10 years passed since the terrorist attack on Dubrovka
Exactly 10 years ago 23 in October 2002, in 21 hour 15 minutes, armed men in camouflage and masks, who turned out to be Chechen terrorists, burst into the Theater Center on Dubrovka. At this time, the musical Nord-Ost was on stage at the DC. The total number of hostages taken by the terrorists was 912 people. After the seizure, the terrorists (a total of 40 people) declared all spectators and theater workers hostages and began the procedure of mining the building. It later became known that the building was captured by a detachment of Chechen militants led by Movsar Barayev, while among the invaders there were many female suicide bombers hung with explosives.
On the evening of the next day, the Qatari television channel Al-Jazeera broadcast an interview with Movsar Barayev on television, which was recorded several days before the hostage-taking. In this interview, the terrorists declared themselves suicide bombers and demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Chechnya. The seizure of the Moscow Theater Center on Dubrovka was the first large-scale terrorist attack that took place in Moscow, after the second military operation to eliminate illegal armed groups in Chechnya, which began at the end of 1999. It is with the events at Dubrovka that many experts associate the beginning of a new wave of terrorism that will cover Russia.
The tragic events unfolding over 57 hours involved 912 people who were taken hostage by terrorists. The whole country these days watching what was happening on TV screens and worried about their fate. Early in the morning of October 26, around o'clock in the morning, the special forces are storming the theatrical center. As a result of the assault, all 6 terrorists were killed, and no 40 identities were ever established. However, the seemingly flawlessly carried out operation ends in tragedy. The total number of victims among the hostages was 6 people, of which only 130 were killed directly by terrorists, the rest 5 people were victims of the consequences of the storming of the building (gas use). This fact has generated a wave of criticism, a lot of questions to the security forces, the organizers of the crisis staff and the state. He became the cause of numerous lawsuits and proceedings.
20 December 2011 of the Year The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) published its decision on the 64 lawsuit of victims, as well as relatives of the victims of the Dubrovka terrorist attack. In its decision, the court acknowledged the fact that the Russian authorities inadequately planned for the rescue operation, and also failed to conduct an effective investigation into the circumstances of the deaths. At the same time, the court recognized that the decision itself on the assault and use of gas did not violate the rights of the hostages. The decision of the ECHR after appeal to the Grand Chamber of the court came into force, with Russia in favor of the victims were recovered 1,3 million euros.
The terrorist attack on Dubrovka
According to the published investigative data, the final decision to commit a major terrorist act in Moscow with the capture of a large number of hostages was made at a meeting of Chechen field commanders, which took place in the summer of 2002. At the same time, practical steps to prepare for the attack were carried out earlier, at the beginning of 2002. Even then, representatives of the militants began to rent apartments in the capital, which would later become the strongholds of terrorists.
The actual preparation of the terrorist act began in the first days of October 2002, when explosives were brought from Chechnya to Moscow in the trunk of cars weapon. Then, within a month, insurgents 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 women - suicide bombers. Initially, the 3 object, which implied the compact presence of a large number of citizens — Moscow State Variety Theater, Moscow Youth Palace and the Theater Center on Dubrovka - were considered as the site of a possible terrorist attack. 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 outbuildings that would have to be searched and then controlled.
Thereafter, from October 23 to October 26 early morning 2002, the terrorists held hostages. At that time, the militants were quite active in negotiations, in which some Russian politicians took part (Iosif Kobzon, Grigory Yavlinsky, Irina Khakamada), as well as public figures (doctors Leonid Roshal and Anvar El-Said), journalists (Anna Politkovskaya, and film crew channel NTV). In the course of these negotiations, the terrorists released several dozen hostages (a few dozen more people were able to leave the captured building on their own, locked up in certain rooms, through windows or through emergency exits).
As conditions for the release of the hostages, the terrorists called for the demand for the complete and immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Chechnya. At the same time, they did not set any specific and feasible requirements, as there wasn’t any specific action on their part. It was possible to assess this situation in different ways. As a result of the fact that the terrorists are waiting for some kind of instructions from the outside or as proof that they are not going to release the hostages (a large number of suicide bombers among the invaders spoke in favor of this version).
In the sixth hour of the morning of October 26, the special services launched an operation to storm the Theater Center on Dubrovka, free hostages and neutralize the terrorists. The key point of the developed operation was the use of a special combat gas developed on the basis of fetanil and having a sleep effect on humans. Gas was pumped into the building of the theater center through the ventilation system. The use of gas was intended to neutralize the terrorists in order to prevent them from undermining the building, as well as to facilitate the task of releasing the hostages taken by the special forces. After about an hour and a half, representatives of the operational headquarters for the release of the hostages created told journalists that the building was completely controlled by the special services. All the terrorists were killed, and the hostages were released.
Then information appeared about the death of 67 hostages, but in the next few days several dozen former hostages died in the hospitals of the capital, who were also exposed to an unknown gas, the number of victims of the terrorist attack reached 130 people (10 children). At the same time, directly at the hands of terrorists, only 5 people died. The official version about the mass death of the remaining hostages was reduced to the fact that the impact of gas, which is non-lethal under normal conditions, complicated a number of destructive factors to which the hostages were exposed: stress, insomnia, hunger, dehydration, as well as their chronic diseases.
The composition of the gas used during the assault is still unknown. Only two things are known about him: 1) He is “harmless,” Vladimir Putin told American journalists, explaining why the hostages could not die from the actions of the special services; 2) It was made on the basis of fentanyl derivatives, the Minister of Health Shevchenko told about this (fentanyl is a narcotic analgesic that is hundreds of times more powerful than heroin in its biological effects). At the same time, no one gave the exact formula of the gas, it is only known that a certain chemical officer, whose name is kept secret, received the title of Hero of Russia for participating in this special operation.
Terrorist attack on Dubrovka, afterword
In the last issue of the magazine “Bolshoy Gorod” a rather large article appeared, devoted to the events of a decade ago. In particular, Andrey Soldatov, the editor-in-chief of Agentura.ru website dedicated to the work of the security services, who watched the storming of the theatrical center from the window of a neighboring building, and Anatoly Yermolin, FSB lieutenant colonel in reserve, former chief operational combat department "Vympel".
According to Anatoly Yermolin, the power unit of the operation to free the hostages was well prepared and planned. Few people today understand that if bombs exploded in a building, Russia could lose all its elite divisions altogether, since Alpha and Vympel were part of the theatrical center with almost full line-up. According to the retired lieutenant colonel Vympel, many of them, before going on the assault, said goodbye to their families and each other.
According to him, the decision on the use of gas was wrong, since he did not play any role in the operation. In the event that the terrorists wanted to blow up the hall, they would have blown it up. As a result, the used gas did not instantly shut off people, the terrorists had to be eliminated by classical means from firearms, and the gas became only the cause of mass poisoning of people, which became a real tragedy.
According to Yermolin, “Nord-Ost” became a special operations drama, which could turn into a triumphant victory of the special services, but did not become one due to the adoption of a number of wrong management decisions. The special operation to free the hostages is not only to break into the building and correctly eliminate the terrorists. This also includes the organization of logistics: transportation of people, an ambulance entrance, the interaction of rescue services - at this stage everything was failed, stressed Anatoly Yermolin.
According to Andrei Soldatov, the main question today is to ask representatives of the operational headquarters - Vladimir Pronichev, who is still the first deputy director of the FSB, as well as Vladimir Vasilyev, deputy head of the operational headquarters and former deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs: why the hell didn’t deploy a field hospital in the immediate vicinity from the theater center? It seems that they either planned that they would only have the dead, and for those who survive, there would be enough ambulance cars that were in place, or they did not even think about this situation at all.
According to the laws, the means, strength, and tactics of special operations are secret. Gas is a means, so no one is going to reveal its formulas. But the situation was terrifying: they took the hostages out of the building in very different forms and simply dumped almost on each other directly on the pavement, some of them began to die there, simply choking on vomit. This problem had to be solved, even without having an idea about the gas used, simply providing the victims with first aid, but this was not organized either. People just dumped themselves into the buses that arrived, many of them were already dead. According to Soldatov, even if the representatives of the special services would promptly disclose the composition of the used gas, this could no longer improve the situation.
According to Andrei Soldatov, the situation was initially political: the terrorists put forward political demands, and Vladimir Putin and the security forces staged a real hysteria, which can be called “We should not repeat Budyonnovsk”. I have the impression that all this stories about the fact that it was necessary to show everyone how the new Russian leadership can respond to the same challenge that “broke” Yeltsin in due time. They perceived it exactly that way and only thought about it.
The main problem manifested itself in the fact that the level of the special services and at the official level the storming of the theater center was declared a victory. In the Russian understanding of the victory means the fact that the debriefing will not be held. After the operation with a large number of victims, neither reforms nor the corrective actions of the special services followed.
The authorities believed that if they showed the terrorists that they had emerged victorious from the situation, they would not repeat this. But as a result, both sides consider themselves winners. At the same time, some did not change their tactics and review their actions, while the latter decided that once they had won, then we could try to repeat the success. That is why Beslan was almost inevitable. At the same time, when seizing a school in Beslan, the terrorists first of all knocked out windows in the building and generally behaved much more disgustingly and harshly towards the hostages - so that the second Nord-Ost did not happen to them. The terrorist attack in Beslan was a direct result of the actions of the Russian security forces in the Theater Center on Dubrovka.
Information sources:
-http: //www.nord-ost.org/segodnya/nord-ost-.-10-let-spustya_ru.html
-http: //www.chuchotezvous.ru/social-disasters/154.html
-http: //www.calend.ru/event/4400
-http: //ru.wikipedia.org
On the evening of the next day, the Qatari television channel Al-Jazeera broadcast an interview with Movsar Barayev on television, which was recorded several days before the hostage-taking. In this interview, the terrorists declared themselves suicide bombers and demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Chechnya. The seizure of the Moscow Theater Center on Dubrovka was the first large-scale terrorist attack that took place in Moscow, after the second military operation to eliminate illegal armed groups in Chechnya, which began at the end of 1999. It is with the events at Dubrovka that many experts associate the beginning of a new wave of terrorism that will cover Russia.
The tragic events unfolding over 57 hours involved 912 people who were taken hostage by terrorists. The whole country these days watching what was happening on TV screens and worried about their fate. Early in the morning of October 26, around o'clock in the morning, the special forces are storming the theatrical center. As a result of the assault, all 6 terrorists were killed, and no 40 identities were ever established. However, the seemingly flawlessly carried out operation ends in tragedy. The total number of victims among the hostages was 6 people, of which only 130 were killed directly by terrorists, the rest 5 people were victims of the consequences of the storming of the building (gas use). This fact has generated a wave of criticism, a lot of questions to the security forces, the organizers of the crisis staff and the state. He became the cause of numerous lawsuits and proceedings.
20 December 2011 of the Year The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) published its decision on the 64 lawsuit of victims, as well as relatives of the victims of the Dubrovka terrorist attack. In its decision, the court acknowledged the fact that the Russian authorities inadequately planned for the rescue operation, and also failed to conduct an effective investigation into the circumstances of the deaths. At the same time, the court recognized that the decision itself on the assault and use of gas did not violate the rights of the hostages. The decision of the ECHR after appeal to the Grand Chamber of the court came into force, with Russia in favor of the victims were recovered 1,3 million euros.
The terrorist attack on Dubrovka
According to the published investigative data, the final decision to commit a major terrorist act in Moscow with the capture of a large number of hostages was made at a meeting of Chechen field commanders, which took place in the summer of 2002. At the same time, practical steps to prepare for the attack were carried out earlier, at the beginning of 2002. Even then, representatives of the militants began to rent apartments in the capital, which would later become the strongholds of terrorists.
The actual preparation of the terrorist act began in the first days of October 2002, when explosives were brought from Chechnya to Moscow in the trunk of cars weapon. Then, within a month, insurgents 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 women - suicide bombers. Initially, the 3 object, which implied the compact presence of a large number of citizens — Moscow State Variety Theater, Moscow Youth Palace and the Theater Center on Dubrovka - were considered as the site of a possible terrorist attack. 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 outbuildings that would have to be searched and then controlled.
Thereafter, from October 23 to October 26 early morning 2002, the terrorists held hostages. At that time, the militants were quite active in negotiations, in which some Russian politicians took part (Iosif Kobzon, Grigory Yavlinsky, Irina Khakamada), as well as public figures (doctors Leonid Roshal and Anvar El-Said), journalists (Anna Politkovskaya, and film crew channel NTV). In the course of these negotiations, the terrorists released several dozen hostages (a few dozen more people were able to leave the captured building on their own, locked up in certain rooms, through windows or through emergency exits).
As conditions for the release of the hostages, the terrorists called for the demand for the complete and immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Chechnya. At the same time, they did not set any specific and feasible requirements, as there wasn’t any specific action on their part. It was possible to assess this situation in different ways. As a result of the fact that the terrorists are waiting for some kind of instructions from the outside or as proof that they are not going to release the hostages (a large number of suicide bombers among the invaders spoke in favor of this version).
In the sixth hour of the morning of October 26, the special services launched an operation to storm the Theater Center on Dubrovka, free hostages and neutralize the terrorists. The key point of the developed operation was the use of a special combat gas developed on the basis of fetanil and having a sleep effect on humans. Gas was pumped into the building of the theater center through the ventilation system. The use of gas was intended to neutralize the terrorists in order to prevent them from undermining the building, as well as to facilitate the task of releasing the hostages taken by the special forces. After about an hour and a half, representatives of the operational headquarters for the release of the hostages created told journalists that the building was completely controlled by the special services. All the terrorists were killed, and the hostages were released.
Then information appeared about the death of 67 hostages, but in the next few days several dozen former hostages died in the hospitals of the capital, who were also exposed to an unknown gas, the number of victims of the terrorist attack reached 130 people (10 children). At the same time, directly at the hands of terrorists, only 5 people died. The official version about the mass death of the remaining hostages was reduced to the fact that the impact of gas, which is non-lethal under normal conditions, complicated a number of destructive factors to which the hostages were exposed: stress, insomnia, hunger, dehydration, as well as their chronic diseases.
The composition of the gas used during the assault is still unknown. Only two things are known about him: 1) He is “harmless,” Vladimir Putin told American journalists, explaining why the hostages could not die from the actions of the special services; 2) It was made on the basis of fentanyl derivatives, the Minister of Health Shevchenko told about this (fentanyl is a narcotic analgesic that is hundreds of times more powerful than heroin in its biological effects). At the same time, no one gave the exact formula of the gas, it is only known that a certain chemical officer, whose name is kept secret, received the title of Hero of Russia for participating in this special operation.
Terrorist attack on Dubrovka, afterword
In the last issue of the magazine “Bolshoy Gorod” a rather large article appeared, devoted to the events of a decade ago. In particular, Andrey Soldatov, the editor-in-chief of Agentura.ru website dedicated to the work of the security services, who watched the storming of the theatrical center from the window of a neighboring building, and Anatoly Yermolin, FSB lieutenant colonel in reserve, former chief operational combat department "Vympel".
According to Anatoly Yermolin, the power unit of the operation to free the hostages was well prepared and planned. Few people today understand that if bombs exploded in a building, Russia could lose all its elite divisions altogether, since Alpha and Vympel were part of the theatrical center with almost full line-up. According to the retired lieutenant colonel Vympel, many of them, before going on the assault, said goodbye to their families and each other.
According to him, the decision on the use of gas was wrong, since he did not play any role in the operation. In the event that the terrorists wanted to blow up the hall, they would have blown it up. As a result, the used gas did not instantly shut off people, the terrorists had to be eliminated by classical means from firearms, and the gas became only the cause of mass poisoning of people, which became a real tragedy.
According to Yermolin, “Nord-Ost” became a special operations drama, which could turn into a triumphant victory of the special services, but did not become one due to the adoption of a number of wrong management decisions. The special operation to free the hostages is not only to break into the building and correctly eliminate the terrorists. This also includes the organization of logistics: transportation of people, an ambulance entrance, the interaction of rescue services - at this stage everything was failed, stressed Anatoly Yermolin.
According to Andrei Soldatov, the main question today is to ask representatives of the operational headquarters - Vladimir Pronichev, who is still the first deputy director of the FSB, as well as Vladimir Vasilyev, deputy head of the operational headquarters and former deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs: why the hell didn’t deploy a field hospital in the immediate vicinity from the theater center? It seems that they either planned that they would only have the dead, and for those who survive, there would be enough ambulance cars that were in place, or they did not even think about this situation at all.
According to the laws, the means, strength, and tactics of special operations are secret. Gas is a means, so no one is going to reveal its formulas. But the situation was terrifying: they took the hostages out of the building in very different forms and simply dumped almost on each other directly on the pavement, some of them began to die there, simply choking on vomit. This problem had to be solved, even without having an idea about the gas used, simply providing the victims with first aid, but this was not organized either. People just dumped themselves into the buses that arrived, many of them were already dead. According to Soldatov, even if the representatives of the special services would promptly disclose the composition of the used gas, this could no longer improve the situation.
According to Andrei Soldatov, the situation was initially political: the terrorists put forward political demands, and Vladimir Putin and the security forces staged a real hysteria, which can be called “We should not repeat Budyonnovsk”. I have the impression that all this stories about the fact that it was necessary to show everyone how the new Russian leadership can respond to the same challenge that “broke” Yeltsin in due time. They perceived it exactly that way and only thought about it.
The main problem manifested itself in the fact that the level of the special services and at the official level the storming of the theater center was declared a victory. In the Russian understanding of the victory means the fact that the debriefing will not be held. After the operation with a large number of victims, neither reforms nor the corrective actions of the special services followed.
The authorities believed that if they showed the terrorists that they had emerged victorious from the situation, they would not repeat this. But as a result, both sides consider themselves winners. At the same time, some did not change their tactics and review their actions, while the latter decided that once they had won, then we could try to repeat the success. That is why Beslan was almost inevitable. At the same time, when seizing a school in Beslan, the terrorists first of all knocked out windows in the building and generally behaved much more disgustingly and harshly towards the hostages - so that the second Nord-Ost did not happen to them. The terrorist attack in Beslan was a direct result of the actions of the Russian security forces in the Theater Center on Dubrovka.
Information sources:
-http: //www.nord-ost.org/segodnya/nord-ost-.-10-let-spustya_ru.html
-http: //www.chuchotezvous.ru/social-disasters/154.html
-http: //www.calend.ru/event/4400
-http: //ru.wikipedia.org
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