Sixteen years ago, terrorists seized the Dubrovka Theater Center in Moscow. The attack killed 130 people, ten of whom were children. In addition, the writer Alexander Karpov, nine musicians who played in the orchestra, as well as actors Kristina Kurbatova and Arseny Kurylenko, became victims of the 16-year-old tragedy.
The terrorist attack on Dubrovka was a terrorist attack in Moscow that lasted from October 23 to October 26, 2002, during which a group of armed militants led by Movsar Barayev captured and held hostages from among the spectators of the musical "Nord-Ost" in the Theater Center on Dubrovka, located in building of the House of Culture of JSC “Moscow Bearing” (“1 GPP”). As a result of the storming of the building by special forces, all the terrorists were eliminated and most of the hostages were freed. In total, according to official data, 130 people from among the hostages died (according to the Nord-Ost public organization, 174 people).
Source: obozrevatel.com
The plan for a large-scale terrorist attack in Moscow was developed in the summer of 2002 at the headquarters of the leader of the Chechen gangs - “President of Ichkeria” Aslan Maskhadov. It included not only the seizure of several hundred hostages in a building during a cultural event, but also the detonation of cars filled with explosives in places of mass gathering of civilians. Field commander Movsar Baraev was appointed commander of the sabotage-terrorist group.
Source: obozrevatel.com About 50 militants were expected to take part in the hostage-taking in Moscow, half of whom were supposed to be female suicide bombers. Terrorists delivered weapons to the capital in the trunks of cars. Apples were used for camouflage. In addition, at the beginning of October 2002, three high-power explosive devices were delivered from Ingushetia to Moscow on a truck loaded with watermelons. The militants themselves got to the capital in different ways. Most of the terrorists arrived on the Khasavyurt-Moscow bus a few days before the theater was seized. Some suicide bombers flew to Moscow by plane from Ingushetia, and Barayev arrived at the Kazansky station by train on October 14, accompanied by two more militants.
Source: yaplakal.com Initially, the Moscow Youth Palace, the Dubrovka Theater Center and the Moscow State Variety Theater were considered as the site of a possible terrorist attack. The second building was chosen as the main target, since it was located far from the city center, had a large auditorium and a small number of other premises. The building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka was built in 1974 on Melnikov Street and was called the Palace of Culture of the First State Bearing Plant. In 2001, for the needs of the creators of the musical “Nord-Ost” based on the novel “Two Captains” by Veniamin Kaverin, it was refurbished and renamed.
Source: obozrevatel.com On October 23, 2002, at 9:15 p.m., armed men in camouflage, arriving in three minibuses, burst into the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka. The main part of the group headed to the concert hall, where at that time the musical “Nord-Ost” was going on and there were more than 800 spectators. Other militants began to check the rest of the theater center, herding the people there into the main hall. A total of 912 people were taken hostage (according to some sources, 916). Among them were foreign citizens.
Source: obozrevatel.com The militants placed bombs along the walls of the auditorium at a distance of five meters from each other, and in the center and on the balcony they placed metal cylinders, next to which suicide bombers were constantly on duty. Inside each cylinder was a 152-mm high-explosive fragmentation artillery shell. The internal cavity between the projectile and the wall of the cylinder was filled with damaging elements. The female terrorists positioned themselves in a checkerboard pattern along opposite walls. They closed the hall in sectors of 30 degrees. The filling of the suicide belt is two kilograms of plastic explosives and another kilogram of metal balls. The planned explosions were supposed to meet each other halfway, destroying all living things. For this purpose, a central control panel was made.
Some hostages were allowed to call their relatives, report the capture and that for every militant killed or wounded, the terrorists would shoot ten people.
Source: obozrevatel.com By ten o'clock in the evening, reinforced police units, soldiers from the special forces detachment, internal troops, and armored vehicles were pulled up to the Theater Center on Dubrovka.
Immediately after the capture, some of the actors and employees of the theater center who were in the office premises managed to escape from the building through windows and emergency exits. Late at night, the terrorists released 17 people without any conditions.
On October 24, at 5.30 a.m., a young woman unhinderedly entered the building of the Theater Center (later it turned out that she was Olga Romanova, a salesperson at a nearby perfume store), and at 8.15 a.m., Lieutenant Colonel Konstantin Vasiliev. They were shot by militants.
Source: yaplakal.com The first attempt to establish contact with the terrorists was made on October 24: at 00.15, State Duma deputy from Chechnya Aslambek Aslakhanov entered the center building. The leader, Movsar Barayev, demanded a meeting with the authorities. After that, until the early morning of October 26, some Russian politicians (Joseph Kobzon, Grigory Yavlinsky, Irina Khakamada), doctors (Red Cross, Leonid Roshal, Anwar El-Said), journalists (Anna Politkovskaya, Sergei Govorukhin, Mark Franchetti, film crew) visited him group of the NTV channel), head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Evgeny Primakov, ex-president of Ingushetia Ruslan Aushev, singer Alla Pugacheva. During these negotiations, the terrorists released more than two dozen hostages.
With the help of technical means, many telephone contacts between terrorists and their accomplices in Chechnya, Turkey and a number of Arab countries were recorded.
On October 24 at 7 p.m., the Qatari TV channel Al-Jazeera showed an appeal from the head of the militants, Movsar Barayev, recorded a few days before the seizure of the Theater Center: the terrorists declared themselves suicide bombers and demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Chechnya.
Source: yaplakal.com On October 25 at 15:00 in the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with the heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB. Following the meeting, FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev said that the authorities were ready to save the lives of the terrorists if they freed all the hostages.
The militants behaved extremely aggressively. They announced that on the morning of October 26 they would begin to kill hostages.
The seizure of the building was planned by the operational headquarters from the first minutes. Before the assault, special forces practiced their actions in a similar building. To avoid an unauthorized explosion and mass casualties, it was decided to use nerve gas.
On the night of October 26, one of the special forces groups penetrated the first floor of the building where the technical rooms were located. Fearing snipers, the terrorists did not go down there. From the utility rooms, small holes were made in the walls and partitions. With their help, we were able to gain access to ventilation and install video equipment.
On October 26, at 5.30 am, three explosions and several bursts of machine gun fire were heard near the building of the theater center. At about 6.00 the special forces began the assault. At 6.30, an official representative of the FSB reported that the theater center was under the control of the special services, Movsar Barayev and most of the terrorists had been killed.
At 7.25, Russian Presidential Assistant Sergei Yastrzhembsky officially announced that the operation to free the hostages was completed. All terrorists were destroyed, the hostages were freed. At about 8.00, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Vladimir Vasilyev announced that more than 750 hostages had been freed, 67 people had died. Six and a half hundred hostages were taken to hospitals with varying degrees of poisoning; doctors were unable to save some of them.
A group of militants took hostage the audience of the musical "Nord-Ost" and theater employees. Almost three days later, the building was stormed, as a result of which the terrorists were destroyed and the surviving hostages were freed. As a result of the terrorist attack, 130 hostages were killed.
According to the investigative data released, practical steps to prepare the terrorist attack have been taking place since the beginning of 2002. The final decision to carry out a major terrorist attack in Moscow with the capture of a large number of hostages was made at a meeting of Chechen field commanders held in the summer of 2002.
The actual preparation of the terrorist act began in early October 2002, when explosives and weapons were delivered from Chechnya to Moscow in the trunks of cars. Then, over the course of a month, militants came to Moscow in small groups and settled in several previously rented apartments located in different areas of the city. The total composition of the terrorist group was approximately 40 people, half of which were female suicide bombers. Initially, three objects were considered as the site of a possible terrorist attack, which implied the compact presence of a large number of citizens - the Moscow State Variety Theater, the Moscow Youth Palace and the Dubrovka Theater Center. As a result, the choice was made in favor of the latter due to the large number of seats in the auditorium, as well as the smallest number of utility rooms that would need to be searched and then controlled.
It was an ordinary concert hall; pop concerts, theatrical performances, etc. took place here. In 2001, for the needs of the creators of the musical “Nord-Ost” based on the novel “Two Captains” by Veniamin Kaverin, the building was refurbished and renamed.
On October 23, 2002, at 21.15, armed people in camouflage, arriving in three minibuses, burst into the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka. At this time, the musical "Nord-Ost" was playing in the shopping center. There were 916 people in the building - spectators, actors, theater employees, as well as students from the Iridan Irish dance school.
The terrorists declared all people - spectators and theater workers - hostages and began to mine the building.
The bombs were placed along the walls at a distance of five meters from each other, and metal cylinders were placed in the center of the hall and on the balcony. Inside each is a 152mm high-explosive fragmentation artillery shell. The internal cavity between the projectile and the wall of the cylinder was filled with damaging elements. The female terrorists positioned themselves in a checkerboard pattern along opposite walls. They closed the hall in sectors of 30 degrees. The filling of the suicide belt is two kilograms of plastic explosives and another kilogram of metal balls.
In the middle of the hall, in the stalls, they installed a car cylinder with explosives, and a suicide bomber was constantly on duty next to it. Such an improvised explosive device was also installed on the balcony. The planned explosions were supposed to meet each other halfway, destroying all living things. For this purpose, a central control panel was made.
Some hostages were allowed to call their relatives, report the capture and that for every militant killed or wounded, the terrorists would shoot 10 people.
At 22:00 it became known that the shopping center building was captured by a detachment of Chechen militants led by Movsar Barayev. Reinforced police, riot police, special forces and internal troops began to gather at the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka.
In the first hours after the capture, some of the actors and employees of the theater center, located in the office premises, managed to escape from the building through windows and emergency exits.
Late at night, the terrorists released 15 children.
On October 24, at 5.30 a.m., a young woman unhinderedly entered the building of the Theater Center (later it turned out that she was Olga Romanova, a saleswoman at a perfume store located next door), and at 8.15 a.m., Lieutenant Colonel Konstantin Vasiliev. Both of them were shot by militants.
The first attempt to establish contact with the terrorists was made on October 24: at 00.15, State Duma deputy from Chechnya Aslambek Aslakhanov entered the center building. After this, from October 24 to the early morning of October 26, the militants were quite active in negotiations, in which some Russian politicians (Joseph Kobzon, Grigory Yavlinsky, Irina Khakamada), as well as public figures (doctors Leonid Roshal and Anwar El-Said), took part. journalists (Anna Politkovskaya, Sergei Govorukhin, Mark Franchetti, as well as the film crew of the NTV channel), head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Evgeny Primakov, ex-president of Ingushetia Ruslan Aushev, singer Alla Pugacheva. During these negotiations, the terrorists released several dozen hostages.
October 28, 2002 was declared a day of mourning in the Russian Federation for the victims of the terrorist attack.
On October 31, 2002, Colonel Vladimir Eremin, Deputy Head of the Institute of Forensics of the FSB of Russia, reported that explosives experts had seized a total of 30 explosive devices, 16 F-1 grenades and 89 homemade hand grenades from the Theater Center on Dubrovka. The general TNT equivalent of explosives in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack in the theater center on Dubrovka on Melnikov Street in Moscow.
In connection with the hostage taking, a criminal case was opened on October 23, 2002. As part of the investigation, charges of organizing a terrorist attack in absentia were brought against, in particular, Shamil Basayev, Zelimkhan Yandarbiev and Akhmed Zakaev. In June 2003, the Moscow prosecutor's office discontinued cases against the invaders in connection with their death.
In April 2004, the Moscow City Court sentenced brothers Alikhan and Akhyad Mezhiev, as well as Aslan Murdalov and Khanpasha Sobraliev to 15 to 22 years in prison. They were found guilty of blowing up a car at a McDonald's in the southwest of Moscow, as well as aiding terrorism and taking hostages in Nord-Ost. Aslanbek Khaskhanov was also found guilty of complicity in hostage-taking. In July 2006, the Moscow City Court sentenced him to 22 years in prison.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
Fifteen years ago, on October 26, 2002, a special operation to rescue hostages captured by Chechen militants at the Dubrovka Theater Center ended.
Terrorists broke into the building on October 23 during the Nord-Ost musical, and 916 people were taken hostage. As a result of the tragedy, 130 people died, including 10 children.
Today, commemorative events dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the tragedy were held in Moscow. In the morning, 130 white balloons were released near the theater center. The number corresponding to the victims of the terrorist attack. People carried flowers to the building, and candles were lit near the wall with photographs of the dead.
Chronology of events
22.00 — The police receive information that the Theater Center on Dubrovka has been captured by Chechen militants led by Movsar Barayev. There are women among the terrorists. Reinforced police units are being deployed to the building.
23.00 — Five actors who were locked in the dressing room manage to escape from the captured building.
23:30 — Military equipment is arriving. At this time, 7 employees of the musical’s technical team, who had locked themselves in the editing room, run out of the building.
00:00 — The building is completely blocked. The operatives negotiate with the terrorists, after which the militants release 15 children and several dozen more people, including women, foreigners and Muslims.
00:30 — The terrorists put forward the main demand - a cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of troops from Chechnya.
03:50 — The militants release two schoolchildren.
05:30 — 26-year-old Olga Romanova enters the theater center hall. The girl gets into an altercation with Movsar Barayev. According to witnesses, she was under the influence of drugs. How the girl got into the building cordoned off by three rows of law enforcement officers is unknown. Romanova is taken into the corridor and killed with three shots from a machine gun.
08:00 — By this time, the terrorists had released 41 people.
18:31 - Two hostages escape from the building - Elena Zinovieva and Svetlana Kononova. While going to the toilet, they climb out through the window into the street and run. The militants' bullets fired at them do not reach their target.
19:00 — A Qatari TV channel is showing an appeal from militant Movsar Barayev, which was recorded a few days before the capture of the Palace of Culture. In the video, the militant says that his group belongs to the “sabotage and reconnaissance brigade of righteous martyrs.” The terrorist demands the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya.
01:30 —Leonid Roshal brings two boxes of medicine and a bag of hygiene products that the terrorists allowed to be brought for the hostages. NTV correspondent Sergei Dedukh and cameraman Anton Peredelsky enter the building. They stay in the building for about 40 minutes, where they communicate with the terrorists and six hostages.
12:34 — Representatives of the Red Cross take eight children out of a building seized by terrorists.
00:30—02:00 — One of the hostages begins to become hysterical. He rushes with a bottle at the terrorist sitting next to the explosive device. The militants open fire on the man, but miss. Two other hostages were wounded: Tamara Starkova (in the stomach) and Pavel Zakharov (in the head). The victims are carried to the first floor of the building and ambulance officers are called. Pavel Zakharov would later die in hospital.
Storm
5:00 — The operation begins. Sleeping gas was released through the ventilation into the building. The militants and hostages mistake it for smoke from a fire.
5:30 — Three explosions near the Palace of Culture building. Automatic queues. There is unconfirmed information about the start of an operation to storm the building.
5:45 — Message from headquarters representatives: two hostages were killed. Two others were wounded.
Seven years ago, on October 23, 2002, Chechen terrorists led by Movsar Barayev took hostage spectators and actors of the musical “Nord-Ost” at the Dubrovka Theater Center.
This is perhaps the only fact in the tragic history of Nord-Ost that is beyond doubt. Paradoxically, even now, seven years later, we do not know much about those dark October days. For example, it is not known exactly how many terrorists there were. The most frequently voiced figure was forty people (19 women and 21 men). Eyewitnesses speak of fifty-four (“When they once again talked on the radio about how many Chechens had seized the theater center, Barayev walked past us and said: “20, 30, 40...” They can’t even find out how many of us came to theater! Fifty-four of us are here, fifty-four! ", recalled hostage Svetlana Gubareva). The difference, you see, is significant - if 40 corpses of terrorists were discovered, and there were 54 of them, does that mean 14 disappeared somewhere? But where?
Moreover, the exact number of hostages is unknown. “More than eight hundred”, “about nine hundred”, “more than nine hundred”, “almost a thousand”. A hundred more, a hundred less...
Finally, the question of the number of victims still remains open. Officially, one hundred and thirty people are considered victims of the terrorist attack. Every year, during mourning events on Dubrovka, one hundred and thirty white balloons are launched into the sky (the same happened this year).
But according to the Nord-Ost public organization, created by former hostages, 174 people died as a result of the terrorist attack. What causes such a serious discrepancy? And why, after seven years, public organizations and the authorities have still not been able to find a common language and find out how many lives “Nord-Ost” actually claimed?
The necessary tools for this exist - it would be possible, for example, to involve the Investigative Committee at the prosecutor's office in the case. But the sluggish investigation initiated under the article “Terrorism” was suspended back in May 2007 “due to the need to search for persons involved in the terrorist attack.” By this point, it has long turned into a routine bureaucratic procedure, where there are no suspects or accused (everyone is dead?). The answer to the main question is who organized the terrorist attack on Dubrovka? - was not received. Perhaps because this question was not officially asked.
The situation is paradoxical.
When terrorists destroyed the Manhattan World Trade Center and launched a less successful attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States blamed al-Qaeda, Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Saddam, as we know, was hanged, Bin Laden has been hiding in the damp and dark caves of Torabor for eight years, al-Qaeda, however, has not yet been squashed, but this is because the state, in principle, can do little with network organizations. In any case, the enemies were named (although Hussein clearly fell under the hot hand) and demonstrably punished.
The terrorist attack on Dubrovka turned out to be ownerless. According to the official version, the special forces destroyed all the terrorists who were in the building, so there seems to be no one to ask. The corpse of the leader of the Chechen militants, Movsar Barayev, was shown on television - with a bottle of Hennessy in his hand and a laceration in the groin.
Meanwhile, it is obvious that such a complex operation as the seizure of the Theater Center could not be carried out by the forces of forty (or even fifty-four) terrorists. At a minimum, there should have been an external center planning and coordinating their actions, as well as structures involved in technical support. “The armament is at the highest level. AK assault rifles with folding stocks. Foreign made knives. Everyone has flashlights. Pistols. High quality shoes. Each one wears a personally tailored and “lived-in” suit. An exceptional set of ammunition, everything is adjusted from start to finish,” the Russian Spetsnaz newspaper reported the day after the hostages were released. The theater center was seized not by a gang of bearded Wahhabis, but by a small but well-trained and well-equipped army unit.
Barayev himself admitted in an interview with NTV that he received the order to take hostages in Moscow from Shamil Basayev. The same “Russian Special Forces” published a recording of Baraev’s telephone conversation with Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, who was clearly aware of the impending operation and intended to send “people from the television company” to the Theater Center (at that moment Yandarbiev was living in the Arab Emirate of Qatar as the emir’s personal guest). The name of Aslan Maskhadov was also called Baraev (“Shamil followed Aslan’s instructions”).
Aslan Maskhadov either shot himself or was shot during the storming of the house in the basement of which he was hiding from federal troops on March 8, 2005.
But the first of them - on February 13, 2004 - was destroyed by Zelimkhan Yandarbiev. He was blown up in his car in the Qatari capital Doha. Soon after this, the emirate police arrested two Russian citizens - Belashkov and Bogachev. They were accused of murdering Yandarbiev and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, ten months later, both GRU officers were transferred to the Russian side “to serve their sentences in their homeland.” Is it because the Emir of Qatar, Prince Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa At-Thani, was presented with certain documents proving that the threads of the tangled ball on Dubrovka stretch to his native emirate?
There are no answers to these questions. And perhaps there never will be.
And, unfortunately, it is clear why.
Under Yeltsin, the tactic of taking large numbers of hostages brought Chechen fighters one victory after another. Budennovsk, Kizlyar... Thus, Basayev actually won the first Chechen war (the Khasavyurt agreements signed in August 1996 were, of course, the surrender of Russia). The state, intimidated by the “international community” and home-grown human rights activists, was afraid to use force. When Chernomyrdin shouted into the phone in a broken voice, “Shamil Basayev, can you hear me?”, it became clear that in principle anything could be done with this state.
Giving the order to seize a large public building in Moscow (the center on Dubrovka was not the only “candidate” for this role; the Youth Palace on Frunzenskaya was also considered), Basayev and Maskhadov were confident that the proven tactics would again bear fruit. But it turned out that in the seven years that passed after Kizlyar, the state changed beyond recognition. It was no longer going to forgive attacks like Nord-Ost.
And most importantly, it was no longer going to negotiate with terrorists.
Therefore, sleeping gas was released and the militants of Barayev’s group were quickly and coldly shot. Therefore, retribution overtook Yandarbiev, Basayev and Maskhadov.
And one could only rejoice at this.
If not for the abyss separating the interests of the state and the interests of its citizens.
From the point of view of the state, the operation to destroy the terrorists was carried out brilliantly. Even if we take the number of losses called former hostages, 174 people are 19 percent of 900. According to international standards of anti-terrorism organizations, a hostage rescue operation is considered successful if less than 25 percent of civilians captured by terrorists are killed.
From the point of view of citizens (the hostages themselves, their relatives and friends), this is an unacceptable amount.
Especially considering that almost all of these losses were not combat losses. During the preparation for the assault, the biggest fear was the explosions of devices placed throughout the hall (they were placed so that not a single sector of the auditorium would escape destruction; moreover, the explosions of charges along the walls and the detonation of a gas cylinder installed in the center of the hall were supposed to lead to the complete collapse of the building and, as a consequence, the death of people under the rubble). But thanks to the professionalism of the Alpha and Vympel special forces, the terrorists did not manage to detonate a single charge in the hall. The hostages died not from explosions or from terrorist bullets, but as a result of gas poisoning. The very gas that was supposed to save them.
What kind of gas it was is still unknown.
It is believed that it was because of excessive secrecy that many of the hostages died - the emergency doctors simply did not know what to inject. They injected naloxone - it helped some, but not others. If the gas was a fentanyl derivative, as most experts suspect, naloxone should have helped. What if it was some other substance?
Of course, the use of special equipment may be a state secret. But the silence of the state in this case is very typical.
It’s great that the state does not forgive terrorists and finds and punishes them wherever they are. This speaks of his strength and determination.
Even if it does this secretly and without unnecessary propaganda noise, as the United States does, declaring a “worldwide crusade against terrorism.”
The state fulfilled its functions - destroyed the terrorists, saved most of the hostages. What more do you want from him?
Little bit.
One of Ian Fleming's James Bond stories is called Quantum of Solace. It is not only the hostages of “Nord-Ost” who cannot wait for this quantum of mercy - a tiny share of understanding and sympathy - from the state in the form in which it exists in our country now. No one can wait for him. (Except, perhaps, for a select circle of oligarchs who have big problems with repaying loans).
To this it can be objected that it is not the state’s business to provide comfort to its citizens. Let the church do this. Or public organizations.
But this is not true.
The state can and must support its citizens in trouble. Otherwise, when it gets into trouble, the citizens will leave the state to its own fate.
The state saved nine hundred people from terrorist bullets and bombs and killed one hundred and thirty (or even more) of them due to bureaucratic stupidity, bureaucratic indifference and overinsurance. Due to the fact that the police did not remove the cordon from Melnikov Street in time and the ambulances arrived late. Due to the fact that doctors did not know what antidote to give to the victims. Due to the fact that as a result of confusion at the scene of the tragedy, forty injured (and subsequently killed) were not provided with medical care at all.
You could have at least apologized.
And it would be possible to compensate the moral damage to the victims of theft and looting, fortunately there are not many of them. We are talking about the claims of two former hostages whose belongings were stolen during the investigation. This is another “Nord-Ost” mystery, although not so dramatic: the money and valuables found in the auditorium were entered into the protocol of the scene with a detailed description of where and how they were found. Personal belongings and money of the hostages were placed in bags, the bags were sealed, and the seals were sealed with the signatures of witnesses and investigators. When, at the end of this part of the investigation, the bags were given to the owners, two former hostages - Ekaterina Dolgaya and Maxim Mikhailov - did not find any money in their bags.
It is unlikely that the state will become poorer because Dolgaya and Mikhailov will receive compensation for the fact that their money disappeared somewhere from the packages sealed by the investigators (by the way, these investigators, in an amicable way, should be fired from the prosecutor’s office with a wolf ticket). But the moral damage that the state itself will receive when the plaintiffs, once again thwarted by the domestic justice system, reach the European Court, will be much more significant.
However, the state (or those of its representatives who are responsible for resolving such issues) believes that meeting its citizens halfway means showing its weakness.
And this, in my opinion, is the biggest mistake that a state can make.
Unfortunately, after Nord-Ost there was also Beslan. And the operation there was carried out much less professionally than in Moscow. And hundreds of hostages died in North Ossetia.
And the same strange fear of the state to meet its citizens halfway made the tragedy in Beslan even more opaque to society.
Among other things, this gave domestic liberals the opportunity to trample on the Beslan tragedy to their heart's content - the grief and tears of hundreds of people were used in dirty political schemes, made into bargaining chips for the opposition's games. This would not have happened if the state had not again fenced itself off from its citizens with an impenetrable wall.
The state, alas, turned out to be not ready for public dialogue. It turned out to be not ready for any dialogue at all - it silently shot the terrorists, and also silently (and rather indifferently) saved the hostages.
The lessons of Nord-Ost and Beslan were learned. No one else will negotiate with the scum who does not hesitate to hide behind the backs of women and children. This firm position made hostage-taking tactics senseless and futile, and also very dangerous for terrorists. It is not so difficult to find one suicide bomber ready to fly to heaven in a car filled with plastic. Forty such suicide bombers are much more difficult to find.
Former Nord-Ost hostages recall that Barayev’s militants constantly repeated the phrase “freedom or paradise!” This was their motto, under this slogan they captured the Theater Center on Dubrovka, with these words they probably died.
They did not achieve freedom in their understanding - and also in the understanding of Basayev, Yandarbiev and Maskhadov.
For some reason, it seems to me that nothing worked out for them with heaven either.
Why did they kill the unconscious terrorists with “control shots to the head”, why did so many hostages die, how did the police maraud...
Eight years ago, on October 23, 2002, the first Russian musical “Nord-Ost” was staged at the Theater Center on Dubrovka. There were more than 900 people in the auditorium. Almost all of them were taken hostage by forty Chechen terrorists who carried out one of the largest terrorist attacks in the history of Russia in the center of Moscow.
On the night of October 25-26, a decision was made to attack. The operational headquarters included the deputy head of the FSB, General Viktor Pronichev, and the head of the Russian Presidential Administration, Alexander Voloshin. From the operational headquarters, a command was received to storm the units of the FSB TsSN, which were commanded by another deputy head of the FSB, General Alexander Tikhonov.
The force operation began with the supply of gas through the ventilation system. It is known that the gas contained heavy opiates based on fentanyl (used in medicine for anesthesia). It is also known that when used quickly and in small doses, this substance is fatal and is especially dangerous when exposed to people in a sitting position.
On September 20, 2003, Russian President V.V. Putin said at a meeting with journalists that “these people did not die as a result of the action of the gas,” which, according to him, was harmless, but became victims of “a number of circumstances: dehydration, chronic diseases, the the fact that they had to stay in that building.” In the death certificates issued to the relatives of the deceased, a dash was placed in the “cause of death” column.
The Ministry of Health officially refused to provide information about the gas used during the operation, citing the fact that this is a state secret. The State Duma Security Committee refused to study the legality of classifying the gas. The formula of the gas is still classified.
The first official report of isolated cases of hostage deaths was made around 08:00, but Deputy Chief of Staff Vladimir Vasiliev said that there were no children among the dead. As it became known from the materials of the criminal case, by that time the death of 5 children had already been confirmed.
In total, as a result of the terrorist attack, according to official data, 130 people were killed, including 10 children.
The exact time of the start of the military operation to destroy the terrorists is unknown. Some of the FSB TsSN employees entered the hall through a gay club that operated on the territory of the theater center. Video cameras only recorded the appearance of special forces in the foyer of the theater center at 6.22 am. It is known that during the assault the special forces were also poisoned, but none of them died under the influence of the gas.
The operational headquarters thought out the special operation to destroy the terrorists down to the smallest detail. The operational headquarters did not have a plan to rescue the hostages.
Explanations of medical workers who took part in the evacuation of victims on October 26, 2002 (from the materials of the criminal case).
From the explanation of O.V. Belyakova (volume 120, case sheet 130):
We arrived at Melnikov Street at approximately 7:15 am...
Upon arrival at the Moskovsky Bearing JSC recreation center, two victims were loaded into our car. The loading was carried out by employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations... Literally a minute later, an employee of the Ministry of Emergency Situations told me to go on the bus and provide assistance to the victims on it.
When I got on the bus, the doors closed, and the Emergencies Ministry employee gave the command to the driver to go to City Clinical Hospital No. 1. There were no medical supplies or instruments on the bus. Along the way, the bus stopped at traffic lights; upon arrival at City Clinical Hospital No. 1, at first the guards did not let us into the territory. There were 22 victims on the bus, one of whom had died by now... On the bus, the victims were located chaotically, some were sitting on chairs, some were lying on the floor.
I don’t know who supervised the evacuation work, who carried out the victims, I also don’t know.
...There was no sorting area, and this played a negative role. The fact that the victims were hospitalized on buses, without the appropriate number of medical personnel, medicines, and instruments, played a negative role.
...The name of the antidote would help us in our work...
From the explanation of Nedoseikina A.V. (volume 120, sheet of file 115):
...I was not warned in advance that I could be used to deliver former hostages from the Moscow Bearing House of Culture.
Order No. 784548, was taken to the Botkin hospital in a state of biological death.
The work to evacuate former hostages from the Moscow Bearing House of Culture was not organized properly. In particular, there was poor triage of patients, corpses were loaded into ambulance vehicles, and living hostages were on buses interspersed with the corpses of dead hostages...
The buses carrying the victims mostly traveled without medical personnel, which played a negative role in their rescue.
...The lack of information about the name of the substance used during the special operation played a negative role in the provision of medical care.
It is also known that the terrorists recorded the flow of gas for at least twenty minutes, identified it as an assault attempt, but did not detonate explosive devices and suicide vests, and there was no attempt to mass shoot the hostages. The hostages saw that some terrorists (suicide bombers) had lost consciousness from the effects of the gas.
As a result of the special operation, all terrorists, even those who were unconscious, were shot (including control shots to the head).
The authorities called the assault on the Dubrovka Theater Center a “brilliant special operation.” The rescue operation was considered effective, despite the fact that the case materials recorded the failure to provide any medical assistance to 73 of the 129 dead hostages. The entire FSB archive on Nord-Ost was destroyed shortly after the special operation.
After Nord-Ost, security forces were awarded secret orders from President Putin. Among them, FSB General Pronichev, FSB General Tikhonov, as well as the unidentified creator of the chemical formula of an unidentified gas, also an FSB employee, became Heroes of Russia.
Free Press contacted a law enforcement officer who, as part of a group of investigators, carried out investigative activities in the theater center on Dubrovka immediately after the assault.
"SP": - What are your most important impressions and conclusions about the terrorist attack?
The main conclusion is that the Chechens were not going to die there. Their threats to blow up the hostages were largely a bluff.
"SP": - Why do you think so?
According to the testimony of witnesses. These were conditional death row prisoners. And most importantly, this can be seen from the final fact: they had the opportunity to blow up the hostages, but they did not do it.
"SP": - But the official version is that the gas prevented them...
- The “gas” heroics are quite far-fetched. The gas was visible - from the moment it was released until the moment it began to act, mainly on the hostages, up to five minutes passed. It was clear that white smoke was coming out - gas. This was obvious to the terrorists. It was not even hidden, it was obvious in the literal sense of the word, that is, “seen with the eyes.” The terrorists, as far as I remember, had gas masks with them. So if they really wanted to blow everything up there and were ready to die, they could have done it without any problems. But they didn't want it.
Another important point: the true, real goals with which the terrorists arrived there have not yet been disclosed.
"SP": - What were they, these true goals?
And this is unknown. But in the first minutes after the capture, information was broadcast on central television that Movsar Baraev (leader of a group of terrorists - approx. “SP”) wants to make public the perpetrators of the bombings of houses in Moscow, removing the blame from the Chechens. It was a single message, then this information disappeared.
Then, a negative emotional impression is caused by the fact that not a single terrorist was captured, while such a possibility apparently existed - starting with gas and ending with Alpha, which probably could have taken someone. And so we see a complete disregard for any information that could have been received from terrorists. At least the names of the accomplices. At least in the interests of preventing terrorists from smuggling so much explosives into Moscow in the future, one could ask: how did they smuggle it? What if they have accomplices in the secret services? After all, not just anyone, but the special services missed this circumstance.
For these purposes, they could have tried to take one of the terrorists. No, they didn't take anyone. And this was presented not as a defeat, but as an achievement - and this is incomprehensible.
“SP”: - According to rumors, the assault special forces on Dubrovka literally carried out Vladimir Putin’s threat - “to soak in the toilet.” Were the terrorists really killed in the toilet?
I personally saw a toilet with booths shot through and through, with numerous holes. Someone was “killed” there, for sure. “Soaked” or not is another question...
"SP": - Is this such necrophiliac humor?
I don't know. Perhaps some “rat” from among the terrorists was simply driven there with a machine gun, and she fired back. Humor has nothing to do with it, this is too serious a matter.
"SP": - What are your impressions of the dead?
The number of dead and the cause of their death were impressive. According to some reports, most of them simply choked on vomit. Vomit. The main cause of death is untimely provision of medical care. This gas produces an effect similar to heroin: in case of an overdose, the respiratory center fails, breathing is held, and vomiting occurs. And the injured soldiers from the internal troops carried them out of the hall and put them face up on buses. In stacks, without the participation of doctors.
They were taken to hospitals, but due to the secrecy of information about the composition of the toxic substance, and this information was not communicated to doctors, the buses traveled for a long time from hospital to hospital. There was confusion and disorganization. Time passed, during which the victims suffocated - they choked on vomit. This is about 130 people.
"SP": - But some hostages died from bullets, didn’t they?
Only three or four of the hostages died from bullets; they were shot by terrorists. One of the hostages lost his nerve, he freaked out, jumped up and ran, almost over the backs of the chairs - he was shot. Another hostage was shot because they decided that she was a provocateur. Someone else was shot, but everyone else seemed to have suffocated and choked on their vomit.
And this is presented as an achievement of our special services.
I was also impressed by one girl from among the hostages, a student at the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University, who said that after her experience she would no longer be a journalist. Having freed herself from the hostages, she was watching TV, and something happened inside her from the lies of the TV that covered the terrorist attack. TV reports then showed a picture with the location of snipers and security forces, which the terrorists also watched on TV, but while inside the building.
"SP": - What general conclusions can be drawn from the terrorist attack on Dubrovka?
I will not take responsibility for the conclusions.
My general impression is that the terrorist attack on Dubrovka occurred in strict, canonical accordance with the ideas of Antonio Gramsci (founder and theoretician of the Italian Communist Party in 1920-1930, approx. “SP”) about the spectacle society. It is striking that this entire performance escaped the boundaries of the stage and theater, and swept the entire country, mixing the audience with the participants, and making them participants in the performance. And the big question is who are the audience in this performance and who are the directors.
This observation is strengthened by the interrogations of the first witnesses. They said that they did not immediately understand that there were terrorists on stage. Until they began aggressive actions towards the audience, the audience thought that this was an element of the performance. The line between the start of the Nord-Ost performance and the terrorist attack was blurred. In this sense, the performance has not yet ended.
"SP": - What is Gramsci’s theory?
He says that events occurring in society can be controlled by controlling the performance that depicts these events. In “Nord-Ost” the main thing is to capture the viewer’s attention, and by what means is not important. In this case, attention was captured, but in the end it is not clear who captured it: terrorists, newly minted Heroes of Russia from the FSB, the government... All this reduced the event to the level of a SPECTACLE. According to those who planned it, the spectacle should obscure the reasons - and so it happened. No one has yet voiced or investigated any reasons. This is a theatrical substitution, because you have to look for reasons. Without finding them, it is impossible to draw conclusions.
Igor Trunov, lawyer for victims: Gold rings from corpses were torn with meat
"SP": - Igor Leonidovich, at what stage is the Nord-Ost case in the European Court?
We expect the final consideration of the case in November - early December. All this time we have been communicating with Strasbourg. But we must understand: the correspondence is not with the European courts, but with the Russian Federation. We write - the Russian Federation responds, the European Court forwards what they answered to us, we object, the court forwards the Russian Federation’s objections, etc. This has been going on for the second year, and during this time, initially separate complaints from two groups of victims in Nord-Ost (I represent the interests of 60 people, Karina Moskalenko represents the interests of five people) were combined into one case.
"SP": - This is good?
Our side categorically objected to the merger: we believe that in addition to resuscitating the criminal case regarding Nord-Ost, it is also necessary to resuscitate civil cases. The victims have still not received adequate compensation for harm, compensation for moral damage, and many orphans have not been paid what the law regulated at that time. Our complaint, let me explain, consists of two components: criminal proceedings plus civil proceedings. But Moskalenko has only criminal proceedings: she emphasized that the investigation was of poor quality and incomplete. In the last point our arguments coincide.
One way or another, the case in Strasbourg is now coming to an end. The only thing we added to our complaint this year was the situation with looting by law enforcement officers. They stole everything they could, plus they managed to steal what was recorded in the presence of witnesses and handed over to the investigator for safekeeping.
"SP": - What exactly was stolen?
Money, valuables. We won in court on two episodes of looting, which did not go anywhere. Let me remind you that our investigator is personally responsible for the valuables handed over to him in the presence of witnesses and duly recorded. So, the former hostage Dolgaya handed over a purse containing about two thousand dollars for safekeeping, and the family of journalists from Kaliningrad, the Mikhailovs, handed over money and valuables. All this is gone. We filed a lawsuit against the Moscow prosecutor's office and won the case. Do you understand? The prosecutor's office was ordered to pay these two families the stolen funds.
"SP": - Have they been paid?
Dolgaya has already received the money, it was paid by the federal budget. That is, you and I are taking the rap: investigators steal, and taxpayers pay. I note that none of the investigators were brought to justice, although according to the law a criminal case should have been opened against the culprit.
"SP": - Was this an isolated incident?
We proved only those episodes for which we simply had reinforced concrete evidence: protocols signed in the presence of witnesses, including the investigator, and filed with the case materials. And there were dozens of cases, looting was a massive phenomenon. After all, the corpses were handed over naked, even the underpants were removed from the corpses - this is a disgrace! I'm not talking about gold rings - they were torn with meat, earrings were removed, and women's ears were torn out. But where there were no protocols, it was almost impossible to prove anything...
"SP": - How do you think the case will end in the European Court?
Judging by our correspondence, the Russian Federation indirectly recognizes some of the demands. By the way, the correspondence materials were classified at the request of the Russian Federation. There is nothing secret there, but from the correspondence it is clear that the Russian Federation often tells lies.
I am not completely confident that it will be possible to achieve a repeat criminal investigation into “Nord-Ost”: the statute of limitations has expired, and it will not be possible to bring anyone to justice. But in civil proceedings there is a good chance of achieving justice and insisting on the payment of proper compensation: they will never hurt.
Operational lies
“Tragedies can happen in any state. No one is safe. The main thing is how power comes out of them. What lessons does she draw from the brutal truth about what happened, how does she relate to the victims who continue their lives next to her, and to the memory of the victims? - says the victim V. Kurbatov, who lost a child on Dubrovka.
But just after the terrorist attack, the authorities behaved in the strangest way. Misinformation spread, the investigation was stalled, and then stopped altogether. The victims were even forced to create the public organization “Nord-Ost”, which conducted a parallel investigation into the tragedy, sending its results to the government and law enforcement agencies.
Below we present data from this report.
“According to the mother of the hostage T. Karpova, about an hour after the explosions, Valentina Matvienko, Oleg Bocharov and other representatives of the headquarters came to the relatives of the hostages. “They were all extremely excited and cheerful. They stood at the microphone. The hall froze. And then the words of sweet lies sounded: “The assault went brilliantly! The terrorists are all killed! There are no casualties among the hostages!” The audience applauded and shouted with joy. Everyone thanked the authorities and officials for saving the lives of their relatives and friends.” And at this time, as it later became known from the materials of the criminal case, the bodies of the dead hostages were piled into two buses parked near the cultural center...
The first official report about isolated cases of hostage deaths was made around 09:00, but Deputy Chief of Staff Vladimir Vasiliev (now a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation - approx. “SP”) reports that there are no children among the dead. As it later turned out, by that time doctors had already confirmed the death of 5 children.
All this time, the authorities have been silent about the use of special equipment during the assault.
At 13:00 at a press conference, Deputy Chief of Staff Vasiliev announced the death of 67 people, but the death of children was still hidden. According to him, he is authorized to report the use of special means and the capture of several terrorists alive.
13:45 - the operational headquarters ceased its work. At the same time, the relatives of the hostages were given “inquiry numbers” by which they could supposedly find out information about which hospital their loved ones were taken to. However, the “dispatchers” did not have information about the former hostages. Federal media reported an unreliable list of hospitals where former hostages were admitted.
The admission of relatives of former hostages to hospitals was prohibited. There were many unidentified victims, and relatives offered photographs for identification, but they were categorically refused. Despite the authorities' promises, lists never appeared in many hospitals, causing suffering for people who were unable to find their loved ones either among the living or among the dead.
Former hostages continued to die on October 26, 27, and 28. Finally, only a week later, more or less real information about the dead was reported - more than 120 people.
According to the Prosecutor's Office on November 1, 2002, all former hostages who were previously listed as missing were found in the morgues. Some of them were found in the Lefortovo morgue - initially their bodies were classified as the bodies of terrorists. However, it was only in June 2003 that G. Vlah's family was notified that his corpse had been cremated along with the bodies of the terrorists. The family did not receive any explanation or apology regarding this matter.
The official version of the harmlessness of the “special means” used during the assault was widely used in the media. From television screens, senior health officials, even before receiving the results of the examinations, stated that the cause of death of the hostages was a “complex of unfavorable factors” and the presence of chronic diseases.
Instances of special forces being injured by “special means” while carrying out a rescue operation were also covered up. But on November 6, 2002, the president of the Association of Veterans of the Alpha Unit, deputy of the Moscow City Duma, Sergei Goncharov, reported that 9 officers of the Alpha Unit were in hospitals, who were poisoned by gas during the release of the hostages.
As is known today, as a result of the operation, at least 130 hostages died, ten of whom were children; about 700 hostages were poisoned, some of them became disabled in groups II and III, 12 people partially or completely lost their hearing; 69 children, having lost their parents, were left orphans.”
Who is guilty? What kind of gay club?
Until now, it has not been possible to establish the true picture of what happened in the theater center. The investigation into the case was closed back in 2007.
Only two “switchmen” were brought to trial. For aiding terrorists, Zaurbek Talkhigov, who spoke on the phone with Baraev, received 8.5 years. Policeman Alyamkin received 7 years for the fact that in the fall of 2002, in exchange for a bribe, he issued temporary registration to Russian citizen L. Bakueva. Subsequently, Bakueva was among the participants in the seizure of the Theater Center on Dubrovka. That's all the organizational conclusions.
The report of the public organization “Nord-Ost” states on this matter: “The situation is unacceptable when the responsibility of an ordinary employee exceeds the responsibility of the heads of departments who could not prevent the tragedy on Dubrovka. High-ranking officials of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs received awards for the operation to eliminate terrorists, during which more than a hundred hostages died, and the only one who was punished was Alyamkin, an ordinary employee of the passport department. The harsh sentence against Alyamkin is intended to demonstrate the determination and uncompromising nature of the authorities in the fight against terrorism. However, the public was never presented with any real results of the investigation into the causes of the incident. Until now, no explanation has been given why so many people did not die at the hands of terrorists during the hostage rescue operation. Instead, we are offered to be satisfied with the punishment of the “switchman”. The sentence imposed on Alyamkin is disproportionately harsh, and the punishment of an ordinary law enforcement officer cannot exhaust the authorities’ responsibility for the Dubrovka tragedy.”
And here is a certificate from the investigation materials (volume 1, sheet 93): “There was a gay club in the basement of the cultural center. There was renovation going on there at the time. Among the workers, the staff of the recreation center noted the presence of Caucasians and, according to one of the watchmen, Caucasians lived in the premises of this club for the entire period of repair. The watchman was taken hostage and recognized one of the gay club workers among the terrorists. Because members and visitors of the club are many influential representatives of commercial and government structures, incl. and among the deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Archon and Co. LLC has powerful cover in the event of inspections by law enforcement agencies. Perhaps the gay club maintained a client database for the purpose of collecting compromising information for blackmailing persons of interest. In connection with the above, the gay club was the most ideal base for preparing and carrying out a terrorist attack.”
However, whether the gay club, where “influential representatives of commercial and government structures hung out,” became a base for those who were preparing one of the most terrible terrorist attacks of our time remains unknown. Apparently, someone really didn’t need the “extra details.”
As a result, many blank spots remained in the history of Nord-Ost. The investigation is so closed that it is impossible to even establish how, in collusion with which structures, militants with a large amount of weapons and explosives managed to get into the center of Moscow and freely take hostages.
Repeated appeals by the victims to the then President of the country, Vladimir Putin, demanding an objective investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy and its consequences were to no avail.
Nord-Ost and the European Court
After Nord-Ost, security forces were awarded secret orders from President Putin. The heroes of Russia were FSB General Pronichev, FSB General Tikhonov, as well as the creator of the chemical formula of gas, an FSB employee.
Former hostages and relatives of the victims found lawyers. The interests of one group are represented by Karinna Moskalenko and Olga Mikhailova, the other by Igor Trunov and Lyudmila Aivar.
At the beginning of 2003, having received decisions refusing to initiate criminal proceedings against members of the operational headquarters, rescuers and doctors and having appealed them in Russian courts, applicants Moskalenko and Mikhailova decided to appeal to the European Court.
The same decision was made in August 2003 by 57 applicants Igor Trunov and Lyudmila Aivar.
The criminal case on “Nord-Ost” was conducted alone by investigator Kalchuk for a long time. The case did not reach the Russian court. The investigation did not find a single culprit (except for the killed terrorists) in the death of the hostages.
Until 2007, the European Court was silent. In 2007, Igor Trunov’s complaint was communicated. Moreover, the European Court itself invited Trunov’s applicants to declare a violation of Articles 2 and 3 of the European Convention. These articles are considered the most “severe”: Strasbourg, already at the initial stages, saw in the Nord-Ost case signs of a violation by the state of the most important right - the right to life.
At the beginning of November this year, the last – adversarial – stage of consideration of the complaint regarding “Nord-Ost” will end, and the European Court will begin writing a decision.
