MR. KOJO NNAMDILater in the broadcast, our extreme weather and what it says or doesn't say about climate change. But first, an update on the bombing at Moscow's busiest airport. Russian state media are reporting that at least 35 people have been killed and more than 130 were injured in the blast earlier today. President Dmitry Medvedev said in televised remarks that the blast was a terrorist attack.

MR. KOJO NNAMDIJoining us with the latest on this story is Jessica Golloher. She is a Moscow-based reporter who used to work for WAMU 88.5. She joins us by telephone from Moscow. Jessica Golloher, thank you for joining us.

MS. JESSICA GOLLOHERIt's my pleasure, thank you.

NNAMDIJessica, what is known so far about whom may have been responsible for this attack?

GOLLOHERWhat we're learning right now is it definitely was a suicide bomber. Officials say that they found the decapitated head of the man that they believe was responsible for basically blowing himself up. They say he is of allegedly Arab appearance. He’s between the ages of 30 and 35. Originally, police suspected that it was just basically a suitcase bomb that had gone off and now they're saying that it definitely is a suicide bomber.

NNAMDIAny indication of motive at all on the part of the alleged bomber?

GOLLOHERWell, there are various theories that are going around. Russia is or has been battling Islamist insurgents in the (unintelligible) northern (unintelligible) region of the country for at least the past decade or so. There is some talk of it basically being Islamic insurgents. There are other theories that are floating around. This one, I thought, was really interesting, that Russia has pretty bad infrastructure. This is nothing that is not known to a lot of people that are here.

GOLLOHERSome people were speculating that the best way that they could, and this is a terrible thing to say, to make money is to basically set off a bomb in one of the airports in Russia and cause all of this mayhem. And now basically the government would have to come in and spend all of this money on better infrastructure and security. So those are some of the ideas that are floating around.

GOLLOHERBut it could be Islamic insurgents and then it could be some people that are just trying to, this is a bad thing to say, make a buck by having something horrible like this happen and then the government coming in and having to restructure everything and hire companies out for security reasons and to make the security better at the airport. Those are some of theories that are floating around.

NNAMDIJessica, what's the latest on causalities and injuries?

GOLLOHERThe latest is at least 35 people have been confirmed dead. There are at least 150 other people that have been wounded. The people that you had seen that are coming out of the airport, they still are bringing people out of the airport, have blood on their faces. It’s not a good situation. But the airport has been completely evacuated. They’re not letting any flights come in or any go out. But they do expect more causalities, that's at least what they're telling us right now.

NNAMDIWe're talking with Jessica Golloher. She joins us by telephone from Moscow about the apparent suicide bombing that took place at Moscow's airport today. If you have questions or comments call us at 800-433-8850. How are Russian authorities responding to this so far? What has President Medvedev had to say?

GOLLOHERHe has been very, very upset, obviously. He is bound to find those responsible for the attack and make sure that justice is served. There have -- security has also been beefed up throughout the city, at the city's airports. There are two other airports in Moscow. On the subway system and also train station, security throughout the city has been beefed up. Also, I was in the metro earlier today. There are a lot more armed policemen in the metro.

GOLLOHERThe problem is, is that Moscow is a city of 17 million people. A lot of people drive in the city. It’s going to be really difficult to put the city on lockdown, but there is an increased police presence in Moscow after the attack.

NNAMDILast March, Moscow was rocked by twin suicide bombings that killed 40 people in the city subway system. You also all remember September, 2004, when Chechen rebels killed more than 300 people, half of them school children. In your experience, how do Russians on the street respond to these crisis?

GOLLOHERYou know, it very -- quite frankly, I think the biggest response you see is from the international community because we're not used to these sorts of things and it's not, you know, something that happens every other day here in Moscow. But I think Russia has been pretty volatile over the last decade or so. So I think, more for the ex-patriots that are here, there's a lot more surprise and my goodness, I can't believe this is happening.

GOLLOHERRussians have a lot to deal with in their daily lives anyway. This is something that they've learned to deal with. I'm not saying that they're happy about it, but I can't really say that they're surprised. And I interviewed a woman earlier today and I said, you know, this is the second suicide bombing that has happened within the last eight or nine months here in Moscow. Are you surprised?' And she looked at me deadpan, no, not really. Should I be?'

GOLLOHERThose are some of the things that you hear. You know, it is a terrible situation, but people have to live day-to-day. It’s one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in. They have other issues to deal with and, you know, this is just something that apparently keeps happening here and unfortunately, will most likely happen in the future.

NNAMDIIn general, have there been any other internal or external terrorist threats in Russia, in general, or in Moscow recently?

GOLLOHERThe latest that we have heard as reporters was that this latest suicide attack that happened today, that Russian officials had been given warning about this attack. That a terrorist group, an Islamic group, had said that they were going to step up attacks in Russia and that it would be at an airport. After the suicide bombings that happened in March in Moscow's subway system an Islamic group said that they would step up attacks in Russia's heartland.

GOLLOHERThat means also not, in addition to Moscow, that they were going to step up attacks in St. Petersburg and throughout the country. We did see one other train bombing, I believe, like, on the tracks from Moscow to St. Petersburg, but no one was injured in that a couple months after the Moscow subway bombing. So there has been threats and, unfortunately, it looks like a suicide bomber today, that this happened as well.

NNAMDIJessica, this happened at Russia's busiest airport, some 20 million people pass through it every year. You’ve passed through it quite a few times. What is security normally like there?

GOLLOHERYou know, unfortunately, I said to a friend of mine a couple months ago when I left the country, 'it would be really easy if you wanted to plan some sort of attack here. It's not like the West. It’s better than it used to be. I was here 15 years ago and the security was nothing. There are ways to get around the security here. It’s not the same as it is in the United States. There aren't the full-body scanners that I've seen, at least.

GOLLOHERRussia, in a lot of ways, is like a Third World country. And after something like this happens, I think -- you know, and the president has said that they need to beef up security here. It’s not -- I'm not even sure how I can describe it to the people that are listening, but it is lacking compared to Western security.

GOLLOHERIt’s obvious to most people and the people that are running security here in Russia don't really -- there seems to be searching of bags and things that you'd have to do, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of paying attention to detail and really looking like there's a lot going on that you're really beefing up security, if that makes any sense. So it's lacking, that would be the best way to describe it, I think.

NNAMDIIt's difficult to make an interpretation based on what President Medvedev said in the short term, in the wake of this. But have there been any indications -- is there any realistic expectations of whether security procedures are going to change dramatically in Moscow because of this bombing?

GOLLOHERYou know, I really do believe that, you know, after the subway bombings that we had in March, you could definitely, definitely see an increased security presence in Moscow. So I think there will be an increased presence here at the airports as well. Unfortunately, it takes something as horrible as this for people or for the government to beef up security. So I do believe it will happen.

GOLLOHERYou know, whether it happens immediately and Russia gets state of the art infrastructure put in at all of the airports to make it wiz-bang fantastic, that remains to be seen. But I definitely do have faith that security will be beefed up. And, you know, like I said, after the Moscow subway bombings, it was a lot better and I feel safer that -- because now I see regularly armed policemen in Moscow's metro. So they are making an effort, it just takes something like this to smack people into place, I think.

NNAMDIJessica Golloher is a Moscow-based reporter. Jessica, thank you so much for joining us. I know you like to be out and about so please stay safe.

GOLLOHERThank you very much. It was my pleasure.

NNAMDIJessica Golloher, as we said, used to work for WAMU 88.5. She’s now based in Moscow. We’re going to take a short break. When we come back, we'll be talking about our extreme weather and what it says or does not say about climate change. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.