56 hours of nightmare: What you need to remember about the terrorist attack on Dubrovka
14 years ago, on October 23, 2002, at 21.15, a group of terrorists of Movsar Barayev, numbering up to 40 militants, seized the Theater Center on Dubrovka, where the musical “Nord-Ost” was being shown. During the capture, there were more than 800 spectators in the hall (according to some sources, 916 people), of which 60–70 were foreigners. The terrorists declared all spectators and workers of the Theater Center hostages and began to mine the auditorium. Among the militants were “black widows” - female suicide bombers dressed in black with suicide belts on.
The invaders declared themselves suicide bombers and said that they would blow themselves up and all the hostages if Russian troops were not withdrawn from the so-called “Ichkeria”. It is no less interesting that the pre-transmitted recording of Barayev’s appeal was broadcast by the Al-Jazeera TV channel.
The building is surrounded by cordons of police and internal troops, FSB operatives arrive. It becomes known that the terrorist attack was organized on the orders of the head of “Ichkeria” Aslan Maskhadov and with the support of international terrorist organizations.
Already 2 hours after the capture of the center, the first attempt was made to establish contact with the terrorists. A deputy entered the building
State Duma from Chechnya Aslambek Aslakhanov. 15 minutes later, shots were heard from the building. Through the hostages with mobile phones, the terrorists ordered to inform the outside that the security forces would not attempt an assault, and that for every terrorist killed they would shoot ten hostages.
Such “freedom fighters of Ichkeria” with high and pure methods of struggle are normal.
All night fruitless attempts were made with the militants asking for the release of women and children, as well as food and food for the hostages. The terrorists refused to negotiate with any officials and demanded representatives of the fifth column - Nemtsov, Yavlinsky, Khakamada, as well as journalist Politkovskaya - for negotiations. The arrival of foreign diplomats who tried to convince Barayev to release foreign citizens had no effect on the terrorists. The terrorists stubbornly stuck to their line, thwarting any attempt at negotiations.
Early in the morning of October 24, a young girl, Muscovite Olga Romanova, entered the Theater Center, bypassing all the cordons. She entered in order to support the hostages and try to convince the captors. Her appearance in the auditorium shocked the terrorists. The bandits killed her first, revealing their true bestial face. Only a day later, Olga’s body was taken out of the center by Leonid Roshal and a Jordanian doctor.
There was another volunteer who offered himself as a hostage in exchange for the release of the children. Lieutenant Colonel of Justice Konstantin Vasiliev, a young 35-year-old man, a happy father and husband. Konstantin Vasiliev managed to enter the Theater Center from the back door. He presented his official identification and an exchange offer to the terrorists who surrounded him. The bandits shot him in the basement. Konstantin’s body was found after the assault.
Only after the murder of Olga Romanova did the terrorists agree to release the woman and three children, handing them over to State Duma deputy Joseph Kobzon, British journalist Mark Franchetti and two representatives of the International Red Cross.
On October 25, at approximately one in the morning, the terrorists agreed to allow Leonid Roshal, head of the emergency surgery and trauma department of the Disaster Medicine Center, into the building. He brought medicines to the hostages and provided them with first aid.
At the same time, the “shit of the nation”, under the leadership of theater director Mark Rozovsky, is organizing an ugly action under the walls of the Theater Center. Playing on the feelings of the relatives of the hostages, the “masters of thought” are shaking up the crowd, trying to get the authorities to fulfill all the terrorists’ demands.
At 15.00 in the Kremlin, President Putin holds a meeting with the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB. Following the meeting, FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev conveys an official offer to the terrorists - life in exchange for the release of all hostages.
Another attempt to establish contact with the militants is being made by the head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, Yevgeny Primakov, ex-President of Ingushetia Ruslan Aushev, State Duma deputy Aslambek Aslakhanov and singer Alla Pugacheva.
Early in the morning, October 26, explosions and machine gun fire were heard from the Palace of Culture building. The FSB special forces are regrouping and preparing for the assault; all journalists are removed from the line of sight. But there is no order for the assault yet. Representatives of the headquarters report that over the past few hours the terrorists have killed two and wounded two more hostages. Several more explosions are heard in the building and several hostages run out of the cultural center. Headquarters reports that six hostages managed to escape in the chaos.
At 6.30, FSB official representative Sergei Ignatchenkov reports that the Theater Center is under the control of the special services, Baraev and his bandit group have been destroyed. Transport for the evacuation of hostages and ambulances begin to arrive at the cultural center.
Later it became known that in the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka, Alpha operatives killed 50 terrorists - 32 men and 18 women. Three more devils were detained. Explosive technicians from the special services neutralized 30 high-power explosive devices, 16 F-1 grenades and another 89 IEDs. In total, all the infernal machines of Barayev’s gang were loaded with 120 kg of explosives in TNT equivalent.
On November 7, 2002, the Moscow prosecutor's office published a list of citizens who died as a result of the terrorist attack on Dubrovka, a total of 128 people, including 10 children and 8 people from near and far abroad countries. There could have been much more casualties if the terrorists had managed to detonate homemade bombs filled with destructive elements hanging in the auditorium. In addition, female suicide bombers wearing suicide bomber belts were densely dispersed among the hostages.
It was these considerations that prompted the special services to use a special gas based on fentanyl derivatives during the special operation (according to the official statement of the FSB).
Gas or no gas, the destruction of terrorists did not take place in laboratory conditions. According to operational data, the gas did not affect everyone, and some of the militants offered armed resistance, although no explosion occurred. The Alpha fighters fought and destroyed the devils by swallowing gas that penetrated through the filters of their protective masks.
Over the next few years, Russian special services were engaged in the punishment and liquidation of those involved in the terrorist attack on Dubrovka. Charges for the terrorist attack were brought against Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, Shamil Basayev, and Akhmed Zakaev in absentia.
Yandarbiev and Basayev have been feeding worms for a long time, and Zakaev is still hiding from punishment in the UK. In addition, because of the terrorist attack on Dubrovka, the head of “Ichkeria” Aslan Maskhadov, in whom the West saw the legitimate leader of Chechnya and a participant in peace negotiations, lost all handshake and joined the black list of world terrorism.
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