Dogma and Geopolitics

Update (below): The assassin with the shotgun

by Roland Sheppard

Malcolm X in 1964, flashing the infectious smile that drew people to him

In the afternoon of Feb. 21, 1965, I went to the Audubon Ballroom to hear Malcolm X speak. I also went to sell the newspaper, The Militant, a radical newspaper that printed the truth about Malcolm X, published his speeches and publicly defended him.

When I got to the ballroom, things were radically different – there were no cops. Normally, Malcolm’s meetings in Harlem were crawling with cops. As I was selling papers, Malcolm X approached the Audubon Ballroom. I offered to sell him the latest issue, but he told me, “Not today, Roland. I am alone and in a hurry.”

A while later as I entered the meeting room, again I did not see any cops. I went in to sit down where I normally sat…

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Classified Nord-Ost Unknown Details [updated]

Written by newtimes.ru

Вторник, 23 Октябрь 2007

Exactly 5 (10 now,23/10/2012) years ago, on October 23rd, 2002, ‘Nord-Ost’ took place Terrorists seized the theatrical center on Dubrovka Street, located eight kilometers from the Kremlin, right in the middle of a show. On stage was the super-popular Moscow musical ‘Nord-Ost’, based on the novel ‘Two Captains’ by Benjamin Kaverin. Several dozen terrorists burst into the auditorium and took 912 spectators and performers hostage. The gunmen shot five. The tragedy lasted for 57 hours, while the terrorists demanded that President Putin withdrew his troops from Chechnya and stop the war. At dawn on October 26th, the federal headquarters gave the order to start a gas attack. Poison gas was used. The terrorists were eliminated: they were shot both during and after the gas attack. During the assault 67 hostages were killed, and 58 more died in buses and hospitals. One of the reasons for this was the gas was kept secret, and the doctors were not prepared to provide effective medical care. Tatiana Klokova, Elena Fedorova, and Olga Shorin prepared this material. October 23rd, 2002 10:45 pm REN-TV telephone interview with the producer of ‘Nord-Ost’, Alexei Ivashchenko: “They came onto the stage at the beginning of the second act. They started shooting, not blanks, but real bullets, because we saw how the bullets hit the wall. The actors rushed helter-skelter around the dressing room. Some managed to climb through a window. There was a lot of shooting.” 11:16 pm REN-TV breaking news: According to latest information, the terrorists warn security forces not to storm the building and are threatening to shoot for 10 people for every casualty on their side. This information was confirmed by radio station ‘Echo of Moscow’. On the Chechen separatist website kavkaz.org, they allege that the concert hall was seized by a Chechen suicide squad led by Movsar Barayev, the nephew of field commander Arbi Barayev, who was killed in Chechnya. October 24th, 2002 4:11 am REN-TV breaking news, reporter Anna Fedotova speaking by cell phone with hostage Maria Shkolnikova, who called during a live broadcast REN-TV: “What’s going on with you?” Hostage: “What’s happening is that people are waiting for the government to start negotiations to free them, but not through aggressive action, since this is impossible. The auditorium is completely booby-trapped. People will suffer if there is an assault. There must not be an assault! That’s how we on the inside feel, and you, of course, must decide this, I mean, those who will make this decision, but there are a lot of people here, about a thousand people. They are all very tired and very worried. There are children and a lot of women and a lot of old people, and we must now do something so that these people are released. We expect you to use a peaceful solution to the problem, not a military solution, because the people sitting here in this hall, they also condemn the war in Chechnya.” REN-TV: “Mariya, is there any change somehow in the mood of the criminals?” Hostage: “No. Right now we are listening to what radio ‘Mayak’ is saying, that the women, children, and foreigners will be released. That is not true! Only those who are going to storm the building are saying that. The women are here, the children are here, and the foreigners are here. Don’t make the situation out to be what it isn’t. There are a lot of people here, and a lot of children.” REN-TV: “Can the (hostages’) families speak by mobile phone? We got information that they were forbidden.” Hostage: “Relatives could speak by mobile phone, because there are a lot of mobile phones. Then the communications were jammed from the outside. I understand that it was jammed by the security services. They didn’t take away the phones, but now the batteries have started to go dead on us, and phones are going dead.” REN-TV: “Can you confirm that the terrorists have explosives?” Hostage: “Absolutely. There are women who left year-old children home and came here, and men. They are set up very powerfully. More than…” REN-TV: “Mariya, hang on!” Hostage: “We very much want to avoid an assault on the building. We want to see this problem resolved through negotiations, and we, as I said, we condemn what is happening in Chechnya.” REN-TV: “But what did the terrorists tell the people? Have they talked with you?” Hostage: “They said they have lost loved ones, and that they have nothing against us personally. This is simply their cry of despair, to draw attention and to try to solve the problem.” REN-TV: “I understand that this is a totally impossible situation, but would it possible now to speak with one of the hostage takers?” Hostage: “One second! (You can hear her asking: “Do you want to say something live on REN-TV?”) Now they’re giving me some figures. (She reads dictation.) During three years of the war in Chechnya there have been 3,000 children under the age of 10 killed. I’m repeating what they’re telling me. 4,500 children under 15 are disabled. 18,000 people are missing. Young people go missing! I’m repeating the words that they are saying. There is cleansing going on, they pick up young people and they disappear.” REN-TV: “Communications were lost. I would like to make the statement that, of course, we have no legal right to give terrorists a podium, but so far as this now affects the lives of so many people, women and children, we thought that in this case it could be possible.” 4:30 am Communications with hostage Mariya Shkolnikova are restored REN-TV: “Mariya, can you try to discuss the issue with some of the militants?” Hostage: “You try it! (You can hear her say: “This is the REN-TV television group.”) Militant: “Yes!” REN-TV: “Hello! We had a tentative agreement that you’d let into the building a film crew, and in return release some of the hostages. Is it possible to do this now? We couldn’t find any representatives from foreign embassies until now. Now we’re ready to find them, that is, they’re already here, we can call them and they’re willing to drive over.” Militant: “We’re not letting foreigners go in exchange for something. We’re just letting them go, understand? Because they are foreigners. Because this isn’t their business. Because this is our business: Russians and Chechens! Understand? Journalists, we’ll let in.” (The connection is lost.) 6:00 am Communications with hostage Mariya Shkolnikova are restored Hostage: “We need here the Red Cross, and ‘Doctors Without Borders’, and that the representatives of these organizations are only foreigners. They may negotiate with them.” REN-TV: “Seven ambassadors are now standing at the entrance to the building.” Hostage: “Listen to me carefully, take a piece of paper and write this down. From Belarus there are two people, Turkmenistan — three people, Germany — seven, Great Britain — three people, Switzerland — two people, the United States — four people, Ukraine — 18. Further on, Canada — one person, Bulgaria — one person, Australia — two people, Latvia — three people, Netherlands — two persons, Moldova 1 person, Yugoslavia — two people, add another person to Belarus, Azerbaijan — five people, Armenia — one person, Georgia — three people. Pass along that from the UK are some very important people, they have K-2 and K-1 visas, whatever that means.” REN-TV: “Mariya, how many kids in the auditorium?” Hostage: “A lot.” REN-TV: “How many is a lot?” Hostage: “Yes, add another three Ukrainians, please.” REN-TV: “Ukraine has 21 people.” Hostage: “Please, there should be representatives of these embassies, and representatives of ‘Doctors Without Borders’ and the Red Cross, but only if there were no people with Russian citizenship, because they will only negotiate with representatives from other…” REN-TV: “So, they want ‘Doctors Without Borders’ and the Red Cross. Mary, please pass along the following: there are now, we can even give their names, four ambassadors and two chief consuls from several countries, in particular, the British consul, the ambassador from the Netherlands, and the ambassador from Australia. It was hard to gather up these people, who are now standing at the entrance along with a film crew. So, now we’ll call and ask that representatives from the Red Cross and ‘Doctors Without Borders’ join us.” Hostage: “Representatives of Red Cross and ‘Doctors Without Borders’. Call them right now. Maybe you can try to bring out the people who are foreign nationals, and then you’ll just monitor as a film crew.” REN-TV: “We’ll do everything, we are now in touch with all the television stations. Mariya, I have a request: I beg you, don’t hang up if we will call you.” Hostage: “I’m not hanging up, but the fact is our battery is giving out.” REN-TV: “Tell me, are there any wounded?” Hostage: “No, no wounded.” REN-TV: “There wasn’t any shooting?” Hostage: “If there was shooting, it was only as a warning.” REN-TV: “But what about food, the condition of the people, water, what’s happening?” Hostage: “The people ate food and there was chocolate, and they drank water and juice.” REN-TV: “As a doctor, can you see what the situation is there, is anyone doing poorly…” Hostage: “Yes, (we need) mostly heart medicines, and analgesics.” 7:00 am Hostage Mariya Shkolnikova on REN-TV REN-TV: “Mariya, we’re bringing you phone batteries just in case, because it could turn out that our only communications may be through you.” Hostage: “Now there’s another issue: we really need for Aslanbek Aslakhanov (ed: at the time the Chechen Member of the Russian Parliament) to call me on the phone.” REN-TV: “Aslanbek Aslakhanov will contact you on this phone, we’ll do it now. Mariya, tell me, if the doctors can bring in some drugs, and what medicines are needed?” Hostage: “Yes, mostly sedatives, valerian, that’s all.” REN-TV: “They can bring them in, yes?” Hostage: “Yes, we only need that there’s nothing extra.” REN-TV: “Mariya, we understand everything.” Hostage: “Analgesics, valerian, heart medicines.” REN-TV: “Mariya, hang in there.” 7:30 am Hostage Mariya Shkolnikova on REN-TV REN-TV: “So, at this time the situation is this: representatives from the Red Cross are driving over… they’ve arrived.” Hostage: “Yes.” REN-TV: “Representatives of ‘Doctors without Borders’ cannot come, they are in the Caucasus, there are none in Moscow.” Hostage: “Okay.” REN-TV: “Ask them how this procedure should be performed. There’s a proposal. The ambassadors… Mariya, could these people take the phone? (Audible are several people speaking, the voice of the hostage and a militant. Mariya Shkolnikova gives the phone to the militant.) Militant: “Let her come alone without a camera. She comes close and they’ll open the door.” REN-TV: “Wait, who?” Hostage: “Politkovskaya.” REN-TV: “Politkovskaya, okay, this is new information. How about the ambassadors and representatives of the Red Cross, and the journalists, two film crews are standing there.” (The militant dictates to the hostage) Hostage: “When Politkovskaya comes up, she should yell that it is her, and hold her ID in her hand.” REN-TV: “What about the foreign ambassadors who came? They’ve already been waiting since six in the morning.” Hostage: “The ambassadors will have to wait.” REN-TV: “They keep changing their demands. We worked hard to gather several ambassadors and representatives of the Red Cross.” Hostage: “The response to that, is that the situation for everyone is dire.” REN-TV: “Okay, I’ll try to do it all. Thank you, once again hang in there.” 7:45 am REN-TV starts to search for Politkovskaya. She is in America. REN-TV: “Hello, Mariya…” Hostage (Anna Andrianova): “Mariya walked away.” REN-TV: “We have some information for you that is very important.” Hostage: “What?” REN-TV: “So, the militants put forward a demand that Politkovskaya should come to the building. Politkovskaya is currently in the U.S.” Hostage: “We have found this out.” REN-TV: “So, the ambassadors and the representatives of the Red Cross are standing here, everything that was demanded.” Hostage: “You know, there was some talk that they’re willing, as a matter of fact, to have at least some dialogue with Mr. Yavlinsky, if he can somehow…” REN-TV: “If it’s possible. These people every 15 or 20 minutes make new demands. I’m not a representative of the government or a representative of the headquarters, I represent a private television station.” Hostage: “But if you can, you have, as a private broadcaster, some outlets…” REN-TV: “We, of course, have outlets, but understand this: is it somehow still possible to directly engage them in dialogue, so that we don’t have to explain everything through you?” Hostage: “I’ll explain that, but they behave as though they’re not very interested, they’re operating from a position of strength, they condescendingly refer to our calls to you. They’ll make contact, but we must do something to make sure contact is not lost.” REN-TV: “Tell me, are they drugged, or something?” Hostage: “No. They’re acting from a position… They have one clear demand: the withdrawal of troops from their country. (Pause) …I have to ask you something, if you can come up with something with Yavlinsky.” REN-TV: “We’ll be sure to pass your request along to the headquarters.” Hostage: “And another request: not to use force. Here they say, let Yavlinsky and Hakamada come, they’re ready to talk with Hakamada.” REN-TV: “Understood, I’ll pass along your request.” Hostage: “And the old request, we’ve repeated it many times: everything is booby-trapped. That is to say no, absolutely no… So that they don’t scare them in anyway.” REN-TV: “I understand.” REN-TV and representatives of operational staff REN-TV: “Mitrokhin and Hakamada. I asked in what condition they were, if they were under the influence of drugs or not. She said no. They are working entirely from a position of strength… and since she said it in front of them, that means they were all standing close around her, not a very good feeling… They agreed… Medicines, understood… So, I’m calling Hakamada so that she can go there… Agreed, in touch… Okay. But could you send someone from the headquarters to our company, so that a man was sitting here, so that we could actively coordinate activities? (Hangs up.) …So, the headquarters says okay, Hakamada is ready to come, but not Yavlinsky, it’ll be his deputy, if they agree… So, you all just stand and wait, while we’ll send these members of parliament… And Sergey Yastrzhembsky said that they’ve prepared a suitcase full of medicines, so if you aren’t allowed in right away, give the whole suitcase full of medicine to Hakamada… That’s all, until the next call.” 10:00 am REN-TV and hostage Anna Andrianova REN-TV: “Across from the building are standing two Red Cross representatives, a foreign journalist, Mr. Franchetti, and Mr. Kobzon. They’re standing next to the building. They’re ready to start negotiations immediately.” Hostage: “I passed it on.” REN-TV: “Can these people enter the building, and how?” Hostage: “When I say that these people can go in, next to me is standing the man who says they’re allowed to enter. If this happens a half hour later, then this man will already be gone and it’ll be necessary to find him and repeat the order again. So do everything they say to do quickly, that’s the thing.” REN-TV: “Understood, we’ll do everything possible.” Hostage: “Yes, I understand that they need individuals who can influence government policy… to fight, and fight for the liberation of Chechnya, and whose opinion is important in the country.” REN-TV: “We’re doing everything possible, everything you say, but the demands keep changing, the names keep changing. Right now…” Hostage: “These aren’t demands, you understand, this is the position of these people. These people want the liberation of their country. Their demand is to stop the war, and all the rest are just the means. Those means suit the people here right now, because they need people with spotless, as it were, reputations in this matter.” REN-TV: “They can negotiate with these people, those whom they requested for negotiations, but how are these people, whom they demanded to for negotiations, how are they to enter the building?” Hostage: “The people who now came, I reported that they had come to them now, and I think they’ll go get them. Yes, they’re going to them.” REN-TV: “So what should they do, should they approach?” Hostage: “Stand outside the building.” REN-TV: “In what place by the building?” Hostage: “Let them go in and climb to the second floor.” REN-TV: “Go through the main entrance…” Hostage: “Through the main entrance, hands up, and climb to the second floor.” Militant: “They don’t have to have their hands up. Have them show their ID.” REN-TV: “Anya, ask them if it’s okay to bring the suitcase with the medicines that you requested.” Hostage: “The medications can come in, but they’ll be inspected.” 11:00 am From a statement by Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov: “All night we tried to establish contact with the bandits. There was one telephone conversation between Member of Parliament Aslakhanov and one of the bandits. The conversation at first started quietly, but then got excited, then further telephone communication was interrupted… Our attempts to call phones that we know to be in the theater, and which belong to these bandits, were unsuccessful. They will not communicate.” 1:57 pm From a statement by the head of the FSB, Nikolai Patrushev: “During the course of the day there were a series of talks with chiefs of foreign intelligence services, who provided us with valuable information. The operational headquarters is acting with confidence, and decisively, firmly, and clearly predicting their actions.” 2:00 pm REN-TV and Mariya Shkolnikova REN-TV: “Mariya, what’s going on right now?” Hostage: “We’re assisting people who are getting worse and worse. There are a lot of them.” REN-TV: “The Chechen Diaspora is willing to negotiate. Which of them are their countrymen willing to let into the building?” Militant: “It’s not necessary to see the Chechen Diaspora here. They can speak with us at any time. If people want to show themselves here, let them come of their own initiative. I don’t think they’ll be harmed. You tell them that they must be credible people.” REN-TV: “Understood…” Hostage: “We’re waiting, because they promised that Nemtsov would be here, and it is our request, the people’s request, because so many people voted for Yavlinsky.” REN-TV: “I beg you, tell all those around you that everyone is doing everything possible to help you all.” Hostage: “Understand, there aren’t any results. So please, we’d really like to appeal to the people and to Putin, if there is a possibility for them just to take some serious measures.” REN-TV: “Now they want to see Nemtsov?” Hostage: “They don’t want to see Nemtsov, they agreed to conduct negotiations with Nemtsov, not negotiations, but to express to him their demands. Nemtsov, Yavlinsky and Hakamada are the people they hate the least.” REN-TV: “We spoke with Yavlinsky. He’s flying here, he’s making an effort to come here.” REN-TV: “Mary, tell me, were you given the medicines?” (The connection is lost.) 3:00 pm REN-TV and Mariya Shkolnikova REN-TV: “Hakamada is arriving.” Hostage: “Hakamada is arriving, that’s good. We want our government to make some kind of a decision, so that the crowd, if possible, would chant ‘pull out the troops’, otherwise they’ll shoot us now. They said this.” REN-TV: “A crowd will not chant this, there’s no crowd here, everyone’s very far away, and there’s a fence, they can see all this from the building. So, pass along the following, if possible: Hakamada is arriving and she is ready to enter into…” Hostage: “They won’t talk with just one woman.” REN-TV: “Understood, just pass along what I’m saying, you can just peacefully, in the same voice, calmly pass it along.” Hostage: “I just finished talking with them.” REN-TV: “No one is nearby?” Hostage: “No, they are far away.” REN-TV: “Very good. Anechka, I beg of you, I understand everything perfectly. So, Hakamada is ready to participate in negotiations. Yavlinsky is in Tomsk right now, his deputy is here, Mr. Mitrokhin, he is standing close by. Here Mitrokhin and Hakamada are ready to negotiate.” Hostage: “Mitrokhin isn’t suitable. They don’t know Mitrokhin. We need Nemtsov.” REN-TV: “Nemtsov?” Hostage: “Yes. If not Yavlinsky, them Nemtsov.” REN-TV: “But what about Hakamada?” Hostage: “Without them, she cannot enter.” REN-TV: “They’re in an aggressive mood, yes?” Hostage: “Now, yes. They want to shoot groups of ten people already. They said: start withdrawing troops, why isn’t your government doing anything to save you?” REN-TV: “Right now the headquarters is taking all actions, they are ready to make contact, not through you, because that’s not how negotiations are conducted. The authorities are now willing to negotiate.” 4:07 pm Josef Kobzon and Irina Hakamada leave the building. A representative of the terrorists, named Abu Bakar, spoke with the MPs. He was not wearing a mask. The terrorists’ promise to release 40 hostages was not fulfilled. 4:47 pm Mariya Shkolnikova is released from the theatrical center, carrying an appeal from the hostages to the President: “We ask you to make the sensible decision, to cease hostilities in Chechnya. You are at the top, and decide these issues, while we just watch. Enough of war, we want peace. Today we are in a life and death situation. We have parents, brothers, sisters, and children. Our lives are on your conscience. We ask you to resolve the issue peacefully, or too much blood will be spilled.” 5:20 pm REN-TV and Anna Andrianova REN-TV: “Anna, what’s going on there right now?” Hostage: “I won’t answer the question, what’s going on here… Can you tell me something about where Yavlinsky and Nemtsov are?” REN-TV: “Yavlinsky in Tomsk, he’s flying to Moscow, as far as I know.” Hostage: “When will he be here?” REN-TV: “At 9:30 pm, according to our information, the aircraft with Yavlinsky arrives in Moscow.” Hostage: “You know, it’s a long flight from Tomsk…” 9:17 pm From news reports: “Negotiations with the terrorists in Moscow are today being conducted by representatives of the Russian presidential administration. The terrorists have refused an offer to exchange hostages for members of parliament who volunteered. Earlier, the leader of the terrorists, who called himself Abu Said, communicated with the operational headquarters and said that inside the building are 50 terrorists: 25 men and 25 women.” 11:00 pm From REN-TV news: “In accordance with a decision by the operational headquarters for the hostage rescue operation, Grigory Yavlinsky has begun negotiations with the terrorists. The negotiators are asking the terrorists to initially release the children and foreign nationals. According to the headquarters, there are about 30 children. Inside the theatrical center building there is only drinking water and chocolate.” October 25th, 2002 3:00 am The director of the Center for Disaster Medicine, Leonid Roshal, and newly arrived from the U.S., Anna Politkovskaya, are allowed into the building. Roshal assisted several hostages and said that the situation is calm, no panic. Most of the hostages have health problems. There are serious illnesses, and four children remain held hostage by the terrorists. 9:00 am From REN-TV news: “Now on Melnikov Street a rally is being held. Relatives of the hostages have gathered by the theatrical center with banners reading ‘No to War in Chechnya’, ‘Down with the Russian army’. The desperate hostage relatives tried to break through a police cordon and enter the building. Among the hostages held by the terrorists are many children. There are continuous negotiations for their release, but no agreement could be reached.” 11:50 am Representatives of the Red Cross leave the building on Dubrovka with eight children. They were released without conditions. 3:04 pm From a statement by Vladimir Putin: “I believe that one of the goals of terrorists is to sow ethnic strife… In no case must we allow this to happen. We must not succumb to provocations from the criminals, and we have no right to allow any illegal acts.” 7:45 pm From REN-TV news: “Yevgeny Primakov entered the building. A half-hour later, Ruslan Aushev, then Alla Pugacheva entered. The negotiators refuse to speak with the press. 11:55 pm Shots are heart in the theatrical center building. October 26, 2002 4:45 am REN-TV breaking news: “In the area of the theatrical center building on Dubrovka, where it is already the third day that terrorists have been holding about 700 hostages, intense gunfire was heard. Three powerful explosions were heard. The police cordon was reinforced and special units have lined up in front of the building.” 5:30 am Gas is released into the building. 7:05 am The operation is complete. 11:00 am From REN-TV news: “A few minutes ago in the Kremlin, a meeting between the President of Russia, FSB director Nikolai Patrushev, and Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov, ended. At the meeting it was said that a coordinated operation was conducted and the work of all agencies involved in the release of the hostages had been assessed as competent and coherent. The FSB director reported to the President that the operation would not end there. The Federal Security Service has a number of materials that they are ready to act upon.” *** During the assault on ‘Nord-Ost’ there were 57 awards handed out: 5 Hero of Russia stars. Soldiers from ‘Alfa’ and ‘Vympel’, who participated in the operation to destroy the militants, only received two of the stars. Two other stars were given to the operational headquarters: FSB General Vladimir Pronichev, the commander of the hostage rescue operational headquarters, and FSB General Alexander Tikhonov, commander of the FSB special forces center. The fifth Gold Star was awarded to the chemist who released the gas into the theatrical center. This became an open letter from the commandos of ‘Alfa’, who told about the classified presidential award decree. 2 Orders of Courage were awarded, to Leonid Roshal and Josef Kobzon. 50 ‘Nord-Ost’ memorial medallions were awarded to members of the Moscow city government and the Moscow city parliament, including those who were on vacation or on business trips outside Moscow during the hostage crisis. The medallions included the phrase ‘for empathy’. Maria Shkolnikova is the head of the Russian Association of Pediatric Cardiology, a doctor of medical science, a professor and chief pediatric cardiologist for the city of Moscow, and deputy director of the Moscow Institute of Pediatrics and Pediatric Surgery Medical University. Maria Shkolnikova was released on the second day after her capture, on October 24th, in order to pass along an appeal from the hostages. She is now continuing to work as the chief cardiologist for the city of Moscow. Anna Andrianova is the chief of the advertising service for the newspaper ‘Moskovskaya Pravda’. She was among the hostages for all of the 57 hours, right up to the assault. At 5:30 am, she phoned to report that the gas had been put into operation. Under the influence of gas, she lost consciousness. She came to the evening of October 26th in the 13th Municipal Hospital. She survived. She continues to head the advertising service for ‘Moskovskaya Pravda’. The terrorists took 912 people hostage. 42 were released before the assault. Of these, Yosef Kobzon brought out four women and three children, while doctors from the Red Cross brought out an Englishman and 8 children. The remaining hostages that the militants released for various reasons were mostly children and foreign nationals. Of the latter, four citizens of Azerbaijan left the building on the night before the assault. On July 11th, 2007, the ‘Nord-Ost’ organization sent the Prosecutor General’s Office a request for criminal proceedings to be initiated against members of the operational headquarters in charge of the hostage rescue. In their statement, ‘Nord-Ost’ noted that the organization of medical assistance to the victims during the hostage rescue was not up to standard. In particular, the gas used to neutralize the terrorists, and which in turn affected the hostages, had no antidote, according data of ‘Nord-Ost’. This is not the first lawsuit against the leaders of the operation. In November of 2002, the first group of plaintiffs filed their suit in the Tver district court, against the Moscow city government. They stated that the rescue operation was poorly planned and organized. The court rejected the claims. On April 28th, 2003, Moscow city court considered an appeal. The court stated that the investigation into the events of October 23–26, 2002, were still ongoing, and that a causal relationship between the special operation and the loss of life had not been established, nor was any guilt found on the part of those responsible for the operation. As a result, the applicants’ claims were rejected. The Russian Supreme Court found no actions by the district and city courts to be in violation of the law. Foreign nationals sued the federal government in the Basmanny Court. The court also rejected their claims. In early April of 2007, proceedings in the ‘Nord-Ost’ case began in the Strasbourg court. The Russian government has already submitted its objections and comments on the suit. The plaintiffs received nearly fifteen hundred pages recently, for their information. They have until November 12th to send to the European Court of Human Rights their response to the Russian government’s arguments. Russian law enforcement authorities have denied the victims access to materials from the criminal cases, examinations, and witness interviews. newtimes.ru

As Novaya Gazeta reported in its previous issue, the Strasburg court has advised the lawyers Igor Trunov and Karinna Moskalenko about the fact the consideration of the Nord-Ost complaint will be classified.

No doubt, such a decision must be met with joy by Russian authorities who have done all their best to classify the circumstances of the terrorist act and the reasons that caused the death of the hostages. Anna Politkovskaya, who in person carried out talks with terrorists, tried to destroy this curtain of secrecy and carried out her own journalist investigation.

February 2003

The judge Gorbacheva from the Tverskoi inter-municipal court considered the tragic story of death of Timur Khaziev, 27, the member of the orchestra in Nord-Ost. The general number of lawsuits was 61. As of today, three first applications have been dismissed.

“When Timur came to work on his last day, he had 10 different IDs with him: the one proving that he is an artist at the Nord-Ost orchestra, the passport, driver’s license… But in the end, when the family received his corpse with a rubber label on his hand, there was a sign there “#2551 Khamiev, unknown”…The family are sure that the death was caused with the fact that no medical aid was given to him, as most likely, his body was taken for that of some terrorist… Khaziev’s family only has certificates of death where no cause of the death is pointed. There is just a blank space. And there is no mention that there was any terrorist act at all”.

April 2003

“The taking of over 800 hostages in the Theater Center on Dubrovka Street in Moscow might have been controlled by Russian special services…Such a conclusion is possible to be made after an interview with Khanpash Terkibaev, 30.

<…> Apparently, this Khanpash has been the man looked for by all those involved in the Nord-Ost tragedy. The man, who secured the terrorist act from inside. According to the information by Novaya Gazeta (and this vainglorious man does not even try to deny it!), Khanpash is the planted by special services agent. He entered the building together with terrorists, as a member of their group. According to him, he had been securing the passage in Moscow and to the Nord-Ost building. <…> Not waiting till the attack made by special unit, he just left the building. He had the map of the place, while either Baraev the nephew, who commanded the terrorist group, or the special unit preparing for the attack, did not have such a map. If there has been such an agent in Nord-Ost that means the authority had been aware of the planned terrorist act. <…> That changes the general course of events of a half a year ago.

August 2003

Anna Politkovskaya has been visited by some representative of a “special group under Moscow Prosecutor’s office, investigating the Nord-Ost case”.

“Naturally, this man turned out to be an FSB investigator. Of course, I know his name, but it does not matter. His appearance itself and his behavior was an indication of HOW all that was done – the check and examination. He said he only had 15-20 minutes and so I had to be laconic. He said the case was about to be dismissed, and now it was no good idea to deal with this “information”, and actually they had found nothing like that during their investigation. He asked a few formal questions and he was not interested to know any special details. He did not even include that into protocol, saying it did not matter much. The only thing he was interested in was that after our publication Basaev threatened to deal shortly with Terkibaev as with traitor. And that interest was put into protocol exactly in accordance with the Criminal Code. So what did this FSB worker come for? Just to find the way of protecting one’s agent and take him out of danger posed by Basaev.  <…> And soon it was announced about closing the Nord-Ost case, considering there were no members of the terrorist group to remain alive and dismissing the investigative group.”

January 2004

A month before the investigation was finished a meeting was held in Moscow Prosecutor’s Office where the investigator from the Investigative Department for Gangsterism and Murders Vladimir Kalchuk met the former hostages and families of those killed in the terrorist act.

“Mr. Kalchuk was asked main questions worrying the involved people, but he did not answer any. However, he told about many other tings…

Q: Do you consider that the video published by Novaya Gazeta might have shown the destruction of some hostages (this is about issue #90 of Novaya Gazeta for 2002. The pictures shot on 26 October 2002 at 6:51 on the threshold of the Theater Complex on Dubrovka Street where a camouflaged woman is aiming and probably shoots at a man with his hands cuffed on his back).

A: No one terminates anyone at that video. This is how journalists want it to look like. We have made an expertise. There a dead body was shifted from one place to another and the woman just shows where it is. We know whose corpse it is.

Q: Whose?

A: I won’t tell you. I tell you something and you will write it is all a lie.  <…>

Q: A question about Terkibaev (one of the terrorist group members, who had left the building before the assault started. – note by editorial board).

A: Terkibaev was not there. And Politkovskaya did not help us. She refused giving any information on Terkibaev. She said “I don’t know anything”.

At the end of the two-hour meeting I had to remind to Mr. Kalchuk the truth about Terkibaev’s case. The matter is that after repeated requests by us, an investigator Timoshin (Kalchuk’s subordinate) came finally to our office and collected all the information we had. That was done and registered with protocol.

Reaction by Mr. Kalchuk to that remainder was inadequate. He told I should stop writing about the topic, otherwise he would hint to the victims of Nord-Ost that my phone number was found in the data base of the terrorists’ phone, and “then we shall see what they will do to you… And actually one may get interested what related you personally to terrorists”. <…> “It was necessary to carry out talks with the terrorists, and so I did”.

February 2004

“During a year and four months only fathers and mothers, not the community, convinced the investigator Kalchuk to allow them to see the materials of cases about the causes of the deaths of their relatives. Finally, he allowed that to some of them under condition they would not copy it officially. <…> so that no further court proceedings followed.  <…>

The parents write out the forensic conclusions about deaths of their children. Here is a one of them, the initial one: “The diagnosis: poisoning with a toxic substance”. It’s clear that it was a poison and not a harmless gas. The initial forensic diagnosis establishes that almost all the killed died from a “toxic” or “unknown” toxic substance. <…> The investigative group, having received over a hundred similar forensic expertises, did not do what it had to. It did not try to establish what exactly gas was it.  <…> Instead, the investigators set about the opposite. They decided that repeated indirect expertises should be done to everyone who died.  <…> The “commissions” established; all those who died (with the exception of 6 persons who died due to non-administering the medical aid) had come to the performance suffering the inner diseases (!), actually they were just seriously ill people, and their diseases had not stood the stress caused by a group of Chechen terrorists. <…> Once special services blabbed out accidentally: “With a purpose of prevention of mass death of innocent people…a special recipe was applied on the basis of derivatives of Fentanil. <…> In accordance with the effective law the data about the composition used in the course of the special counter-terrorist operation cannot be published… (Signed by the head of FSB for Moscow and Moscow region V.N.Zakharov, # 1/1471 dated 03.11.2003)” Mr. Kalchuk looked at that paper, brought to him by the victims, and said (I heard that myself) “I didn’t see that. I don’t know it. Fentanil? Never heard of it”.

April 2004

«<…> 129 killed. All the terrorists destroyed. One accomplice to terrorists (recognized by the court), Zaurbek Talkhigov, got sentenced to 8 years. Another accomplice, Khanpash Terkibaev was killed in a car accident under odd circumstances. Official investigation by Vladimir Kalchuk is going on sluggishly, while all the attempts for a parallel investigation are just ridiculed. What gas was used? Who is responsible for its composition? Who gave the order? Who did not give the order to administer specialized help to those suffered form this gas?  <…> One year and a half after, all those questions are only asked by victims and not by officials.”

July 2004

“All the victims, as it is reported officially, died from their own numerous diseases at the background of dehydration and stress and only slightly due to the use of “non-identified chemical substance”. But why during two years no one has been able to recognize THIS substance? No answer ever was given to that”.

November 2004

A sensation happens in Nord-Ost case: it’s been for the first time after two years that the victims were able to read the decision by the prosecutor’s office about refusing to start a separate criminal case. At the third attempt the judge Susina managed to make the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office submit to the court the materials of criminal case #229133.

…”According to explanation by A.Y.Alabov (his position is not pointed; it appears that this is a special service officer – A.P.)  <…> he saw with his own eyes the doctors light into eyes of the victims, and then the victims were made injections in the gluteal region. <…> What doctors? Officially, there were no doctors in the lobby at 6:30 a.m. Then who could have lit with the flashlights? Was it about mysterious chemists who kept on their experiments and made hastily injections to their still-alive victims, using antidotes known to them only?”

“From the account by the chief physician of Hospital #13: no official information explaining the reasons of the state of the arrived patients was given”. Even these words by the doctor were ignored by investigators: why those who must have informed and who knew what the people had been poisoned with, why didn’t they tell that to the doctors? Investigation did not even try to ask such a question”.

Outcome: “To refuse starting a criminal case in relation to absence of crime in the act <…> by officials responsible for organization of administering medical aid”. This decision was dated 31 December 2002. Over two years have been spent on concealment the main state secrecy.”

April 2005

The victims have managed to get the head of the investigative group Vladimir Kalchuk summoned to the court proceeding. Anna Politkovskaya quotes the dialogs by the lawyer Karinna Moskalenko and Mr. Kalchuk.

M: Where and when did Alexander Letyago die? In hospital? Or in the auditorium?

K: (getting annoyed and beginning to speak in informal tone) Why are we beating the air again? I’ve got many similar cases. Letyago’s death? I just don’t remember.

M: Has the investigative group established the substance used by the special unit during assault made?

K: I was based on official expertise. There was no mentioning any gas there. That all was made up by the media.

M: Then why the page 13 of your report says that the use of Nalaxon (a strong medication used for blocking the drugs with the treatment of addiction of the opium type – A.P.) did not play significant role in the state of the victims?

K: Why do you keep asking? That’s because the victims had been taking this substance constantly. (It’s necessary to explain this statement by the investigator: he affirms that as the unrecognized chemical substance was found with practically all the 129 killed victims, that means all of them had been taking drugs – A.P.).

M: Did the investigation make enquiries so that to identify the substance?

K: Are you teaching me how to work? What else do you want to know? I’m not going to say you anything more!

M: But you are standing before the court.

K: (speaking without the judge’s permission): I’m not going to say anything, you won’t learn anything from me. And I’ll never come here again. I don’t want it.”

December 2005

“This turned out after it had been managed to copy the materials for 60 killed persons, including the forensic expertises. It is pointed there that 40 out 60 persons had not been administered medical aid. The victims wrote a letter to Putin saying that “the materials of investigation have allowed to correct the number of killed – that’s no less than 174 people. The figure of 129 is the frozen figure of three years ago! It is not clear who did this mistake and hid the 45 killed people during three years! The forensic expertises enabled the opportunity of estimating the properties by “harmless” gas. All the vitally important organs were affected with the dead victims after the assault made, which was mortal for them: “sudden heart death”, “syndrome of fast death” – these are just variations of the causes of collective fatal outcome, that may be read in the forensic protocols.”

“Nord-Ost victims have taken every possible step. They placed actions and got refusals in Tverskoi, Zamoskvorezky, Nikulinsky Courts of Moscow, in the Court of Moscow City, in the Constitutional Court. There is only hope for Strasburg, where the case is waiting for its turn being titled as ‘Chernetsova and others versus the Russian Federation’ “.

 

By Marina Daineko

July 13th, 2007

In MZ

http://www.newswe.com/Exclusive/ex1.php#pa118

 

 

 

The face of a little girl who will never grow up.

 

 

But who will answer for this and many other broken lives?

Bright is her memory. Hers, and the memory of all who died at Dubrovka.

The face of a little girl, for whose death old men received medals.

“Happiness is a philosophical concept, and every family has its own happiness. Happiness in our family was Sashenka.” So wrote her aunt, Roza Ishchenko. Look at the Memorial Book, reader. Look at the bright face of this little girl who will forever remain 13. The face of a little girl, who, perhaps, while still alive, was tossed onto the steel floor of a medical service UAZ van by her so-called rescuers, and then covered by the bodies of 12 other hostages.

She was born in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, in 1989. The web site created and maintained by her mother, Svetlana Gubareva, has a memorial book with a page dedicated to every hostage of the Dubrovka theatrical center. Sasha’s address is: http://nord-ost.org/kniga-pamyati/letyago-aleksandra.html.

“Knowing our laws and the work of our Prosecutor General, the connections between that office and the government, we cannot count on anything. ‘Nord-Ost’ is a forbidden theme and it is not advantageous for our prosecutors or the government to investigate this. We have received so much information that the prosecutor would have to work too hard to disprove the evidence against those in charge of the operation at Dubrovka. We, however, do not even rule out the personal responsibility of even the president,” declared Tatiana Karpova, coordinator for the ‘Nord-Ost’ public organization.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“At the very bottom was a 13-year-old girl…”

 

By Svetlana GUBAREVA for NEWSWE.COM

 

The hostage rescue operation could be divided into two parts. The first part covered the actions of the special forces. This part was considered to be a success, and the general consensus is that the actions of the special forces prevented the explosion of the building, and the use of the ‘special substance’ led to a quick knockout of the terrorists. The facts we have gathered from the criminal case and the media, however, attest to the preconceived nature of this assertion.

 

 

 

In her book, ‘Through the eyes of a former hostage’, T. Popova recounts the words of one of the hostages, who told about what went on at that moment in the auditorium: “We all saw white smoke coming from above, and noticed a smell. A woman terrorist was sitting next to me. She said, ‘this is a gas attack — go wet something and breath through this cloth, head for the exit and the ambulances will come for you soon’. My friend and I went to the exit and we told other hostages along the way, but no one came with us. They were afraid to walk past the bomb. We decided that if they were going to blow us up, then it didn’t matter where we were, and we got to the exit. I passed out right at the door.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are more than enough facts that attest to the negligence in organizing medical assistance. Many have viewed scenes from the video chronicle in which one can see the process of carrying people from the theater, piling them on the steps, and loading them into buses without providing enough medical workers or drugs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Referring to this article, I sent a petition to the prosecutor’s office demanding that they investigate and determine the details of what occurred, but I was refused the satisfaction of my legal desire. The investigator did not acquaint me with any kinds of materials that would answer my questions, but did not forget to ask for my signature on a non-disclosure agreement. I consider this an attempt to force me to silence.

Right away it was clear that several persons had were already dead in the vehicle. Not from the gas, but from being crushed under other bodies. At the very bottom was a 13-year-old girl. Diagnosis: crushed to death.”

The first assignment for the intensive-care workers was to unload the vehicle. Fortunately, it was a good time. 9 a.m. was shift change, and there were twice as many workers as usual. They were brought to bear, including this reporter who at first tried to work in his specialty, but after a look from the chief of the department, began to help.

The doors were finally opened, while they, in turn, opened the doors of their vehicle. The department workers’ hair stood on end. Inside the 12-seat UAZ were 30 (THIRTY!) casualties, stacked on top of each other like cordwood (you cannot describe it any other way). Motionless. Without any gunshot wounds. Those who were in the front of the microbus could say nothing about the nature of the injuries.

“…No one even paid attention to the khaki-colored UAZ van that drove up to the department’s doors at about 9 a.m. Those who brought the UAZ did not know that around the side was a door that was always open, for service personnel, and so for a long time they beat against the locked reception doors.

Not long ago I learned how they rescued Sasha. While putting together materials for the web site, I found an old article with a detailed description of the events: http://nord-ost.org/vospominaniya/rasskazyivaet-zhurnalist-ochevidets-sobyitiy.html

I believe that whoever made the decision to use the gas (whether it was the chief of the headquarters staff or V. V. Putin personally) could not help but know that, in making such a decision, he was sentencing us to death. While those who carried out the orders conducted a combat operation at first, they later, in full kit, carried hostages out of the theater because at that moment there was no one else to do it. One of them carried my daughter.

 

Sasha Letyago in the arms of a special forces soldier, a frame from the video chronicle

The use of the ‘special substance’ under conditions where they could not control the individual dosage for each hostage, or provide immediate medical assistance to the casualties, significantly increased the chances of a lethal finale for the hostages.

One can divide ‘siloviki’ into two types: those who made the decision and gave the orders, and those who carried out these orders. The former head of the KGB’s 3rd Directorate (military counter-intelligence), Vice Admiral Alexander Zhardetsky, in an interview with Interfax on October 24th, 2002, stated that it would be impossible to use a gas attack, since children, and adults with illnesses, would “undoubtedly come to a fatal end”.

The facts presented prove that the use of the ‘special substance’ in the theater did not correspond with the reasons for its use: the gunmen were not rendered motionless, and they were able to actively resist.

“Literally right after entering the building, the special forces as one Alfa group member puts it, ‘met counter-fire from assault rifles’. One of the terrorists was shot down in the corridor, and when they entered the room where Barayev and his comrades had given their interview two days before, they again met with fire. Return fire with assault rifles and grenades destroyed the gunmen. According to a ‘Vympel’ team member, the special units entered the auditorium from the direction of the stage and the main entrance. He stated that the bandits on stage fired on the special forces, but were destroyed by return fire. A female terrorist was killed by the hall entrance while she was trying to throw a grenade and fire on the special forces men. The ‘V’ team man stated, ‘in one hand she had a pistol and in her other hand was a grenade with the pin pulled, but she never managed to release the handle’.”

Following the operation, representatives of the special forces gave an interview on television station ‘Rossiya’. Not long ago I managed to view this interview and read an article on it. The special forces soldiers told how a large number of terrorists were conscious and brought frantic, armed resistance to bear: http://nord-ost.org/2002/terroristyi-okazali-ozhestochennoe-vooruzhennoe-soprotivlenie-2.html

From an analytical report on the results of the hostage interrogations (case volume 1, pages 95-6): http://nord-ost.org/prilozheniya-k-dokladu/prilozhenie-14.-analiticheskaya-spravka-po-rezultatam-issledovaniya-protokolov-dop.html “…At the moment of the assault, when the gas was released, Barayev began running around the auditorium and shouting for the windows to be opened. Several terrorists opened fire from the stage, but the hostages were unable to say in which direction they were shooting. The female terrorists did not try to blow themselves up. They covered their faces with their shawls and lay down on the floor among the hostages. In ten minutes everyone was unconscious.”

“ANDRIANOVA: I don’t know what kind of gas it is, but I see the reaction, that these people don’t want the deaths of ours and theirs, but I think our ‘siloviki’ (military, police, and security services) have started doing something, I think they don’t want us to make it out of here alive and they’re ending the situation this way…”

From the transcript:

Radio station ‘Echo of Moscow’ has an audio recording of a telephone call made at 5:30 a.m. on October 26th, 2002; at the very moment the gas was released into the auditorium. You can listen to it (or read the transcript) on the web site: http://nord-ost.org/hronika-terakta/telefonnyiy-razgovor-s-zalozhnitsami-pered-samyim-nachalom-shturma-tts-na-dub.html. The conversation lasts about four minutes – time enough to connect the contacts of a bomb. None of the terrorists, however, made such an attempt.

For the sake of the future of a country whose leadership learned nothing from this tragedy.

For the sake of the memory of the 129 who died together with her.

For the sake of the memory of Sasha Letyago, who in three days would have been 18.

And so we do not keep quiet.

“I know that as long as ‘kangaroo courts’ reign in Russia our chances are minimal, or more precisely, exactly zero. I have already passed through the circles of Hell in court hearings, and I can well imagine what the result will be this time. The Prosecutor General will send the declaration to various agencies, and later there will be a refusal to satisfy the declared demands. I think that the prosecutor’s office will not labor too hard over the justification and the refusal will have some sort of general wording. Later, those who wrote the petition will appeal it in court. It will not be too hard to guess the court’s decision: another refusal. You say that I am a pessimist? No, I am a well-informed optimist; otherwise I would never have even tried ‘beat on a locked door’. After all, one cannot change the world if one does nothing. For most people it was an abstract number, a mere 130 people dying, but they were for us our loved ones, our ‘one and only’. If you have time to read some of the documents, then you will understand why it is impossible to keep quiet about the deaths of these ‘mere 130’.”

I asked her a question by e-mail: what does she think about the group of ‘Nord-Ost’ people who sent a declaration to the Prosecutor General demanding criminal charges against members of the hostage rescue headquarters (a petition that journalists at Grani.ru with their light touch have named ‘Dubrovka against the Lyubyanka’). Svetlana replied almost immediately:

“…Everything’s fine here,” Sveta writes. “I spend a lot of time on correspondence, since one has to talk people into things and direct the process of collecting information by long distance. To convince someone of something in a letter is a lot harder than in conversation. You must think out your arguments with care, and since I think slowly, writing letters is a long and tortuous process. Between letters I go outside the city. The strawberries are ripe and there are already raspberries, mulberries, and cherries along the way. There are a lot of strawberries this year…”

Svetlana Gubareva now lives in Karaganda, or, as she puts it, “a life apart from the Muscovites”. She actively works on bringing to life her idea of a memorial book, http://nord-ost.org/kniga-pamyati/3.html, in which there would be a page dedicated to every one of the 130 who died at Dubrovka.

Judging from the London precedent, however, there may be no objective answers from the Russian Prosecutor General.

Time will tell what sort of answers the Strasbourg court receives.

All these questions essentially coincide with the demands of the former hostages and the relatives of the dead, who for five years have been fighting for a normal investigation into the ‘Nord-Ost’ criminal case.

Were the courts independent and objective, considering the financial support the Moscow city government provides the courts?

Did the government pay attention to all circumstances in identifying and punishing those guilty of the violent operation?

With regards to the lack of medical assistance, were the hostages subject to humiliation and inhumane treatment during the hostage rescue operation?

Was the decision to end the crisis by force (using gas) absolutely necessary?

Did the authorities do everything possible to solve the hostage problem at Dubrovka through negotiations?

Secondly, in the beginning of April of this year, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has begun hearings on a complaint by 57 victims of the ‘Nord-Ost’ case, under the collective title ‘Chernetsova and others versus Russia’. The Russian government was sent a host of very embarrassing questions, such as, for example:

First off, the ‘Nord-Ost’ case, which has now been halted, has joined with other cases – the victims of the terror acts in Beslan and Volgodonsk.

The most important thing, in my overseas view, is this:

Now it is July of 2007. What has happened in all these years?

A bit later Svetlana says that all the decisions on the causes of death are identicle, like twin brothers, and are lies from beginning to end because, according to these specially instructed experts, the reason from the fatal outcome in each case was allegedly “a confluence of factors: a lack of water, stress, serous chronic diseases, and being seated in an uncomfortable position for a long time. The special substance, however, has merely a coincidental relationship with death”. (The name ‘special substance’, apparently, is understood to be the gas that poisoned people at Dubrovka.)

February of 2004. The fat packet of papers that arrived from Moscow has been sitting there a long time, unopened. Svetlana could not get here to Brooklyn from snowed-in New Jersey. Finally she arrives, the package is opened and, sitting on the old sofa in our living room, Svetlana reads the forensic medical decision regarding the death of her 13-year-old daughter, Alexandra Letyago-Gubareva. As she reads, I carefully pick up the awful pages as she finishes them and try to make out the printed lines through my tears.

When speaking at the third anniversary of the tragedy, Svetlana Gubareva addressed the dead: “Forgive us that we still haven’t found and punished the guilty. Justice is still mute, but sooner or later everyone must answer for all they have done in this life, answer before the highest court, which they even call celestial. This court grants no immunity, it is unprejudiced, cannot be bribed, and is inescapable. One day they will have to answer for your deaths, for ‘Nord-Ost’. Excuse us for not protecting you back then. We have no way to fix the past.”

From that phone call on, everything changed for me.

The ‘Nord-Ost’ tragedy entered my life almost 5 years ago, in October of 2002, when a reader called the offices of the newspaper I was working at and said that she knew Sandy Booker, the only American citizen who died during the hostage seizure in the theatrical center at Dubrovka.

 

It was this organization that filed a petition with the Russian Prosecutor General, demanding that a criminal case be brought against members of the hostage rescue headquarters. Directors of the organization declared this at a press conference on Wednesday, July 11th. They accuse FSB director Nikolai Patrushev and his assistant, Vladimir Pronichev, as well as the chief of the FSB special forces center, Alexander Tikhonov, and the former secretary of the president’s security council, Vladimir Rushailo. At the same time they made the petition to the Prosecutor General, the human rights advocates sent a similar letter to Vladimir Putin.

Deadly gas use haunts Moscow theater hostages 10 years later

Topics: Moscow ♦ russia

A decade after Chechen militants seized a Moscow theatre in a hostage crisis which left 130 people dead, victims’ families are still seeking answers about use of a deadly gas by Russian forces to end the siege.

A total of 912 people, many of them children, were held hostage in the Dubrovka theatre for three days after coming to watch Nord Ost, a popular musical, on October 23, 2002.

The crisis ended on October 26 when Russian special forces filled the building with an unknown gas to neutralise the attackers, who had threatened to blow up the venue unless Russia pulled its troops out of Chechnya.

The effects of the gas killed 125 people, as well as the 40 attackers who were shot after being knocked out by the gas. The hostage-takers themselves killed five people.

The bloody end to the siege, two years into Vladimir Putin’s presidency, damaged his image as it appeared his regime had not made it a priority to prevent the deaths of the trapped civilians.

Survivors and victims’ relatives remain highly critical of how the authorities handled the crisis.

“We sat without moving in our seats right next to the stinking orchestra pit which had been transformed into a toilet,” a former hostage who wanted to be identified only as Oleg told AFP.

“We were exhausted after three days without food or water,” and were waiting for an assault as “our only chance to be liberated from that nightmare”.

But what followed was “chaos,” he said.

“Ten years have gone by, but so many questions are still unanswered,” said Natalia Kurbatova, whose 13-year-old daughter Kristina, one of the young stars of the musical, was among those killed.

“Why didn’t the authorities negotiate with the militants’ leader, at least to let the children go? What was the gas that killed our loved ones?” Kurbatova demanded.

“I still don’t know how she died,” she said in an interview with AFP. Her daughter was only found in the morgue the day after the security forces stormed the building.

Medical aid to the exhausted hostages who inhaled the gas was poorly organised, said survivors, with most of the deaths resulting from suffocation rather than from explosions or gunshots.

Russian courts however have systematically rejected lawsuits from the former hostages, who have blame the authorities and demanded compensation.

Last December, the European Court of Human Rights ordered Russia to pay 1.25 million euros ($1.6 million) to 64 claimants, including ex-hostages and relatives of those killed during the siege.

“The gas didn’t kill people right away, and many people died because they weren’t properly tended to,” said lawyer Igor Trunov, who represented the Nord-Ost victims in court.

“The doctors didn’t know the composition of the gas. To this day it is classified. There wasn’t enough of the antidote. The ambulances didn’t have access to the building, and the hospitals weren’t ready to accommodate so many ex-hostages.”

While the Strasbourg court did not criticise Russia’s use of force and the noxious gas, it did highlight the lack of preparation for the rescue operation.

The European court ordered Russia to reopen its investigation into the victims’ deaths and possible negligence by officials, but Moscow’s powerful Investigative Committee has refused to do so.

Moscow has experienced more horrifying attacks since Dubrovka. A 2011 suicide bombing in its main Domodedovo airport killed 36 people and a double suicide bombing in the metro in 2010 killed 40.

A recent poll by the independent Levada Centre pollster found that 53 percent of Russians expect more acts of terror and hostage-takings.

“The main way to protect ourselves from attacks is the work of the special forces, using agents to infiltrate terrorist networks to prevent attacks,” said military analyst Alexander Golts.

“But I wouldn’t say Russia’s special forces have advanced far on that front,” he added.

[Image via Agence France-Presse]