Both Russians and expatriates expressed sorrow and horror at the airborne terrorist attacks that struck New York and Washington late yesterday afternoon Moscow time, saying the sheer scale of what they heard and saw sent them into shock.

A few hours after the news of the tragedy broke, a number of Russians had gathered outside the American Embassy — some carrying flowers, which they laid by the building, another lighting a candle, and still another attaching a piece of cardboard to the fence that read, "America, we mourn for you."

"I heard the radio as I was on my way home," said Oleg Pomyalov, an auto mechanic from Moscow, who laid a bunch of red carnations by the building entrance. His voice shook as he spoke, and he kept shaking his head, saying that though he’d never been to America, what had happened affected him deeply. "It’s hard to speak. It’s just the most terrible tragedy," he said, fighting back tears.

Sitting down watching the growing crowd of journalists set up their cameras, pensioner Gennady Morozov, 66, explained how he’d learned of the news on television and decided immediately to come to the embassy.

"I cried, threw on my clothes and came down here," he said. "I’ve loved America since I was a child. I’ve never been there, but I’ve read Mark Twain, I can list all the states."

Morozov, who once spent seven years in prison for anti-Soviet propaganda, after which he couldn’t go back to his job at the Mosfilm studios and became a taxi driver, said he’d always felt a strong love for America and that he felt he had to be there at the embassy, especially now.

In an echo back to the Yugoslavia airstrikes in 1999, which provoked strong anti-American sentiments among the Russian public, Moscow inventor Dmitry Soldatov, 48, described how, after learning that a plane had hit the Pentagon, his son said the Americans deserved it for what they did in Yugoslavia.

"I almost hit him," Soldatov said. "I was also against what happened in Yugoslavia, but this is different, those were soldiers obeying orders. These are just innocent people who have nothing to do with it at all. I said to my son then, ‘well, I’m going to go down to the American embassy right now.’

"I’m a Christian and I try to love my enemies," Soldatov said. "But when this kind of event happens, all I can do is feel so sorry for the innocent people. I hope this will show us how important it is to learn to become closer to each other, to feel more for each other."

Most people didn’t want to hazard a guess at who could be behind such atrocities.

But Anatoly Safonov, 18, a student from Yakutsk in Siberia, said he thought it was the Arabs. "The United States is acting as a peacemaker, but the Arabs don’t like what it’s doing," he said. "The United States is a great country. This just shouldn’t have happened."

The guards and policemen at the embassy refused to make any comment. As for the taxi driver who drove us to the embassy, he hadn’t heard the news at all, but when we told him, he turned on the radio, listened, and then refused to take any money from us.

"No one is safe," he said. "Not anywhere. Such a prosperous country, and then this happens. It’s a nightmare."

Later in the evening, though, the crowd of well-wishers thinned out somewhat, and were replaced by skinheads and other radical nationalists. These groups were pushing a contradictory message of support for America after it was hit by terrorism: condemning Arabs, Chechens, and Muslims in general and condemning America for allegedly supporting radical Islamic groups in the first place.

Meanwhile, outside the Riverside Towers business center, the majority of those interviewed said that though they had been in Moscow in September 1999 — when the city experienced a wave of terrorist attacks — what they had just seen in the United States was of an incredible scale.

"It’s difficult to conceive of a more concentrated terrorist attack ever," said Donald Levens, 40, of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, who was leaving his office. "It’s a different scale to 1999.

"This is like something out of a horror movie," he added.

Sergei Volfson of Chadbourne & Parke LLP concurred.

"I really feel a great deal of horror at this," he said.

He added that he was worried about people close to him in the United States. "I have some friends in New York, and I am feeling really upset for them and will try to give them a call when I get home."

Others expressed fears that the horrific attack on the United States could inspire other terrorists to attack countries around the world, including Russia.

"It is a terrible, terrible tragedy," said Anna Klishevskaya, 28, of Hendrick & Struggles. "As a Russian I am well aware of what terrorism means. I am really worried about my relatives [in Russia] in light of what happened. When I first saw it on television I couldn’t believe it."

Kirill, 24, of MIG Consulting, also expressed worry at what had been unleashed on the United States. "Personally, I am very fearful as a result of all that has just happened. Just thinking back to last August [and the bombing at the Pushkinskaya underpass] I can say that these events upset me and make me feel extremely vulnerable."

But he also felt the entire strategy behind the terrorist attacks was pointless. "It is without reason. I suppose the terrorists thought that this assault would release a wave of horror across the world. But I think they will get nothing out of it."

Given the extraordinary scale of the attacks on New York and Washington, others wondered about the American response to the perpetrators of the crime.

"I hope the [American] reaction is considered but firm. I hope it’s not panicky or short-lived," said Stewart Naunton, 52, a British national who was on his way out of his office. "The little we saw was awful, absolutely horrifying."

Sergei Kuzmin, 24, an officer with Rodon, a riot police unit, said it was essentially that the masterminds of this attack be found, possibly by joint international effort. "But if the U.S. launches an assault on whom they blame, that might become the beginning of something really horrible.

"The terrorists have to be dealt with as soon as possible," he added. "This catastrophe is a real reason for all international agencies to join forces against terrorism — specifically, Islamic terrorism."

Nick Hawkins, 34, a British national, said he was in the middle of a business discussion with a partner in Europe when the person he was speaking to cut him short to say what was happening. "It is unbelievable. Totally incomprehensible and shocking. Any loss of life is absolutely tragic," he said. "But this is a very significant event and creates a great deal of uncertainty in the future," he added, referring to possible future attacks and their effect on the international community.

Alexander Bychkov, 32, a marketing director of the Internet hub, an Internet cafe, said that he sees what happened as a defining moment, similar to other crucial turning points in history.

"The first thing I thought of was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand on 28 June 1914, which triggered World War I," he said. "It’s unbearable to know that so many innocent people died for nothing."

His colleague, Svetlana Petukhova, said that the husband of her friend works in a building close to the World Trade Center. "We still don’t know what happened with him. And what scares me most even not that already happen but what might happen on the following days.

(Staff writers Karine Jones, Chris Doss, Dmitry Bulgakov and Vladimir Kitov contributed to this report.)