[9][10] Gochiyayev claimed that he was framed by an old acquaintance, an FSB officer[11] who asked him to rent basements "as storage facilities" at four locations where bombs were later found.

An independent public commission to investigate the bombings, chaired by Duma deputy Sergei Kovalyov, started its work in February 2002.

On March 5, Sergei Yushenkov and Duma member Yuli Rybakov flew to London where they met Alexander Litvinenko and Mikhail Trepashkin.

Trepashkin located Mark Blumenfeld, the owner of the Guryanov Street basement warehouse in Moscow where the explosives were stored.

[14] Trepashkin was unable to present his evidence in court because he was arrested a week before the trial,[15] charged with illegal arms possession and divulging state secrets.

The last time author Yuri Felshtinsky and Litvinenko saw Gochiyayev was in 2002 to obtain his written statement, in which he admitted having helped to "rent these premises on Guryanov Street, Kashirka, Borisovskie Prudy and Kopotnya".