On October 23, 2002, terrorists seized the building of the Moscow Bearing Palace of Culture, where the musical Nord-Ost was playing. 916 people became hostages. As a result of the assault, up to 174 people died three days later, the exact number is still unknown. Some details of the attack and the assault are also unknown.
How many people died. The official version is 130 people. The lawyer of the hostages and their relatives, Karinna Moskalenko, based on the data of the investigation, stated that 174 people were killed. The head of the investigation team Vladimir Kalchuk, in response to claims about the difference in estimates of the death toll, said: “Well, you think so, but I think so, what do you want from me?”
Why did they die. From the actions of terrorists killed only four. In the death certificates of some of the victims of the terrorist attack, a dash in the column “Cause of death. President Vladimir Putin, a year after the attack, said that people died due to "dehydration, chronic diseases, the very fact that they had to stay in that building." Vladimir Vasiliev, at that time the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security and deputy chief of the operational headquarters at Nord-Ost, said that the main reason for the death of the hostages was "untimely provision of medical assistance." Experts and relatives of the hostages believe that people died due to poisoning with an unknown gas, which the special forces used during the assault on the Palace of Culture. Vladimir Putin claimed that the gas is harmless.
"The other day" on NTV after the terrorist attack. This episode and the talk show "Freedom of Speech", where the relatives of the victims criticized the actions of the authorities, are believed to have led to a change in the leadership of the channel
What was the gas. The formula of the substance is a state secret. It was a "special formulation based on fentanyl derivatives," the FSB reported and confirmed Russian Health Minister Yuri Shevchenko. According to the doctor of chemical sciences, president of the Union "For Chemical Safety" Lev Fedorov, this information is "about nothing at all": "You can hang a thousand tails on fentanyl - and you get a million different substances." According to Kommersant, the gas was "either hypnotic or nerve agent".
According to Anatoly Yermolin, the former head of the Vympel’s operational-combat department, an FSB lieutenant colonel in the reserve, some of the special forces who inhaled gas during the assault “later had big health problems.” “I’m very bad at remembering text, people’s faces. This is not only for me, for almost all the guys with whom we worked, so. Severe headaches never went away,” said actor Marat Abdrakhimov, who was injured in the attack.
Chapter public organization"Nord-Ost" Tatyana Karpova told New Times magazine that doctors were not told anything about the substance. One of the doctors saw in people “a condition that occurs with a drug overdose. The doctor tried to use naloxone, which brings people out of a coma in case of drug poisoning. It worked." Then they took a non-disclosure agreement from the doctors who worked with the hostages.
Why was everything so organised. The gas did not put all the terrorists to sleep - those who were still awake could detonate bombs and bury both the hostages and the commandos. The victims of the attack were carried out of the building and laid in piles on the ground. They were transported in a bustle to hospitals on buses: policemen demanded "immediately load [the victims] into bulk and drive off." For a day after the assault there was no information about almost a hundred people, the hospitals did not want to give information about them. Doctors “were preparing to receive patients with mine fragmentation wounds and were not ready to accept people with poisoning by an unknown substance,” said the father of Kristina Kurbatova, who died in the terrorist attack, Vladimir Kurbatov.
According to Kurbatov, these investigations into the attack are classified. Full list members of the headquarters of the rescue operation is also classified. How well the headquarters planned and carried out the rescue operation, Russian authorities not formally investigated or evaluated. The European Court of Human Rights in 2011 considered that the operation was carried out improperly, and collected compensation from Russia in the amount of 1.3 million euros for 64 victims.
Adhesive memory tape
15 years ago, on October 26, 2002, at 5:10 a.m., special forces began an assault on the Dubrovka Theater Center seized by militants, where 916 people were taken hostage. Previously, sleeping gas was pumped through the ventilation.
130 people, including 10 children, from among the spectators who came to the performance of the popular musical "Nord-Ost", died.
According to the official statement of the FSB, a gas based on fentanyl derivatives was used in the House of Culture. Its composition has remained secret. The main causes of death of the hostages were the exacerbation of chronic diseases, as well as dehydration.
MK was told about 57 hours of hell by those who went through the terrorist attack on Dubrovka and found the strength to live after the loss of loved ones.
Memorial "In memory of the victims of terrorism", which was opened in 2003 in front of the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka. Photo: mskagency
We did not plan to go to the musical Nord-Ost, - says Victoria Kruglikova. - Sister Irina bought tickets for a performance with the participation of Valentin Gaft in a month, but mixed up the numbers. When we gathered at the theater with the children, it turned out that the performance had already been played a day ago, on October 22, and the tickets were gone. And I worked as a teacher at a college in the service sector next to the Moscow Bearing Palace of Culture, where the musical Nord-Ost was on. It was a weekday, the weather was rainy, we didn’t want to go anywhere, but we decided: since we’ve already gathered, let’s go to the musical. I took my 18-year-old daughter Nastya, my sister - 15-year-old son Yaroslav. And the guys escaped with great difficulty. Daughter had to prepare for control work in French: she studied at Maurice Thorez University. Nephew postponed tennis practice.
My husband was on a business trip. By the way, he did not approve that a musical was staged based on such a serious work. Then he said that if he had been at home that fateful evening, he would not have let us go anywhere ...
A lot of strange things were noticed before the performance. On the way to the House of Culture, a man of Caucasian appearance with a characteristic guttural accent asked for an extra ticket. I thought then: “Thank God, there are no tickets, now we will reach the ticket office and return home.” But the cashier offered tickets both to the stalls and to the balcony. Then we saw that swarthy man who asked for an extra ticket among the militants ... Probably, that evening he either counted the people, or identified the security forces among the spectators.
The hall was almost completely filled. We got tickets in the eleventh row, on the right, closer to the side aisle. The performance was good. But I caught myself thinking that I would gladly leave after the first part. I subconsciously felt something unkind. And then in the lobby, during the intermission, we saw women in all black. I also thought: there is such a patriotic performance, what are they doing here? .. Nastya and Yaroslav were telling something to each other and laughing. And the Chechens literally incinerated them with their looks. I especially remember one of the women in black: she looked at point-blank range, her pupils were absolutely black ... I just shuddered, I again wanted to go home. But as disciplined people, they decided to sit through to the end, not to offend the artists.
The second part began with the dance of the pilots. The artists famously tapped off when a man in camouflage and a mask jumped onto the stage from the audience. I thought that our special services wanted to detain someone. Then we heard: “We are from Grozny, this is not a joke! The war has come to Moscow, you are hostages!” And the militant fired several shots upwards.
The terrorists blocked all entrances and exits to the auditorium. The artists were driven to the cars to carry backpacks with equipment and ammunition. And then they started mining the hall ...
It was very scary. The militants went along the rows to identify the military, intelligence officers and policemen among the spectators. Many security forces tore out photographs from their IDs and threw away the “crusts”. In our aisle, they found the identity of a woman - an FSB officer, who, like me, was called Viktoria Vasilievna, the year of birth coincided - 1960. Only the last name was different. The terrorists walked along the rows and asked all the women for documents. I only had my driver's license with me. The militant took them and began to stare intently: are they not fake? The minutes seemed like an eternity.
The nephew at the age of 15 behaved like a real man. Hugging me, Yaroslav said: "If they take you away, I will go with you." I, in turn, began to convince the militants that I was working at a college here in the neighborhood, on Melnikova Street, building 2, next to the war veterans hospital ... Hearing the address, the militants tensed even more. It turns out that this building housed the headquarters of the operation to free the hostages. The terrorist narrowed his eyes and said, “That says a lot. Let's go to the commander."
Memory action. Photos of the dead, candles and flowers are brought to the steps of the center. Photo: mskagency
Miraculously, I didn't get shot. The guys who were sitting behind us started shouting: “She is a teacher!” They worked as stewards: they met and seated guests in the hall. And in the summer, one of the guys in our training center was celebrating a wedding - my students and I set tables for them.
The terrorist took my documents and left. Then he came back and said: "It's all right, we found this woman." Surprisingly, I later found out that she had survived. The militants did not shoot her: their plan was to take her with them when retreating to Chechnya and exchange her for one of their field commanders.
Next to us in the aisle stood one of the terrorists, just a girl - Aset. We asked her: “Well, why did you come? We are here with children, peaceful people!” She said: “I have a child in Chechnya who is not even a year old. My husband was killed, my brother was killed. We live in a basement. Old people and children are dying under the bombings. This must stop." I knew they would be killed anyway. But she repeated: "There is no other way out." We offered to find her child, take her with us. She smiled and said, "Allah will help him." They were all like zombies.
Young female terrorists were constantly approached by an aged woman who did not take off her veil. She was sitting in the center of the hall, next to a metal cylinder, inside which, as it turned out later, was a 152-millimeter high-explosive fragmentation artillery shell lined with plastic. When the command came, all the women in black stood up, lined up in the aisles with grenades, took detonators in their hands ... Our interlocutor Aset “reassured” us: “Don’t worry, if there is an order to explode, I will shoot you. You won't suffer for long."
On the third day, October 26, we noticed that the militants were in high spirits. They were told that there would be talks tomorrow. We were told: "We will let you go, take a small number of hostages with us and leave." My sister and I were ready to go with them, if only they would let our children go…
Iosif Kobzon was the first to enter into negotiations with the terrorists and managed to negotiate the release of Lyubov Kornilova and three children: her two daughters and one child, whom she also called her own.
For the first time in all days, we relaxed. And in the morning I suddenly felt a sweet smell. One of the militants jumped off the stage, started running around, shouting: “Where is the electrician?! Turn off the ventilation!" I took a deep breath to take in the scent. And when I started to lose consciousness, I thought: “This is a killer gas.” I tried to exhale gas, out of the corner of my consciousness I noted: “I can’t“ leave ”- what about the children ?!” And then blackness came.
How events developed further, I know from the words of my husband. Returning from a business trip, he learned about the capture of the theater center. We lived nearby - all the days before the assault, he was near the House of Culture. When the assault began, in the confusion he managed to seep through the police cordon. Special forces and rescuers began to carry the first hostages onto the steps. Sergey recalled that it was scary to look at people: many had bared teeth, facial muscles were cramped ...
We were lucky: we were sitting close to the aisle - we were carried out among the first. First, my husband found me. I wheezed terribly, and he thought that my spine was broken. Then he noticed Nastya too. With me in my arms, my husband rushed past the buses to the place where the ambulances stood. He handed me over to the doctors and returned for his daughter. In the place where she lay, there was already a mountain of human bodies. He hardly got Nastya. It seemed to her husband that she was not breathing. He took his daughter in his arms and did not know in shock what to do next. A doctor jumped up to them, felt his daughter’s weak pulse, shouted to Serezha: “What are you standing, she’s alive, turn your face down and run!”
The husband then returned several times to the House of Culture. He took out my sister Ira, who was covered in blood. It seemed to him that he had endured Yaroslav as well. It was predawn, and it was still quite dark. The boy he handed over to the ambulance was as tall and blond as his nephew. But the guy was in a white shirt - most likely one of the stewards. And Yaroslav went to the musical in a green shirt ...
Nastya and I ended up in the war veterans hospital, which was next to the theater center. When I came to my senses, I immediately asked: “Did anyone die?” The nurse, fearing for my condition, hastened to assure: "Everyone is alive." I was so happy! .. And the next morning we learned that many could not be saved.
Soon the sister's husband called - he said that Yaroslav was in the morgue, and Ira threw herself off the bridge ... Upon learning of the death of her son, she pulled out all the droppers and left the hospital. In the morgue, she asked to be left alone to say goodbye to her son. In the theatrical center, holding Yaroslav by the hand, she promised her son that they would always be together ... Ira went out through the back door, stopped the car. My sister had no money with her - she took the ring off her finger, gave it to the driver and asked to stop the car on the bridge in Kolomenskoye. I would very much like to look into the eyes of this person ... or subhuman. Seeing the condition she was in, he took the ring, dropped his sister off in the middle of the bridge, and calmly left. And Ira threw herself into the water ... But, fortunately, a guy and a girl were sitting next to the shore in a car - they pulled their sister ashore.
How Yaroslav died, we never found out. The wound on his forehead was smeared with wax. In the registration book for admission to the morgue, next to his name was written in pencil: "Gunshot wound." There was an autopsy. But in the column "Cause of death" there was a dash. We have this evidence. I still cannot accept that my nephew is no more, I convince myself that Yaroslav is alive, he just left somewhere. He would have turned 30 this year.
I was saved by the work in which I plunged headlong. My colleagues supported me in every possible way. I remember a student who had served in the army came to college and shared: “I stood in the cordon when the House of Culture on Dubrovka was stormed.” I say: "And I was there inside." He admitted that they thought that all the hostages were dead and loaded them like corpses...
No one explained to us what the consequences might be. My daughter began to be haunted by fears, and they do not go away. I suffered a heart attack, it turned out that there was an inflammatory process in the liver - the doctor said that this was the result of poisoning, but warned that no one would officially confirm this conclusion.
Sister Ira did not recover soon. All subsequent years, she dreamed of having a child. After the terrorist attack, on the bridge, she crashed badly - no one believed that she could get pregnant. But God heard: she had a son and a daughter. Now she has someone to live for ...
We received tickets for the musical "Nord-Ost" as participants in the census - in our Izmailovo district there were 250 such lucky ones, - Sergey Budnitsky says in turn. - I took my daughter Ira and sister-in-law Ksyusha with me to the performance. One girl was 12 years old, the other was 13.
When we were going to the musical, the hot water suddenly turned off - I had to wash off the soap with cold water. Then the light went out. 4-year-old granddaughter suddenly began to cry a lot. Something kept us at home that evening… But we packed up and left.
We got tickets in the first row. The performance was colorful, we liked everything, during the intermission I took the girls to the buffet ... And in the second part, a man in a balaclava came on stage and announced that we were hostages. All the exits were blocked by militants, female shahids went along the ranks ...
Movsar Barayev was at the head of the militants, he looked to be no more than 25 years old. He declared: "We will release you when the hostilities in Ichkeria are stopped and negotiations with Maskhadov begin."
During the special operation, 36 terrorists were killed, including female suicide bombers. Photo: reyndar.org
The terrorists freed small children, foreigners who were of the same faith with them ... They began to check the documents of the rest. I worked as the head of a printing house at a plant of automotive and tractor electrical equipment. On my pass it was written: "ATE-1". The militant considered the certificate for a long time, suggesting that it could be some kind of military facility.
I tried to talk to Baraev, told me that, while in the army, I served in the regiment of Dzhokhar Dudayev in long-range aviation. He asked: "Let go of my girls." He said that 13-year-olds are no longer considered children and often already fight.
The terrorists immediately disliked my daughter. Ira came to the musical in a velvet suit trimmed with feathers. They didn't even let her go to the toilet. One of the female shahids, who called herself Sveta, helped us.
Everyone was shocked by the murder of Olga Romanova. The girl voluntarily came to the House of Culture to turn the tide. Stepping on the militants, she shouted: “What kind of farce are you doing here?! Free the people, get them out of the hall!” The terrorists began to shout: "She's drunk!" Baraev remarked: “She is a KGB agent. We already went through this in Budyonnovsk,” and ordered her to be shot.
On the second day, the militants brought food from the buffet. They began to throw chocolates and juice bags into the hall. We ate one sandwich for three. Soon Dr. Roshal appeared, he began to provide medical assistance to the hostages: he measured the pressure of someone, gave injections, distributed medicines ...
Dr. Roshal brought 3 boxes of medicines to the captured center, provided medical assistance to the hostages, took 8 children aged 8 to 12 out of the captured House of Culture.
In the evening before the assault, Movsar Baraev was very pleased, saying: "Tomorrow at 12 o'clock Shamanov arrives." I thought it was a distraction: I had a premonition that the assault would soon begin.
The back of the stage was lit, and at 6 o'clock in the morning I saw a white swirl coming out of the ventilation above, like smoke. Two militants on the stage began to shoot from two machine guns into the ventilation ...
And I, foreseeing that they might let gas into the hall, hid a small bottle of mineral water. Pushing the sleeping girls aside, he wet his handkerchiefs. He also began to breathe through the wet cloth. Then a stun grenade exploded and I blacked out.
I came to my senses at the Sklifosofsky Institute at three in the afternoon. There is a tube in his nose, droppers in his hands ... He gave his last name and switched off again.
Then I found out that among 23 people I was brought to Sklif by bus. When they had already been pumped out, they transferred to the box, spent the night there with a 74-year-old homeless man. I remember him swearing all night and running around the intensive care unit naked...
The next day I was fed with carrot soup and transferred on the bed to the general ward. There were 6 other people there. I remember conductor Maxim Gubkin and trumpeter Volodya Kostyanov. In the evening everyone was already walking. The doctors were surprised: “We have never had the whole resuscitation walk!” They did everything they could for us. Even at one in the morning they brought kefir at our request.
People died because the evacuation was poorly prepared. Trucks filled with sand stood next to the theater center: everyone was preparing for the explosion, the ambulances could not get close ... Only 58 people were brought to the veterans' hospital, which was located across the street from the House of Culture. There were 23 hostages in Sklifa, and 367 people were taken to the 13th hospital.
By one in the morning, Ksyushka was found, who ended up in the 13th hospital. And then they reported about the daughter, who ended up in the veterans' hospital. After the assault, Alpha fighters came to them, brought cake and champagne. And the hostages started screaming: they thought they were being taken again.
When I went to work after the sick leave, I walked 300 meters along the corridor, probably for almost an hour. Everyone flew out of the offices, hugged, kissed ...
15 years have passed since those events. But I still can't hear when the tape is being torn. On the first day, the militants constantly tore the adhesive tape and strapped explosives to the backs of chairs.
A group of militants took hostage the audience of the musical "Nord-Ost" and employees of the theater. After almost three days, the building was stormed, as a result of which the terrorists were destroyed, and the surviving hostages were released. The attack killed 130 hostages.
According to the published investigative data, practical steps to prepare the terrorist attack have been underway 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 taken at a meeting of Chechen field commanders 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, within a month, militants came to Moscow in small groups, who settled in several previously rented apartments located in different parts of the city. The total composition of the terrorist group was approximately 40 people, and half were female suicide bombers. Initially, three objects were considered as a place of a possible terrorist attack, which implied the compact presence of a large number of citizens - Moscow state theater stage, the Moscow Palace of Youth and the Theater Center on Dubrovka. As a result, the choice was made in favor of the latter because of 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. were held here. In 2001, for the needs of the creators of the musical "Nord-Ost" based on the novel by Veniamin Kaverin "Two Captains", the building was refurbished and renamed.
On October 23, 2002, at 21:15, armed men in camouflage uniforms burst into the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka, arriving in three minibuses. At that time, the musical "Nord-Ost" was going on in the shopping center. There were 916 people in the building - spectators, actors, theater employees, as well as school students Irish dance"Iridan".
The terrorists declared all people - spectators and theater workers - hostages and began to mine the building.
The bombs were laid 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 152-mm artillery high-explosive fragmentation projectile. The internal cavity between the projectile and the cylinder wall was filled with submunitions. Female terrorists are located in a checkerboard pattern at opposite walls. They closed the hall in sectors of 30 degrees. The filling of the "shahid" belt is two kilograms of plastic explosives and another kilogram of metal balls.
In the middle of the hall, in the stalls, a car cylinder with explosives was installed, 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 go towards each other, destroying all life. For this, a central control panel was made.
Some of the hostages were allowed to call their relatives, to inform about the capture and that for each killed or wounded militant, the terrorists would shoot 10 people.
At 10 p.m., it became known that the shopping center building had been seized by a detachment of Chechen militants led by Movsar Baraev. Reinforced police units, riot police, special forces and internal troops began to converge on the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka.
In the first hours after the capture, part of the actors and employees of the theater center, located in the office, managed to escape from the building through the windows and emergency exits.
Late at night the terrorists released 15 children.
On October 24 at 5.30 a young woman entered the building of the Theater Center without hindrance (later it turned out that it was Olga Romanova, a saleswoman of a perfume shop located next door), and at 8.15 Lieutenant Colonel Konstantin Vasilyev entered the building of the Theater Center. 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 that, from October 24 to the early morning of October 26, the militants were quite active in negotiations, in which some Russian politicians (Iosif 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 Yevgeny 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 Russian Federation for the victims of the terrorist act.
On October 31, 2002, Colonel Vladimir Yeremin, deputy head of the Institute of Criminalistics of the FSB of Russia, reported that explosives experts seized a total of 30 explosive devices, 16 F-1 grenades and 89 improvised hand grenades from the Theater Center on Dubrovka. A common TNT equivalent of explosives in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack at the theater center on Dubrovka on Melnikova Street in Moscow.
On October 23, 2002, a criminal case was initiated in connection with the hostage-taking. As part of the investigation, Shamil Basayev, Zelimkhan Yandarbiev and Akhmed Zakayev were charged in absentia with organizing the terrorist attack. In June 2003, the Moscow prosecutor's office terminated the cases against the invaders in connection with their death.
In April 2004, the Moscow City Court sentenced the brothers Alikhan and Akhyad Mezhiyev, 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 south-west of Moscow, as well as aiding terrorism and taking hostages in Nord-Ost. Aslanbek Khaskhanov was also found guilty of complicity in the hostage-taking. In July 2006, the Moscow City Court sentenced him to 22 years in prison.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
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 enlisted 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. A group of militants took hostage the audience of the musical "Nord-Ost" and employees of the theater. After almost three days, the building was stormed, as a result of which the terrorists were destroyed, and the surviving hostages were released. The attack killed 130 hostages.
According to the published investigative data, practical steps to prepare the terrorist attack have been underway 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 taken at a meeting of Chechen field commanders 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, within a month, militants came to Moscow in small groups, who settled in several previously rented apartments located in different parts of the city. The total composition of the terrorist group was approximately 40 people, and half were female suicide bombers. Initially, three objects were considered as a possible terrorist attack site, which implied the compact presence of a large number of citizens - the Moscow State Variety Theater, the Moscow Youth Palace and the Theater Center on Dubrovka. As a result, the choice was made in favor of the latter because of 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. were held here. In 2001, for the needs of the creators of the musical "Nord-Ost" based on the novel by Veniamin Kaverin "Two Captains", the building was refurbished and renamed.
On October 23, 2002, at 21:15, armed men in camouflage uniforms burst into the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka, arriving in three minibuses. At that time, the musical "Nord-Ost" was going on in the shopping center. There were 916 people in the building - spectators, actors, theater employees, as well as students of the Irish dance school "Iridan".
The terrorists declared all people - spectators and theater workers - hostages and began to mine the building.
The bombs were laid 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 152-mm artillery high-explosive fragmentation projectile. The internal cavity between the projectile and the cylinder wall was filled with submunitions. Female terrorists are located in a checkerboard pattern at opposite walls. They closed the hall in sectors of 30 degrees. The filling of the "shahid" belt is two kilograms of plastic explosives and another kilogram of metal balls.
In the middle of the hall, in the stalls, a car cylinder with explosives was installed, 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 go towards each other, destroying all life. For this, a central control panel was made.
Some of the hostages were allowed to call their relatives, to inform about the capture and that for each killed or wounded militant, the terrorists would shoot 10 people.
At 10 p.m., it became known that the shopping center building had been seized by a detachment of Chechen militants led by Movsar Baraev. Reinforced police units, riot police, special forces and internal troops began to converge on the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka.
In the first hours after the capture, part of the actors and employees of the theater center, located in the office, managed to escape from the building through the windows and emergency exits.
Late at night the terrorists released 15 children.
On October 24 at 5.30 a young woman entered the building of the Theater Center without hindrance (later it turned out that it was Olga Romanova, a saleswoman of a perfume shop located next door), and at 8.15 Lieutenant Colonel Konstantin Vasilyev entered the building of the Theater Center. 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 that, from October 24 to the early morning of October 26, the militants were quite active in negotiations, in which some Russian politicians (Iosif 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 Yevgeny 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 action.
On October 31, 2002, Colonel Vladimir Yeremin, deputy head of the Institute of Criminalistics of the FSB of Russia, reported that explosives experts seized a total of 30 explosive devices, 16 F-1 grenades and 89 improvised hand grenades from the Theater Center on Dubrovka. A common TNT equivalent of explosives in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack at the theater center on Dubrovka on Melnikova Street in Moscow.
On October 23, 2002, a criminal case was initiated in connection with the hostage-taking. As part of the investigation, Shamil Basayev, Zelimkhan Yandarbiev and Akhmed Zakayev were charged in absentia with organizing the terrorist attack. In June 2003, the Moscow prosecutor's office terminated the cases against the invaders in connection with their death.
In April 2004, the Moscow City Court sentenced the brothers Alikhan and Akhyad Mezhiyev, 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 south-west of Moscow, as well as aiding terrorism and taking hostages in Nord-Ost. Aslanbek Khaskhanov was also found guilty of complicity in the hostage-taking. In July 2006, the Moscow City Court sentenced him to 22 years in prison.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
