Eight years ago, on October 23, 2002, the first Russian musical Nord-Ost was staged at the Theater Center on Dubrovka. There were over 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 storm. The operational headquarters included the deputy head of the FSB, General Viktor Pronichev, and the head of the presidential administration, Alexander Voloshin. From the operational headquarters, a command was received to storm the units of the Central Security Service of the FSB, commanded by another deputy head of the FSB, General Alexander Tikhonov.
The military operation began with the supply of gas through the ventilation system. It is known that the composition of the gas included heavy opiates based on fentanyl (used in medicine for anesthesia). This substance is also known to be lethal if administered in small doses and rapidly, and is especially dangerous when exposed to people in a seated 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 gas", which, according to him, was harmless, but became victims of "a number of circumstances: dehydration, chronic diseases, the very fact that they had to stay in that building.” In the death certificates issued to the relatives of the victims, a dash was placed in the column “cause of death”.
The Ministry of Health officially refused to release data on the gas used during the operation, citing it as a state secret. The State Duma Committee on Security refused to examine the legitimacy of classifying the gas. The formula of the gas is still classified.
The first official report on isolated cases of hostage deaths was made at about 08:00, but Deputy Chief of Staff Vladimir Vasilyev 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 ascertained.
In total, according to official figures, 130 people, including 10 children, died as a result of the terrorist act.
The exact time of the start of the military operation to destroy the terrorists is not known. Part of the employees of the Central Security Service of the FSB entered the hall through a gay club that functioned on the territory of the theater center. Video cameras recorded only the appearance of special forces in the lobby of the theater center at 6.22 am. It is known that during the assault, the special forces also received poisoning, but none of them died under the influence of gas.
The operational headquarters thought out the special operation to destroy the terrorists 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 Belyakova O.V. (volume 120, file sheet 130):
We arrived at Melnikova Street at about 7:15…
Upon arrival at the Palace of Culture of Moscow Bearing JSC, 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 to the bus and provide assistance to the victims who were on it.
When I got on the bus, the doors closed, and the EMERCOM officer ordered the driver to go to City Clinical Hospital No. 1. There was no one on the bus. medical preparations and tools. 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 ... The victims were located randomly on the bus, some were sitting on chairs, some were lying on the floor.
I do not know who was in charge of the evacuation, who carried the victims, I also do not know.
... There was no sorting yard, and this played a negative role. The fact that the victims were hospitalized on buses, without the appropriate number of medical personnel, medicines, 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 case 115):
... I was not warned in advance that I could be used to deliver former hostages from the Moscow Bearing House.
Order number 784548, was taken to the Botkin hospital in a state of biological death.
The work on the evacuation of the former hostages from the recreation center of JSC "Moscow Bearing" was organized insufficiently qualified. In particular, there was a poor sorting of patients, the corpses were loaded into ambulances, and live hostages were interspersed with the corpses of dead hostages in buses ...
Buses with the victims mostly followed without medical staff, 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 attempted assault, but did not detonate explosive devices and martyrs' belts, and there was no attempt to mass execution of hostages. The hostages saw that some terrorists (shahids) lost consciousness from the effects of the gas.
As a result of the special operation, all the terrorists, even those who were unconscious, were shot (including control shots to the head).
The authorities called the assault on the Theater Center on Dubrovka a "brilliant special operation." The rescue operation was considered effective, despite the fact that the case file 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 the "Nord-Ost" secret orders of President Putin were awarded to the security forces. Among the Heroes of Russia were FSB General Pronichev, FSB General Tikhonov, as well as an unidentified creator chemical formula unidentified gas, also an FSB officer.
Svobodnaya Pressa contacted a law enforcement officer who, as part of a group of investigators, carried out investigative measures in the theater center on Dubrovka immediately after the assault.
"SP": - What are your most important impressions and conclusions on the attack?
The main conclusion is that the Chechens were not going to die there. To a large extent, their threats to blow up the hostages were a bluff.
"SP": - Why do you think so?
According to witnesses. These were conditional suicide bombers. And most importantly, this can be seen from the final fact: they had the opportunity to blow up the hostages, but they did not.
"SP": - But the official version - they were prevented by gas ...
- "Gas" heroism is quite far-fetched. The gas was visible - from the moment it was released to the moment it began to act, mainly on the hostages - up to five minutes passed. It could be seen that there was white smoke - gas. It was obvious to the terrorists. It was not even hidden, obviously 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 do it without any problems. But they didn't want it.
Another important point: the goals - true, real - with which the terrorists arrived there have not yet been disclosed.
"SP": - And 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 (the leader of the terrorist group - approx. "SP") wants to announce the perpetrators of the explosions 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 an opportunity, apparently, was - 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 be obtained from terrorists. At least the names of the accomplices. If only in the interests of preventing terrorists from smuggling such a quantity of explosives into Moscow in the future, one might ask: how did they smuggle it? Suddenly they have accomplices in the special services? After all, no one, but the special services missed this circumstance.
With these goals, some of the terrorists could try to take. No, they didn't take anyone. And it 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 the threat of Vladimir Putin - "wet in the toilet." Were the terrorists really “soaked” in the toilet?
I personally saw a toilet with booths shot through, with numerous holes. Someone was "wet" there, for sure. "Soaked" or not - another question ...
"SP": - Is this some kind of necrophilic humor?
I don't know. Perhaps they simply drove some kind of “rat” with a machine gun from among the terrorists there, and it fired back. Humor has nothing to do with it, it's too serious.
"SP": - And what are your impressions of the dead?
The impression was made by the number of dead, and the reason for their death. According to some reports, most of them simply choked on vomit. Vomit masses. The main cause of death is the untimely provision of medical care. This gas produces an effect similar to heroin: in case of an overdose, the respiratory center fails, there is a delay in breathing, vomiting. And the injured soldiers from the internal troops were taken out of the hall and put face up in the buses. Stacks, without the participation of physicians.
They were taken to hospitals, but due to the secrecy of data on the composition of the poisonous substance, and the lack of disclosure of this information to doctors, the buses traveled from hospital to hospital for a long time. There was confusion and disorganization. Time passed, during which the victims suffocated - choked with vomit. This is about 130 people.
"SP": "But some of the hostages died from bullets, didn't they?"
Only three or four people from the hostages died from bullets, they were shot by terrorists. One of the hostages lost their nerve, he freaked out, jumped up and ran, almost along the backs of the chairs - they shot him. 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 given out as an achievement of our special services.
I was also impressed by one girl from among the hostages, a student of the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University, who said that after the experience she would no longer be a journalist. She, freed from the hostages, watched TV, and something happened inside her from the lies of TV, which covered the terrorist attack. The TV reports then broadcast a picture with the location of snipers and power groups, 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 took place in exact, canonical accordance with the ideas of Antonio Gramsci (the founder and theorist of the Italian Communist Party in 1920-1930, approx. "SP") about the society-spectacle. It is striking that this whole performance broke out of the stage and the theater, and swept the whole 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 interrogation of the first witnesses. They said that they did not immediately understand that there were terrorists on the stage. Until they began aggressive actions towards the audience, the audience thought that this was an element of the performance. The line between the beginning of the play "Nord-Ost" and the terrorist attack was blurred. In this sense, the performance is still not over.
"SP": What is Gramsci's theory?
He says that the events taking place in society can be controlled by controlling the spectacle that depicts these events. In "Nord-Ost" the main thing is to capture the viewer's attention, and it doesn't matter by what means. In this case, attention was captured, but in the end it is not clear who captured it: the terrorists, the freshly minted Heroes of Russia from the FSB, the government ... All this reduced the event to the level of a spectacle. According to the plan of those who planned it, the spectacle should obscure the causes - and so it happened. So far, no one has voiced or investigated any reasons. This is a theatrical substitution, because you need to look for reasons. Without finding them, it is impossible to draw conclusions.
Igor Trunov, lawyer for the victims: Gold rings from corpses were torn with meat
"SP": - Igor Leonidovich, at what stage is the Nord-Ost case in the European Court?
In November - early December, we expect the final consideration of the case. 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 answers, what was answered, the European Court forwards to us, we object, the court forwards the objections of the Russian Federation, 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 five people) have been combined into one case.
"SP": - This is good?
Our side categorically objected to the association: we believe that, in addition to the resuscitation of the criminal case on Nord-Ost, civil cases should also be reanimated. The victims still have not received proper compensation for harm, compensation for moral damage, many orphans have not been paid what was regulated by the law at that time. Our complaint, let me explain, consists of two components: criminal proceedings plus civil. But Moskalenko has only criminal proceedings: she emphasized that the investigation was of poor quality and incomplete. In the last paragraph, our arguments are the same.
One way or another, now the consideration of the case in Strasbourg is coming to an end. The only thing we added to our complaint this year is the situation with looting by law enforcement officers. They stole everything they could, plus they managed to plunder what was recorded in the presence of attesting witnesses and handed over to the investigator for safekeeping.
"SP": - And what exactly was stolen?
Money, values. We won in court on two episodes of looting, which do not climb into any gates. Let me remind you that our investigator bears personal responsibility for the valuables handed over to him in the presence of attesting witnesses and duly recorded. So, the former hostage Dolgaya handed over her handbag, which was about two thousand dollars, and the Mikhailov family of journalists from Kaliningrad - money and valuables. All this is gone. We went to court with a lawsuit against the Moscow prosecutor's office, and won the case. Do you understand? The prosecutor's office was ordered to pay the embezzled funds to these two families.
"SP": - Were they paid?
Long already received the money, they were paid by the federal budget. That is, we take the rap: investigators steal, and taxpayers pay. I note that none of the investigators was brought to justice, although, according to the law, a criminal case should have been initiated against the perpetrator.
"SP": - Was it an isolated case?
We proved only those episodes for which we had just reinforced concrete evidence: protocols signed in the presence of witnesses, including the investigator, and filed with the case file. And there were dozens of cases, looting was a mass phenomenon. After all, the corpses were given out naked, even cowards were removed from the corpses - this is a disgrace! I'm not talking about gold rings - they were torn with meat, removing earrings, tore the ears of women. But where there were no protocols, it was almost impossible to prove anything...
"SP": - How do you think, how will the consideration of the case in the European Court end?
Judging by our correspondence, the Russian Federation indirectly recognizes some of the requirements. The materials of the correspondence, by the way, were classified at the request of the Russian Federation. There is nothing secret there, but it is clear from the correspondence that the Russian Federation often tells lies.
I am not completely sure that it will be possible to achieve a second criminal investigation into Nord-Ost: the statute of limitations has expired, and no one will be held accountable. But in civil proceedings, there are good chances to achieve justice, and to insist on the payment of proper compensation: they will never hurt.
Operational lies
“Tragedies can happen in any state. Nobody is safe. The main thing is how power comes out of them. What lessons does she draw from the cruel truth about what happened, how does she relate to the victims who continue their lives next to her, and to the memory of the dead? - considers the victim V. Kurbatov, who lost a child on Dubrovka.
But just after the terrorist attack, the authorities behaved in the strangest way. There was disinformation, the investigation was stalled, and then it was completely stopped. The victims were even forced to create a 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 entered the relatives of the hostages. “They were all extremely excited and cheerful. They stood at the microphone. The hall is frozen. And then the words of a sweet lie sounded: “The assault was brilliant! The terrorists have all been killed! There are no victims among the hostages!” The audience applauded and shouted with joy. Everyone thanked the authorities, officials for saving the lives of relatives and friends.” And at that time, as it later became known from the materials of the criminal case, the bodies of the dead hostages were piled into two buses that stood near the recreation center ...
The first official report on isolated cases of hostage deaths was made around 09:00, however, Deputy Chief of Staff Vladimir Vasilyev (now a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation - SP note) reports that there are no children among the dead. As it turned out later, by that time, doctors had already declared 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 declare the use of special equipment and several terrorists captured alive.
13:45 - the operational headquarters stopped its work. At the same time, the relatives of the hostages were given “information telephones”, by which they allegedly could find out information about which hospital their relatives were taken to. However, the "dispatchers" did not have any information about the former hostages. The federal media reported an unreliable list of hospitals where the 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 of individuals, but they were categorically refused. Despite the promise of the authorities, the lists did not appear in many hospitals, which caused suffering for people who could not find their loved ones either among the living or among the dead.
Former hostages continued to die on the 26th, 27th, and 28th October. 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 of November 1, 2002, all the 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, only in June 2003, the family of G. Vlah was informed that his corpse had been cremated along with the bodies of the terrorists. The family did not receive any explanation or apology in this regard.
The official version about the harmlessness of the "special equipment" used during the assault was widely used in the media. Even before receiving the results of the examinations, leading health officials stated on television that the cause of the death of the hostages was a "complex of unfavorable factors" and the presence of chronic diseases.
Hidden also cases of defeat by "special means" of employees special services carrying out the rescue operation. But on 11/06/2002, the president of the association of veterans of the Alpha unit, a deputy of the Moscow City Duma, Sergei Goncharov, said 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 them were children; about 700 hostages were poisoned, some of them became invalids of II and III groups, 12 people partially or completely lost their hearing; 69 children, having lost their parents, remained orphans.”
Who is guilty? What is a 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 in 2007.
Only two "switchmen" were brought to trial. Zaurbek Talkhigov, who spoke on the phone with Baraev, received 8.5 years for aiding terrorists. Policeman Alyamkin received 7 years for the fact that in the fall of 2002, for a bribe, he issued a temporary registration for a citizen of the Russian Federation L. Bakueva. Subsequently, Bakueva was among the participants in the seizure of the Theater Center on Dubrovka. That's all organizational conclusions.
In the report of the public organization Nord-Ost, on this occasion it is said: “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 at 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 die, and the only one who was punished was Alyamkin, an ordinary employee of the passport department. Alyamkin's harsh sentence is intended to demonstrate the decisiveness and uncompromisingness of the authorities in the fight against terrorism. However, the public has not been presented with any real results of the investigation into the causes of the incident. Until now, no explanation has been given why during the operation to rescue the hostages so many people died not at the hands of terrorists. Instead, we are offered to be satisfied with the punishment of the "switchman". The sentence handed down to Alyamkin is disproportionately harsh, and the punishment of an ordinary law enforcement officer cannot exhaust the responsibility of the authorities for the Dubrovka tragedy.”
And here is a statement from the materials of the investigation (volume 1, sheet 93): “There was a gay club in the basement of the Palace of Culture. There was a renovation going on at the time. Among the workers, the personnel of the Palace of Culture 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 among the terrorists he recognized one of the gayclub workers. Since the 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 a powerful cover in case of inspections by law enforcement agencies. It is possible that a database of clients was maintained in the gay club in order to collect information for blackmailing interested parties. In connection with the above, the gay club was the most ideal base for the preparation and implementation of a terrorist act.
However, whether the gay club where “influential representatives of commercial and government structures hung out” became the base for those who prepared one of the most terrible terrorist attacks of our time remained unknown. Apparently, the "extra details" turned out to be very unnecessary for someone.
As a result, many white spots remain in the history of Nord-Ost. The investigation is closed in such a way that it is impossible even to establish how, in collusion with which structures, the militants with a large amount of weapons and explosives managed to get into the center of Moscow and seize hostages without hindrance.
Repeated appeals of 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 inconclusive.
Nord-Ost and the European Court
After the "Nord-Ost" secret orders of President Putin were awarded to the security forces. FSB General Pronichev, FSB General Tikhonov, and also the creator of the chemical formula of the gas, an FSB officer, became heroes of Russia.
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.
In early 2003, having received decisions not to initiate criminal proceedings against members of the operational headquarters, rescuers and doctors and having challenged them in the Russian courts, applicants Moskalenko and Mikhailova decided to apply to the European Court.
The same decision was taken in August 2003 by 57 applicants Igor Trunov and Lyudmila Aivar.
The criminal case on Nord-Ost was conducted by investigator Kalchuk for a long time alone. 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 "heavy": Strasbourg is already on early 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 of this year, the last - competitive - stage of the consideration of the complaint against Nord-Ost will end, and the European Court will start writing a decision.
Fifteen years ago, on October 26, 2002, a special operation to rescue hostages taken by Chechen fighters in the Theater Center on Dubrovka ended.
Terrorists broke into the building on October 23 during the musical "Nord-Ost", 916 people were taken hostage. The tragedy killed 130 people, including 10 children.
Commemorative events dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the tragedy took place in Moscow today. In the morning, 130 white balloons were released near the theater center. The number corresponding to the victims of the terrorist attack. People brought flowers to the building, candles were lit near the wall with photographs of the dead.
Chronology of events
22.00 “The police are receiving information that the Theater Center on Dubrovka has been seized by Chechen fighters led by Movsar Baraev. There are women among the terrorists. Reinforced police squads are drawn to the building.
23.00 - Five actors who were locked in the dressing room manage to escape from the occupied building.
23:30 - Arrives military equipment. At this time, 7 employees of the technical group of the musical, who have closed in the editing room, run out of the building.
00:00 - The building is completely locked down. The operatives are negotiating 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 - the 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 hall of the Theater Center. The girl enters into a skirmish with Movsar Baraev. 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 machine gun shots.
08:00 By this time, the terrorists had released 41 people.
18:31 - Two hostages escape from the building - Elena Zinovieva and Svetlana Kononova. During a trip to the toilet, they get out through the window to the street and run. The bullets of the militants fired after them do not reach their targets.
19:00 — The Qatari TV channel shows the appeal of the 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 medicines and a bag of hygiene products that the terrorists allowed to bring for the hostages. NTV correspondent Sergei Dedukh and operator 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 out eight children from the building seized by terrorists.
00:30—02:00 — One of the hostages starts hysterical. He rushes with a bottle at a terrorist sitting next to an 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 taken to the first floor of the building and the ambulance staff is called. Pavel Zakharov later died in the hospital.
Storm
5:00 - Operation begins. Sleeping gas was let into the building through ventilation. Militants and hostages mistake it for smoke from a fire.
5:30 “Three explosions near the DK building. Automatic queues. There is unconfirmed information about the beginning of the operation to storm the building.
5:45 - Message from representatives of the headquarters: two hostages were killed. Two others are wounded.
Vyacheslav Gudkov, a veteran of the FSB special forces, told the website of the Zvezda TV channel about how the assault on the Nord-Ost, captured by terrorists in 2002, took place.
“From the very beginning, they tried to understand the plans and goals of the terrorists, conducted continuous reconnaissance of the object, studied the schemes of the building and approaches to it. We immediately connected the Ministry of Emergency Situations, all official and so-called "black diggers", but none of them could help us and explain how to get inside, ”says the commando.According to Gudkov, help came unexpectedly. A senior detective of the regional department of the FSB came to the combat control group, who brought two "tracing-paper-schemes" according to which the collectors leading inside the house of culture were found. One of the collectors went under the stage, thus it became clear the origin of the continuous knocking in the area of the stage - the terrorists were preparing the way for retreat. All exits from the sewers were immediately blocked by the forces of the fighters of the Internal Troops.
“We did a very good job of reconnaissance, and constantly analyzed the incoming information. Everyone, up to the location of the last mine, knew. We received important information from snipers: "They move around the building and up the stairs, just like us!" We concluded that we are not dealing with ordinary bandits, but with terrorists who have undergone special combat training. One of the effective sources of information was the hostages released by the terrorists during the negotiations. I would especially like to note the work with the released children, whom we managed to intercept immediately after leaving the building. One of the Alpha officers, who studied child psychology at the institute, suggested that they play a game where he said that the guys were temporarily enrolled in the staff of a combat unit, were on reconnaissance, and now they must report the results. It was as if they had been replaced - everyone began to tell where someone was standing, where the suicide bombers were, where the ordinary militants were, who had what kind of weapons, where the explosives were, etc.,” Gudkov said.The assault on the building was scheduled for the early morning and began simultaneously from several sides by the forces of Alfa and Vympel employees. Groups armed with silent weapons were the first to enter the assembly hall, and in a matter of seconds they destroyed all the terrorists with "suicide belts", including those who were next to the land mines. Then they eliminated the terrorists who were on the stage. They immediately began demining the hall and withdrawing the hostages, while the liquidation of the militants continued on the upper floors.
According to the results of the battle with the militants, it became known that 41 terrorists were eliminated, and all the hostages were alive. However, reports of dead hostages began to arrive at the FSB headquarters after the release of the hostages.
“Movsar Baraev was eliminated by the commander of one of the Alpha assault groups, Yuri Torshin, along with an officer of Vympel named Sergey. The bandits fought a fierce firefight on the second floor of the building. Movsar, together with his accomplice, locked himself in one of the rooms, from where he fired at our guys. Yura threw a grenade into the room, and Sergei put a full stop with a line from a machine gun. In this battle, Yura received a shrapnel wound in his arm, ”says an employee of the special service.
The terrorist attack on Dubrovka occurred in 2002. For three days, from October 23 to October 26, a group of terrorists armed "to the teeth" led by militant Movsar Baraev held hostages in a building on Melnikova Street. During the attack, 130 people died. More than 700 were affected. The militants, consisting of 40 people holding the hostages, were liquidated on the spot.
“The first hostages, as long as they had the strength, were brought to their senses and taken out of the hall on their own feet. Then they got tired and simply carried them out into the wardrobe hall, where they carefully laid them on the clothes thrown off the hangers. I repeat: at the time the FSB special forces left the building, all the hostages were alive! We left satisfied with a job well done, and it was all the more bitter to receive news of the ever-increasing number of dead hostages. The reasons are the poorly organized actions of the city authorities to evacuate and provide first aid to people affected by the terrorist attack,” Gudkov said.
Earlier, Alexander Kolbanov, a veteran of the Alfa special forces, spoke about how he eliminated one of the organizers of the terrorist attack on the musical Nord-Ost. Image copyright RIA Novosti
For all mankind, "north-east" is the direction of the compass needle or the northeast wind. For Russians, this is one of the most tragic events in modern history.
On October 23, 2002, a drama began with the capture by Chechen fighters of the audience and actors of the popular musical "Nord-Ost", also known as the "terrorist attack on Dubrovka".
912 people were in the hands of the attackers. 130 were killed, including 10 children and eight foreigners.
This topic is discussed on the forum bbcrussian.comThere were fewer victims in Nord-Ost than in Budennovsk, Kizlyar and Beslan, but in terms of the number of deaths, this tragedy is second only to the Beslan nightmare.
119 people died in hospitals after being released. According to many, most of them could have been saved if the operation had been carried out more competently and the safety of people had not been sacrificed for total secrecy.
So far, it has not been possible to put an end to militant attacks in Russia, although last years their activity is mainly limited to the North Caucasian region and is directed against local authorities.
56 hours under the gun
According to Russian intelligence services, in the summer of 2002 a meeting of field commanders was held in Chechnya, at which it was decided to "transfer the war to enemy territory" and carry out a major attack in the Russian capital.
Official Moscow claims that the meeting was chaired by the leader of "independent Ichkeria" Aslan Maskhadov.
Indirect confirmation of Maskhadov's involvement is an interview given by him five days before the attack to the Agence France Presse, in which he explained the reasons for his cooperation with Shamil Basayev and other persons recognized as terrorists by the world community.
“Western leaders are forced to flirt with Russia to resolve their global problems such as the Balkans, Afghanistan, Georgia, and now Iraq. Now that the war is on, I have nothing to lose by associating with people like Basayev, Udugov or Yandarbiev - the main radical leaders," Maskhadov said, hinting at some kind of "exceptional operation" that his supporters are preparing.
According to representatives of the Russian special services, the attack on Dubrovka was coordinated by telephone from abroad by the "vice-president of Ichkeria" Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev.
On February 13, 2004, he died in a car explosion in Dubai, allegedly arranged by agents of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff.
The 23-year-old field commander Movsar Baraev was appointed the direct leader of the action. In order to divert attention from his personality, the militants spread a rumor that he either died or went abroad for treatment after being seriously wounded. Yielding to misinformation, Boris Podoprigora, Deputy Commander of the Joint Grouping of Federal Forces in Chechnya, officially announced on October 12 that Baraev had died as a result of an air raid.
Initially, the strike was planned for the Day of National Accord and Reconciliation on November 7 in order to spoil Russia's holiday, but then they decided not to risk it and not play for time.
21 men and 19 women, mostly aged 20-23, were selected to participate in the attack. It was after "Nord-Ost" in Russia that people started talking about "shahids" widely.
They arrived in Moscow in small groups by different means of transport and were accommodated in pre-rented private apartments. Baraev, accompanied by two other people, arrived by train on 14 October.
Cars loaded with apples and watermelons delivered more than a centner of plastite for making bombs and suicide belts, three powerful explosive devices converted from 152-mm artillery shells, over a hundred grenades, 18 Kalashnikov assault rifles, 20 Stechkin and Makarov pistols.
The media and the public subsequently wondered how the militants managed to smuggle so many weapons across Russia without hindrance, and hinted at the possibility of bribing policemen at road checkpoints.
The most convenient places for capturing and keeping a large number of people indoors were concert halls and theaters. Three points were considered: the Moscow Youth Palace near the Frunzenskaya metro station, the Theater Center on Dubrovka (the former Palace of Culture of the 1st State Bearing Plant on Melnikova Street, 7) and the Moscow state theater stage on the embankment of the Moscow River opposite the Kremlin.
The choice fell on the center on Dubrovka, which had a large auditorium and a small number of other rooms and exits.
To divert the attention of the special services, on October 19 Barayev's group staged an explosion near the McDonald's restaurant on Pokryshkin Street. At 13.10, a Tavria car parked at the entrance exploded, killing a 17-year-old teenager.
At 21:05 on October 23, when the first act of the musical ended in the Theater Center, three minibuses with armed men drove up to the building.
On the stage, where at that moment there were eight artists in flight uniforms of the 1940s, a man in camouflage and with a machine gun ran out, fired several shots into the air and ordered the audience to stay where they were, and the actors to go down to the hall. Part of the audience took this as an element of the performance.
Other militants combed the building, herding into the hall everyone who came to hand, including 20 teenagers from the Irish dance studio. Five artists and seven technicians were able to escape in the confusion. The next day, two more young spectators managed to escape, who got out into the street through the toilet window. The militants fired at them from machine guns and an underbarrel grenade launcher, easily injuring Major Konstantin Zhuravlev, who was covering the girls.
Image copyright RIA Novosti Image caption Relatives of the hostages staged a spontaneous rally near the captured theaterThe militants placed explosive devices in the stalls and on the balconies and allowed the audience to call their relatives on mobile phones, demanding to be informed that 10 people would be shot for each killed or wounded among the attackers.
By 22:00 the building was cordoned off by riot police, by 23:30 armored vehicles pulled up.
Negotiations began around midnight. The authorities promised the militants life in exchange for the release of the hostages, but they refused, demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya.
At 19:00 on October 24, the Al-Jazeera TV channel in Qatar showed a pre-recorded video in which Movsar Barayev, surrounded by five women in black capes and veils, called his group a "sabotage and reconnaissance brigade of righteous martyrs" and demanded recognition of Chechnya's independence.
At the risk of themselves, for negotiations with Baraev and his people and the delivery of water and medicines to the victims, a pediatric surgeon Leonid Roshal, singer Iosif Kobzon, politicians Irina Khakamada, Grigory Yavlinsky, Evgeny Primakov, Ruslan Aushev and Aslambek Aslakhanov, a Jordanian doctor, associate professor of the Moscow Medical Sechenov Academy Anvar Said, Russian journalists Anna Politkovskaya, Dmitry Belovetsky, Sergei Dedukh and Anton Peredelsky, son of director Stanislav Govorukhin Sergei, British correspondent Mark Franchetti and two Swiss Red Cross employees.
Largely due to their efforts, the militants released a total of 60 people - women, children, foreigners and Muslims.
Baraev demanded a meeting with the head of the administration of Chechnya, Akhmad Kadyrov, promising in this case to release 50 hostages, but he did not come.
During the siege, militants killed five people in the building and wounded three.
Around 5 am on October 26, the besiegers began pumping sleeping gas into the hall through the ventilation pipes and broke into the building half an hour later. At 07:25, presidential aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky officially announced the end of the operation.
All forty militants were killed - presumably unconscious. The public subsequently wondered why at least some of them did not save their lives for the investigation and open trial.
Russian TV channels showed the corpses of women with "suicide belts" and Movsar Baraev, near which stood an open bottle of cognac. Some commentators emphasized this circumstance, accusing the deceased of hypocrisy and violating the canons of Islam.
Motherland will forgive?
According to experts, the special forces acted competently, but the evacuation and medical assistance to the released hostages were poorly organized.
For reasons of secrecy, doctors and rescuers were not warned in advance, and the police did not clear the surrounding streets. The ambulances arrived at the Theater Center only at about 06:30.
The evacuation of the victims lasted for an hour and a half, and the sleeping people were carried out mainly not by qualified doctors, but by policemen and special forces. Due to the incorrect position of the bodies, many had asphyxia.
The use of the gas was reported only at 13:00, so the doctors did not know what, in fact, people should be treated for.
On October 27, Andrey Seltsovsky, chief doctor of Moscow, said that "one does not die from the use of such special equipment in its pure form."
At a press conference on September 20, 2003, Vladimir Putin also claimed that "these people died not as a result of the gas", but from "dehydration, chronic diseases, the very fact that they had to stay in that building."
However, the name and formula of the gas used by the Russian authorities are still hidden. According to indirect evidence, it could be some kind of fentanyl-based compound.
There was no investigation into the actions of the authorities. No one was questioned either for the mass death of the hostages after the liberation, or for the fact that the special services did not know in advance about the preparation of such a major attack from their agents and overlooked the large-scale transfer of militants and weapons to the capital.
State Duma deputy Sergei Yushenkov suggested that his colleagues consider the issue, but the pro-Kremlin majority did not support the initiative.
The deputy director of the FSB, Vladimir Pronichev, who led the operation, was awarded the title of Hero of Russia by a secret decree. According to observers, Vladimir Putin sent an unambiguous signal to the "siloviki": act in the same spirit in the future, there will be victims - the Motherland will forgive.
Court and business
The only defendant in the Dubrovka hostage-taking case was a Chechen, Zaurbek Talkhigov, who was accused of complicity. On June 20, 2003, the Moscow City Court sentenced him to 8.5 years in prison.
According to a survey conducted in 2010 by the Levada Center, 74% of Russians do not fully or partially trust official information about the tragedy.
Some of the victims and relatives of the victims filed a lawsuit against the state, seeking to disclose all the information on the case and bring the leaders of the operation to justice under the article "infliction of death by negligence."
On January 23, 2003, the Tverskoy Court of Moscow rejected their claims. In August of the same year, 64 people filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights.
The consideration of the case in Strasbourg lasted seven and a half years. On December 20, 2011, the ECtHR ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, awarding Russian state to the payment of compensation to them from 9 to 66 thousand euros each, depending on the degree of damage suffered.
Recognizing the decision to conduct the assault as the competence of the Russian authorities, the court considered that the officials responsible for its conduct violated the second article of the European Convention, which guarantees the right to life.
"The rescue operation was not properly prepared, in particular, due to insufficient information exchange between various services, the late start of the evacuation, the lack of proper coordination between the various services, the lack of proper medical care and medical equipment at the scene, as well as poor logistics," the statement said. in the judgment of the ECtHR.
In addition, the judges pointed out that the Russian authorities violated the rights of the victims by failing to conduct an effective investigation into the actions of law enforcement agencies during the storming of the building.
In July 2012, the lawyer of the victims, Igor Trunov, filed a petition with the Investigative Committee of Russia to open a criminal case and conduct a new investigation. No response has been received yet.
One of the indirect consequences of the Nord-Ost drama was the expulsion from the NTV channel of the leadership headed by Boris Yordan.
After the sinking of the Kursk submarine, the Paris newspaper Figaro called Vladimir Putin's reputation and political future "another victim of the crash."
French journalists were judged by the standards of the society in which they live. In Russia, crises and catastrophes did not weaken, but strengthened Putin's power, providing a pretext for further "tightening the screws." Kursk was followed by the restoration of state control on Channel One, Beslan by the abolition of gubernatorial elections.
Rumor that NTV showed at night in live preparations for the assault, which could play into the hands of the militants, turned out to be false. But Jordan didn't stop journalists from telling what they thought about what was going on, showing desperate relatives of the hostages, quoting critical foreign comments and discussing alleged divisions in the corridors of power.
As in other similar cases, his resignation in January 2003 was officially explained by disagreements with shareholders on business issues, but observers did not doubt that the President's instructions were the reason.
In 2001, Jordan participated in the destruction of the "old NTV" headed by Vladimir Gusinsky and Yevgeny Kiselev, but soon he was also considered insufficiently controlled.
After Jordan left, the channel lost the remnants of independence, and series about bandits and "cops" and "journalistic investigations" about the Russian opposition, which are ambiguously perceived by society, became its trademark.
Unlucky project
Image copyright RIA Novosti Image caption "Nord-Ost" is one of the largest and most unlucky projects in Russian show business"Nord-Ost" was considered the first Russian world-class musical and a major event in the cultural life of the country.
Preparation of the performance based on the novel by Veniamin Kaverin "Two Captains" began in 1998. Directors Georgy Vasiliev and Alexei Ivashchenko trained in the company of Cameron Mackintosh, who directed Les Misérables, Cats and The Phantom of the Opera in London.
For the scenery, unique in complexity, created by the artist Zinovy Margolin (an airplane landing on the stage in life size and a turning circle opened by ice hummocks, in the center of which the bow of a sunken schooner appeared) The theater center on Dubrovka underwent a special reconstruction, which turned it into a theater of one performance.
The creators of "Nord-Ost" counted on him long life and great commercial success (London and New York musicals often live for 20-30 years), but the tragedy in October 2002 put an end to the project.
After the repair of the hall, the performance resumed. The organizers called it a symbol of the triumph of life and the victory over terror, but many Muscovites said that they could not have fun "on the bones" or felt unaccountable fear in the building. May 10, 2003 was the last performance. Attempts to transfer the production to St. Petersburg or to create a touring version with simplified scenery and a smaller number of actors were not successful.
bloody chronicle
1991November 9: three Chechen militants, including Shamil Basayev, took 178 hostages aboard a Tu-154 passenger plane at the Mineralnye Vody airport and hijacked the liner to Turkey.
1995June 14-20: a detachment of 195 militants led by Basayev took more than 1,600 hostages in a hospital in the city of Budennovsk (Stavropol Territory). 129 people died, 415 were injured.
1996January 9-15: a group of militants led by Salman Raduev captured about 2,000 people in a hospital and maternity hospital in the city of Kizlyar (Dagestan). 78 Russian servicemen, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and civilians were killed.
January 16-19: Three Turkish citizens and two Russian citizens captured over 220 people on the Avrasiya ferry in the Turkish port of Trabzon. The attackers surrendered to the local authorities without a fight.
June 11: As a result of an explosion on the stretch between the stations "Tulskaya" and "Nagatinskaya" of the Moscow metro, four people were killed and 12 were injured.
June 26: the explosion of a passenger bus at the bus station in Nalchik. Six people were killed and over forty injured.
July 11-12: Explosions in trolleybuses on Pushkinskaya Square and Prospekt Mira in Moscow. 34 people were injured.
November 16: explosion of a residential building for officers and ensigns in Kaspiysk (Dagestan). 69 people died, including 21 children.
1997April 23: explosion at the railway station in Armavir (Krasnodar Territory). Three people were killed and 12 injured.
April 28: explosion in the waiting room of the railway station in Pyatigorsk. Two people were killed and 22 people were injured.
19981999August 31: Explosion at the Okhotny Ryad shopping complex on Manezhnaya Square in Moscow. One woman died, 40 people were injured.
4 September: explosion of a five-story residential building in Buynaksk (Dagestan). 64 people were killed, 146 injured.
September 9 and 13: explosions of residential buildings in Moscow on Guryanov Street and on Kashirskoye Highway. 100 and 124 people died respectively.
16 of September: explosion of a nine-story residential building in Volgodonsk (Rostov region). 19 people died, 1045 people were injured and injured.
year 2000June 6: explosion of a car loaded with explosives near the building of the police department in the Chechen village of Alkhan-Yurt. Two policemen were killed and five were wounded.
July 2: a series of truck bomb explosions in Chechnya. 30 policemen and servicemen were killed. The seconded employees of the Main Internal Affairs Directorate of the Chelyabinsk region in Argun suffered the greatest losses.
8 August: explosion in the underground passage on Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow. 13 people were killed, 61 injured.
October 6: four explosions in Pyatigorsk and Nevinnomyssk (Stavropol Territory). Four people were killed and 20 injured.
year 2001February 5th: explosion at the Moscow metro station Belorusskaya-Koltsevaya. 20 people were injured, including two children.
March 24: explosions at the entrance to the Central Market in Mineralnye Vody and at the traffic police building in Essentuki. 21 people died, 122 were injured.
2002April 28: explosion at the Central Market of Vladikavkaz. Nine people died and 46 were injured.
9th May: explosion during a military parade in Kaspiysk. 45 people were killed, including 12 children, more than 170 were injured.
October 19: Explosion of a car bomb near a McDonald's restaurant on Pokryshkina Street in Moscow. One person died and eight were injured.
October 23-26: hostage-taking in the Moscow theater on Dubrovka during the play "Nord-Ost". 130 people died.
27th of December: explosion of the government building of the Chechen Republic in Grozny. Two cars loaded with explosives broke into the territory of the protected complex. 46 people were killed and 76 injured.
2003May 2: A KamAZ truck loaded with explosives, driven by a female suicide bomber, exploded near the building of the FSB administration of the Nadterechny district of Chechnya. 60 people were killed, more than 200 were injured.
May 14: explosion at a religious holiday in the village of Iliskhan-Yurt, Gudermes region of Chechnya. 30 people died, more than 150 were injured.
5'th of July: explosion at the rock festival "Wings" in Tushino. 16 people died, about 50 were injured.
25-th of August: three explosions at public transport stops in Krasnodar. Four people were killed and 15 injured.
September 3: undermining the electric train Kislovodsk - Mineralnye Vody. Seven people died and about 80 were injured.
5th of December: the explosion of the Kislovodsk-Mineralnye Vody electric train at the entrance to the Essentuki station. 44 people died, 156 were injured.
2004February 6: explosion in the Moscow metro train on the stretch between the stations "Avtozavodskaya" and "Paveletskaya". 42 people died, about 250 were injured.
9th May: A bomb explosion at the Grozny stadium during the celebration of Victory Day killed Chechen President Akhmat Kadyrov and Chairman of the State Council of the Republic Khusein Isaev.
24 August: explosions of passenger planes in the air over the Tula and Rostov regions. 90 people died.
August 31: explosion at the Moscow metro station "Rizhskaya". 10 people died, 50 were injured.
September 1-3: the capture of over 1,300 hostages in the building of School No. 1 in Beslan. 335 people died, about half of them were children, more than 500 people were injured.
2007August 13: Undermining the railway track, which led to the accident of the Nevsky Express train. 60 people were injured.
November 22: explosion of a passenger bus "Pyatigorsk-Vladikavkaz". Five people died and 13 were injured.
2008:year 2009August 17: militant attack on Nazran. 25 people died and 136 were injured.
November 27: the crash of the Nevsky Express train, classified by the investigation as a terrorist attack. 28 people were killed, 95 people were injured.
20106th January: an attempt by a suicide bomber on a mined "Niva" to the territory of the traffic police base in Makhachkala, where at that time the morning divorce of employees was taking place. Five people were killed and 24 were injured.
March 29: explosions at the Moscow metro stations "Lubyanka" and "Park Kultury". 40 people died, 85 were injured.
5th of April: a double explosion near the building of the Karabulak District Department of Internal Affairs in Ingushetia. Two policemen were killed and four wounded.
may 13: night shelling of a mobile communication station and a TV tower in the Sergokalinsky district of Dagestan. Eight people died.
26 of May: explosion on the square in front of the house of culture in Stavropol. Eight people were killed and 42 people were injured.
June 4: explosion in a store in the village of Sagopshi, Malgobek district of Ingushetia. One person died, 17 were injured.
21 July: explosions at the Baksan hydroelectric power station in Kabardino-Balkaria. Two people were killed, two were injured, and the station suffered significant damage.
August 17: explosion of a car bomb in Pyatigorsk. More than 40 people were injured.
August 29: attack on the residence of Ramzan Kadyrov in his native village of Tsentoroy. 12 alleged militants were killed, four local residents were injured, including two minors.
4 September: A suicide bomber blew up a car on the territory of the tent camp of the 136th motorized rifle brigade in Buynaksk. Five people died and 26 were injured.
9th of September: bomb explosion near the market in Vladikavkaz. 17 people died, 158 people were injured.
2011January 24: explosion at Moscow's Domodedovo airport. 37 people were killed and 130 injured.
18th of Febuary: an attack on a bus with tourists in the Baksansky district of Karachay-Cherkessia. Three are killed.
25 February: militant attack on the FSB headquarters and police posts in Nalchik. Policeman wounded.
year 2012March, 6: explosion at the checkpoint at the entrance to the village of Karabudakhkent, Dagestan. Five police officers were killed and two injured.
May 3: explosion of two car bombs in Makhachkala. 13 police officers, firefighters and bystanders were killed, about 90 people were taken to hospitals.
August 6: an explosion at the entrance to the Voentorg store in Grozny. Four dead, three wounded.
August 19: A suicide bomber blew himself up during a funeral procession in the Malgobek district of Ingushetia. Seven people were killed, 15 were injured, all police officers.
August 28: in the village of Chirkey, Dagestan, Muslim spiritual leader Said Afandi Chirkeysky was blown up in his own house. In addition to him, six more people died, one was injured.
Terrorist act on Dubrovka, also referred to simply as "Nord-Ost"(October 23-2, 2002) - a terrorist attack in Moscow, during which a group of armed militants led by Movsar Baraev took hostage the audience of the musical "Nord-Ost" in the building of the House of Culture of OJSC "Moscow Bearing".
The militants were armed with firearms, ammunition and explosive devices. The total number of hostages taken by them is 916 people. The purpose of the terrorist action was to violate public security, intimidate the population and influence the authorities of the Russian Federation to decide on the withdrawal of troops from the territory of the Chechen Republic.
As a result of the operation to free the hostages, all the terrorists were eliminated and most of the hostages were released. In total, according to official figures, 130 people died from among them.
21 men and about 20 women were selected to carry out the attack. The age of the suicide bombers ranged from 16 to 42 years, but most of them were from 20 to 23 years old.
Wednesday, October 23, 2002 at 21:05 Moscow time to the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka at the address: three minibuses, from which armed men in camouflage jumped out and ran into the building of the Palace of Culture. Having neutralized 4-5 guards armed with stun guns and gas pistols, the main part of the group broke into the concert hall, where at that time the first scene of the second act of the musical was ending and there were more than 800 people.
On the stage, where at that time there were eight artists dressed in military flight uniforms of the 1940s, a man armed with a machine gun came out and ordered the actors to go down from the stage into the hall. In confirmation of the seriousness of his words, he fired several shots upwards. The terrorists declared all people - spectators and theater workers - hostages, but did not put forward their demands. They dispersed around the hall and began to mine it.
22:00 - Reinforced police detachments are being drawn to the building of the center on Dubrovka. Information is coming in that the theater building was seized by a detachment of Chechen fighters led by Movsar Baraev, there are women among the terrorists.
23:05 - From the captured building, five actors who were locked in the dressing room manage to escape.
23:30 - Military equipment is being pulled up to the building, at this time 7 members of the technical team of the musical manage to escape from it, who managed to close themselves in the editing room.
00:00 - The building of the Theater Center on Melnikova Street is completely blocked, the operatives are trying to get in touch with the terrorists who have seized the building. Terrorists release 15 children and dozens more people, including women, foreigners and Muslims
00:30 - During the negotiations, the terrorists put forward a demand for a cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of troops from Chechnya.
03:50 The terrorists free two school-age children.
05:30 - 26-year-old Olga Romanova enters the building of the Theater Center, enters the hall and enters into a skirmish with Movsar Baraev. She is quickly interrogated, taken to the corridor and killed with three machine gun shots.
08:00 - As of 8:00, the terrorists released 41 people.
18:31 - While going to the toilet, two girls - Elena Zinovieva and Svetlana Kononova - get out through the window into the street and run. The terrorists unsuccessfully shoot after them from machine guns and twice from an underbarrel grenade launcher, easily injuring Major Konstantin Zhuravlev, a soldier of the Alpha group, who was covering the girls.
19:00 — The Qatari TV channel shows the appeal of the militant Movsar Barayev, recorded a few days before the capture of the Palace of Culture. In the video shown, Movsar Barayev, sitting in front of a laptop in an apartment, claims that his group belongs to a “sabotage and reconnaissance brigade of righteous martyrs” and demands the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya. The video also showed five women wearing black abayas and veils.
21:30 - According to updated data, 39 people have been released since the hostage-taking by terrorists.
01:30 - Leonid Roshal enters the building, carrying two boxes of medicines (for the balcony and parterre) and a bag with hygiene products, which the terrorists allowed to bring for the hostages. Together with him, NTV correspondent Sergei Dedukh and cameraman Anton Peredelsky enter the building. They stay in the building for about 40 minutes, during which they manage to talk with the terrorists and six hostages.
12:34 - Representatives of the Red Cross take out eight children aged 6 to 12 from the building seized by terrorists.
00:30—02:00 - One of the hostages falls into hysterics and with a bottle rushes to the terrorist, who is next to the explosive device. The militants open fire on him with machine guns, but miss and hit two other hostages - Tamara Starkov (in the stomach) and Pavel Zakharov (in the head). The terrorists allow the wounded hostages to be carried to the ground floor and call ambulances to the building, who take the wounded to the hospital. Pavel Zakharov later died in the hospital.
Storm
At dawn, at about 5:00 am Moscow time, the floodlights that illuminated the main entrance to the theater went out. The besiegers began to pump sleeping gas into the building through the ventilation. The people inside the building - militants and hostages - initially mistook the gas for smoke from a fire, but soon realized that this was not the case.
5.30 . Three explosions and several automatic bursts are heard near the building of the Palace of Culture. After that, the shooting stops. There is unconfirmed information about the beginning of the operation to storm the building.
5.45 . Representatives of the headquarters report that in the past two hours the terrorists have killed two and wounded two more hostages.
6.20 . Several more explosions are heard, shooting resumes. Two hostages successfully left the DK building.
6.30 . The official representative of the FSB, Sergei Ignatchenko, reports that the Theater Center is under the control of special services, Movsar Baraev and most of the terrorists have been destroyed.
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6.30—6.45 . Dozens of emergency vehicles, ambulances and buses drive up to the DK building.
6.45—7.00 . Rescuers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and doctors begin to remove the hostages from the building, provide medical care and hospitalization.
8.00 . Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Vasilyev reports on the destruction of 36 terrorists, the release of more than 750 hostages and the removal of 67 bodies of the dead. Unconscious people are placed on buses. Producer of Nord-Ost, Alexander Tsekalo, says that the hostages are simply tired, and the terrorists are sleeping forever. The operation to free the hostages abroad is called brilliant.
