Trial Begins for 5 Men Accused in Bombings

Five men went on trial in southern Russia in connection with two Moscow bombings that killed more than 200 people and ultimately led to the Kremlin's second military drive against Chechen separatists.

The five are charged with smuggling explosives in sacks of sugar to Moscow in preparation for the September 1999 blasts.

TV reports said the judge was considering 10 volumes of evidence. Proceedings in a prison camp outside the town of Stavropol about 160 miles west of Chechnya are likely to last at least three months.