce his wife. But he could not tolerate her eternal "jealousy and reproaches" either. In addition, the mistress from the North insisted that he finally decided with whom he would live. Then Vasily decided to go to extreme measures.

In the laboratory at work, he made a bomb and installed it in his wife's luggage. The device was supposed to detonate when the plane was in the air, but apparently one of the wires came off during transportation. Thus, the careless work of an airport loader saved 176 lives.

As evidence of the man's guilt, his own words and a list of literature that Vasily took from the library of the House of Officers served as evidence. All of it was devoted to the manufacture of explosive devices, and thanks to the education of an electronic radiophysicist, he easily figured out all the nuances.

The list of literature that was found in Vasily's house

Vasily bought gunpowder for explosives from a hunter friend. To do this, I had to withdraw 25 rubles from the book. After seeing this record, Larisa arranged another scandal for her husband. He became the "last straw", the cheater admitted later.

The sole purpose of his act was to eliminate his wife and avoid red tape with divorce and division of property. Vasily didn't care about all the other people — that's what he told the investigators during the interrogation. And even though Larisa's wife defended her husband at the trial, refusing to believe in the terrible truth, he still received his punishment in the form of 13 years in prison.

Do you think the sentence was deserved? What do you think about this incredibly stupid and cruel act?