President Vladimir Putin presided over an elaborate awards ceremony and government-backed youth parties staged music and dance concerts today as Russia marked an independence holiday recast by the Kremlin as a celebration of Russia itself.

AN explosion believed caused by a terrorist bomb derailed a train travelling from Chechnya to Moscow during yesterday’s national holiday, injuring at least 15 people.

The derailment of a train travelling from the Chechen capital Grozny to Moscow today was apparently caused by an explosion on the tracks, the Federal Security Service said.