The Chechen War was re-started in 1999, supposedly in response to a Chechen attack on neighbouring Dagestan and the blowing up of apartment blocks in Russian cities in which over 300 citizens died. It is widely believed that both these pretexts were stage-managed by the Russian Government itself, which would mean it was responsible for the politically motivated mass murder of its own citizens. The former Director of the FSB Vladimir Putin came to power in the 2000 presidential election as a would-be saviour of the nation on a wave of anti-Chechen hysteria. Anna Politkovskaya reported uncompromisingly on the war and on its accompanying atrocities.