Some Russian journalists and politicians suspect that the authorities might have had a hand in the apartment-block bombings. There is no hard evidence, and Putin calls the very suggestion “immoral.” But the media’s exaggerated portrayal of the war as righteous self-defense against international Islamic terrorism certainly helped the obscure, newly appointed prime minister to gain rapidly in popularity. In a matter of weeks he won himself such unanimous support on the Chechen issue that any politician who dared to voice doubt about the war risked being branded a traitor.