In 1999, a series of bombs explode in Russian apartments, killing hundreds and spreading panic. No one knows who is behind it. But when one device is spotted before it detonates, troubling questions emerge. Was it really a bomb? Why is the country's security service changing its story? And why are the people who probe too closely turning up dead? Tim Harford is joined by Helena Merriman, host of new BBC podcast The History Bureau - Putin and the Apartment Bombs, which charts the mysterious events surrounding the rise of Vladimir Putin, and asks why the real story sometimes gets missed.
For a full list of show notes, see timharford.com.

The Sightseeing Flight and the Invisible Mountain
39:36

Presenting: Drug Story - On Xanax and Anxiety
46:28

"And it went click" - Dawn of the Working Dead
41:28