As a result of the assault, 40 militants were killed - according to official data, this is exactly how many terrorists seized the Theater Center on Dubrovka. But, for example, hostage Svetlana Gubareva claimed that she saw at least 24 suicide bombers in the hall, although 19 were killed. And six months later, journalist Anna Politkovskaya met at the Sputnik Hotel on Leninsky Prospekt with a certain Khanpash Terkibaev, who told her in an interview that he was among the militants on Dubrovka as an FSB agent. In addition, the investigation materials contain the number 52 - this is the number of militants Shamil Basayev selected to prepare terrorist attacks in Moscow.

There is even more serious confusion with the number of deaths: officially 130 people died, but the hostages’ lawyer Karinna Moskalenko, adding up all the investigation data, got 174.

Vladimir Kurbatov:

“After a lot of requests to the prosecutor’s office, we gained access to investigative materials, and simply counted in a column how many died in the building, how many on the steps, in ambulances, on buses, in hospitals - in total it turned out to be 174 people. In court, we asked the head of the investigation team, Kalchuk, how he could explain these figures. He replied: “Well, you think so, and I think so, what do you want from me?”

Perhaps this is still an error in the calculations: 44 is too big a discrepancy. Three years ago, at the site of the terrorist attack, a memorial plaque appeared with all the surnames - I think that if some surname had not been there, the relatives would have been indignant.

There is a lot of testimony that there were more terrorists, but the investigation did not take them into account. When asked why Khanpash Terkibaev was not interrogated, Kalchuk replied that they went to the hotel that Politkovskaya named and did not find anyone. Then it turned out that Anna was talking about the Sputnik Hotel, and the investigators went to the Cosmos Hotel. And as soon as the FBI became interested in Terkibaev (an American citizen died at Nord-Ost), Terkibaev crashed in a car accident in Chechnya.”

Karinna Moskalenko:

“We studied the decisions of the investigation itself and received the number 174 - this is data without names, only numbers. The question arises: where are the relatives of these 44 people? We believe this unclaimed people. We came to Moscow for a walk, to see our mistress, on a business trip - whatever. And they disappeared. Who will deal with these statistics - find out those who disappeared at the same time in Russian cities? Those who they came for are on the official list.”

Andrey Soldatov:

“I saw the assault from the window of the apartment opposite: the hostages were carried out and put in ranks as if they were dead. And in these ranks there was definitely more people, what the authorities called it.

But the story with Terkibaev was unverified. Terkibaev is from that category of people with a special psychological make-up who jump out for various reasons and they say that they can be the best helpers. I don't think this has anything to do with reality.

But this does not at all negate the fact that some of the terrorists managed to escape. -Many operatives told me about this later. It was a complete madhouse there. The assault was carried out by more than one organization: there were several special forces groups that were supposed to clear out the terrorists, and there were also internal troops who initially provided the security perimeter, but when the big shooting started, they also went somewhere for some reason. As a result, chaos arose: the building is large, there are a lot of communications, exits in different directions, people move around it different groups armed people who themselves do not know where they are moving. The situation, of course, is not as catastrophic as in Beslan, where people simply ran around different directions, but the people who participated in the assault said that the task of ensuring the security of the perimeter had not been solved. Moreover, not only me, but also many journalists sat where, generally speaking, they should not have sat - this also speaks of the transparency of the perimeter. It was possible to come and go quite freely, which is why the special services say that a certain number of people left.”

Exactly fifteen years ago, Moscow experienced the largest terrorist attack involving hostage-taking. Members of the Islamic Special Purpose Regiment group, led by Movsar Barayev, a native of Chechnya, seized the theater center near the Dubrovka metro station. At that moment, the musical “Nord-Ost” was playing there. More than 915 people were taken hostage.

Random people - real deaths

“I planned to go to this performance, but I gave up my tickets the day before. Of course, I and many Muscovites were then frightened by the explosions of residential buildings in September 1999. But why exactly I decided not to go to the musical, I don’t know, intuition or something. But some of my friends ended up in the theater center on that ill-fated day. Fortunately, they survived,” Ekaterina Adenina told Gazeta.Ru.

Among the hostages were not only the performers and spectators. “On October 23, 2002, we had a regular lesson. We were in a completely different wing of the theater, but apparently the invaders were well aware of what was located there and where. They came to us, fired a burst into the ceiling from a machine gun and herded me and my students into the auditorium, told us where to sit and told us not to talk or smile,” recalls the founder of the Iridan Irish dance school, Igor Denisov. According to him, the terrorists at the same time allowed the captured people to call close relatives from mobile phones.

“We immediately called the parents of our students to say the main thing: “everyone is alive and well.” People will hear everything else anyway, on TV, that’s what I thought then,” Denisov noted.

According to other hostages, the militants forced them to call home and say that for every hostage killed, they would shoot 10 victims.

The group of terrorists who broke into the theater center included both men and women. They were armed with machine guns, pistols and machine guns, and, in addition, they mined the auditorium. The invaders placed explosives in the center of the passage, on the balcony, and, in addition, some of the female terrorists had suicide belts on their bodies. “The suicide bombs were placed around the hall very cleverly, so that in the event of explosions, the maximum number of people would die. Moreover, if all the explosive devices had gone off, it is possible that the nearby metro would have been damaged, which could have led to serious consequences. And then part of the group of terrorists would have a non-zero chance of escaping,” Sergei Militsky, a colonel of the Russian FSB, a veteran of the Alpha special unit, who took part in the operation to free the hostages in the theater center, told Gazeta.Ru.

From the very beginning of the seizure of the theater, several incidents occurred that influenced the further course of events. “Journalists began to cover events in great detail. The movements of special forces and police were filmed directly online. And the terrorists also had a TV, and they watched it all carefully,” Militsky recalls. At the same time, the militants did not take into account all the circumstances, and several actors and employees of the center managed to leave through windows or emergency exits.

In addition, an officer of the Moscow Special Forces Special Forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation suddenly turned out to be among the hostages. “This man went to the play with his girlfriend. He immediately called his people at the base and told them about what had happened. Then the Sobrov members were sitting on 2nd Kolobovsky Lane in the city center. Fully prepared, they arrived at the theater center building in just 40 minutes and were ready to immediately begin the assault. At that moment, the terrorists had not yet completed mining the hall, so the special forces had a chance to carry out this assault successfully,” Mikhail Pashkin, head of the capital’s police union, told Gazeta.Ru. According to him, Vladimir Pronin, who headed the Moscow Central Internal Affairs Directorate in those years, did not give the go-ahead for such an operation. “And the SOBR officer who reported the seizure later died from gas poisoning,” Pashkin added.

Shortly after the seizure of the center, the Al-Jazeera television channel broadcast a recorded message from the head of the terrorist group, Barayev, who demanded the withdrawal Russian troops from Chechnya, as well as negotiations between the Russian authorities and the head of the Chechen militants, Aslan Maskhadov. Subsequently, the invaders demanded the arrival of the head of the Chechen administration, Akhmat Kadyrov, at the building. “It seemed to me that these were young guys who didn’t decide anything for themselves. They were constantly calling somewhere abroad and consulting with someone,” recalls former hostage Denisov.

From the beginning of the hostage-taking on October 23 until the storming of the building, people came to the theater different people and tried to negotiate the release of some of the hostages. So, on the first day of the terrorist attack

lieutenant colonel Russian army Konstantin Vasiliev, with his official ID, went through the cordon and offered himself to the militants as a hostage, and in return asked for the release of women and children. However, the terrorists decided that the FSB had sent him and shot the officer.

Photo report:"Nord-Ost": 15 years of the terrorist attack on Dubrovka

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The next day, 26-year-old Olga Romanova entered the center building and entered the hall and got into an altercation with Movsar Barayev. She was quickly interrogated, taken into the corridor and killed with three shots from a machine gun. And shortly before the assault, Muscovite Gennady Vlah broke into the rear, who mistakenly decided that his son was among the hostages. The terrorists killed him too.

They tried to negotiate with the invaders such famous people, as pediatric surgeon Leonid Roshal, politicians Irina Khakamada, Grigory Yavlinsky and Yevgeny Primakov, director Stanislav Govorukhin and People's Artist USSR Joseph Kobzon. The latter managed to achieve the release of several women and children.

While the hostages continued to be in the hall, rallies were held in front of the theater demanding that the Russian authorities withdraw troops from Chechnya. Relatives of the hostages also took part in these speeches. On the third day of the terrorist attack, early in the morning of October 26, Alpha fighters launched an assault. “In fact, the operation was prepared very carefully. Were being worked on different options, we took into account that we must under no circumstances allow an explosion, since then the vast majority of the hostages would have died. The option of entering through the sewer was explored. In the end, they settled on using a special gas that has a paralytic effect and suppresses a person’s will to do anything. It was pumped into the building through air ducts. When the fighters of the assault group entered the theater premises, they were horrified: huge amount people just lie there and don’t move!” recalls Militsky.

During the operation, all 40 terrorists were killed, and none of the suicide bombers were able to detonate the explosives. However, already in hospitals immediately after the special operation, former hostages began to die en masse.

In total, at least 125 people died from the consequences of the gas. According to public organization“Nord-Ost”, 179 people became victims. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the doctors initially did not know what kind of gas the security forces used, and also by the fact that the hostages were weakened by poor nutrition: the terrorists gave them only juices, chocolate and chewing gum, which were in the theater buffet. Many of those who survived the use of gas still complain of various diseases: memory loss, vision loss, oncology and others.

The killer gas is still unknown

“I lost my son there. He poisoned himself with gas. In general, of all the victims, only five were shot, and the rest died because of this substance that the stormers used,” Sergei Karpov, who is a victim in a number of criminal cases related to the terrorist attack, shared with Gazeta.Ru and got acquainted with their materials. He emphasized that he had no complaints directly against the special forces soldiers: “Alpha” worked “excellently,” although its soldiers risked their lives. But the evacuation was organized disgracefully. For example, Hospital No. 15, which is located next to the theater center, was prepared to receive victims. But only seven people were brought there. Not far from the theater there was also the 13th hospital, but for some reason 300 people were brought there. In principle, it is impossible to admit so many into one medical institution,” he said.

Karpov noted that the Russian authorities have still not disclosed the composition of the gas, which also causes outrage among the relatives of the victims of the terrorist attack. “The conclusion of the forensic examination states that there is no direct connection between the use of gas and the death of people. But how can this be confirmed if its composition has not yet been revealed?!” the victim is indignant. Alpha veteran Militsky, in turn, explained that the security forces and the Russian authorities had their own reasons for doing exactly this. “Gas is a special combination of substances that was manufactured for this operation. Nobody reveals such things anywhere. As for the evacuation, it was being prepared. Yuri Luzhkov, for example, who was then the mayor, drove 100 ambulances to the site of the assault. Just imagine how you can find so many of these cars at once? But they couldn’t get close, because then the terrorists would have guessed that an assault was being prepared,” noted the special forces veteran.

At the same time, Militsky admitted that certain mistakes were made during the evacuation. “Those who were taken to the ambulance survived. But those who were evacuated by other transport died. You need to understand that Alpha officers, other structures, and police officers are taught to detain and destroy, and not to save. Sometimes the victims were placed on the asphalt or on the floor of the bus incorrectly: their tongues would sink in, they would start vomiting, and they would choke,” Militskiy said. In general, according to him, during the award ceremony for security forces in the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin was personally called by the NATO Secretary General and congratulated on a brilliant operation.

“Although all this does not justify us. I was taught this: if at least one of the hostages dies during the assault, then it means that we have failed somewhere,”

- Militsky concluded.

After the events near the Dubrovka metro station, a number of high-profile trials took place. In 2003, the Moscow City Court found Zaurbek Talkhigov guilty of aiding terrorism and taking hostages in the House of Culture on Dubrovka, sentencing him to 8.5 years in prison. And in 2004, the Lefortovo Court of Moscow sentenced to seven years in prison the police major of the Nizhegorodsky Department of Internal Affairs, Igor Alyamkin, who registered in the capital the Chechen terrorist Luiza Bakueva, a participant in the seizure of the theater center. In 2014, 41-year-old Khasan Zakaev, suspected of involvement in the terrorist attack, was detained in Crimea. The Moscow District Military Court found him guilty of organizing the delivery of weapons and explosives to terrorists; Zakaev received 19 years in a maximum security colony.

But for a long time, Russian courts denied compensation to the relatives of the victims and the hostages themselves. “We started with the Tver court, and we sued Moscow, since it was not the state as a whole that had to answer, but the entity on whose territory the incident occurred. this fact. We reached the Supreme Court, then went to the Single European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. They sued for 12 years and won, Strasbourg forced Russia to pay compensation and properly conduct an investigation, but it is still not being conducted. Although the Ministry of Finance paid us compensation totaling 1.3 million euros,” Karpov explained. This lawsuit was the first large-scale trial Russian citizens against the Russian Federation in the ECHR.

However, some victims view this issue differently. “Exactly a month after the terrorist attack we had big concert in the Moskvich center.

If we only thought about what happened, what would happen in our lives? We must live in the present moment and think about the future.

I've since had three children - what more do you need? Although on October 26 we meet with my students and celebrate our second common birthday,” Denisov said.

Sixteen years ago, terrorists seized the Dubrovka Theater Center in Moscow. The attack killed 130 people, ten of whom were children. In addition, the writer Alexander Karpov, nine musicians who played in the orchestra, as well as actors Kristina Kurbatova and Arseny Kurylenko, became victims of the 16-year-old tragedy.

The terrorist attack on Dubrovka was a terrorist attack in Moscow that lasted from October 23 to October 26, 2002, during which a group of armed militants led by Movsar Barayev captured and held hostages from among the spectators of the musical “Nord-Ost” in the Theater Center on Dubrovka, located in building of the House of Culture of JSC “Moscow Bearing” (“1 GPP”). As a result of the storming of the building by special forces, all the terrorists were eliminated and most of the hostages were freed. IN total According to official data, 130 people from among the hostages died (according to the public organization “Nord-Ost”, 174 people).

Source: obozrevatel.com

The plan for a large-scale terrorist attack in Moscow was developed in the summer of 2002 at the headquarters of the leader of the Chechen gangs - “President of Ichkeria” Aslan Maskhadov. It included not only the taking of several hundred hostages in a building during a cultural event, but also the detonation of cars filled with explosives in places where civilians gathered. Field commander Movsar Baraev was appointed commander of the sabotage and terrorist group.

Source: obozrevatel.com

About 50 militants were expected to take part in the hostage-taking in Moscow, half of whom were supposed to be female suicide bombers. Terrorists delivered weapons to the capital in trunks passenger cars. Apples were used for camouflage. In addition, at the beginning of October 2002, three high-power explosive devices were delivered from Ingushetia to Moscow on a truck loaded with watermelons. The militants themselves got to the capital in different ways. Most of the terrorists arrived on the Khasavyurt-Moscow bus a few days before the theater was seized. Some suicide bombers flew to Moscow by plane from Ingushetia, and Barayev arrived at the Kazansky station by train on October 14, accompanied by two more militants.

Source: yaplakal.com

Initially, the Moscow Youth Palace, the Dubrovka Theater Center and the Moscow state theater stage. The second building was chosen as the main target, since it was located far from the city center, had a large auditorium and a small number of other premises. The building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka was built in 1974 on Melnikov Street and was called the Palace of Culture of the First State Bearing Plant. In 2001, for the needs of the creators of the musical “Nord-Ost” based on the novel “Two Captains” by Veniamin Kaverin, it was refurbished and renamed.

Source: obozrevatel.com

On October 23, 2002, at 9:15 p.m., armed men in camouflage, arriving in three minibuses, burst into the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka. The main part of the group headed to concert hall, where at that time the musical “Nord-Ost” was on and there were more than 800 spectators. Other militants began checking the rest of the theater center, herding the people there into the main hall. A total of 912 people were taken hostage (according to some sources, 916). Among them were foreign citizens.

Source: obozrevatel.com

Militants placed bombs along the walls auditorium at a distance of five meters from each other, and metal cylinders were placed in the center and on the balcony, next to which suicide bombers were constantly on duty. Inside each cylinder was a 152-mm high-explosive fragmentation artillery shell. The internal cavity between the projectile and the wall of the cylinder was filled with damaging elements. The female terrorists positioned themselves in a checkerboard pattern along opposite walls. They closed the hall in sectors of 30 degrees. The filling of the suicide belt is two kilograms of plastic explosives and another kilogram of metal balls. The planned explosions were supposed to meet each other halfway, destroying all living things. For this purpose, a central control panel was made.

Some hostages were allowed to call their relatives, report the capture and that for every militant killed or wounded, the terrorists would shoot ten people.

Source: obozrevatel.com

By ten o'clock in the evening, reinforced police units, soldiers from the special forces detachment, internal troops, and armored vehicles were pulled up to the Theater Center on Dubrovka.

Immediately after the capture, some of the actors and employees of the theater center who were in the office premises managed to escape from the building through windows and emergency exits. Late at night, the terrorists released 17 people without any conditions.

On October 24, at 5.30 a.m., a young woman unhinderedly entered the building of the Theater Center (later it turned out that she was Olga Romanova, a salesperson at a nearby perfume store), and at 8.15 a.m., Lieutenant Colonel Konstantin Vasiliev. They were shot by militants.

Source: yaplakal.com

The first attempt to establish contact with terrorists was made on October 24: at 00.15, State Duma deputy from Chechnya Aslambek Aslakhanov entered the center building. The leader, Movsar Barayev, demanded a meeting with the authorities. After that, go to him early morning On October 26, some walked Russian politicians(Joseph Kobzon, Grigory Yavlinsky, Irina Khakamada), doctors (Red Cross, Leonid Roshal, Anwar El-Said), journalists (Anna Politkovskaya, Sergei Govorukhin, Mark Franchetti, film crew NTV channel), head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Evgeny Primakov, ex-president of Ingushetia Ruslan Aushev, singer Alla Pugacheva. During these negotiations, the terrorists released more than two dozen hostages.

By using technical means Many telephone contacts between terrorists and their accomplices in Chechnya, Turkey and a number of Arab countries were recorded.

On October 24 at 7 p.m., the Qatari TV channel Al-Jazeera showed an appeal from the head of the militants, Movsar Barayev, recorded a few days before the seizure of the Theater Center: the terrorists declared themselves suicide bombers and demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Chechnya.

Source: yaplakal.com

On October 25 at 15:00 in the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with the heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB. Following the meeting, FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev said that the authorities were ready to save the lives of the terrorists if they freed all the hostages.

The militants behaved extremely aggressively. They announced that on the morning of October 26 they would begin to kill hostages.

The seizure of the building was planned by the operational headquarters from the first minutes. Before the assault, special forces practiced their actions in a similar building. To avoid an unauthorized explosion and mass casualties, it was decided to use nerve gas.

On the night of October 26, one of the special forces groups penetrated the first floor of the building where the technical rooms were located. Fearing snipers, the terrorists did not go down there. From the utility rooms, small holes were made in the walls and partitions. With their help, we were able to gain access to ventilation and install video equipment.

On October 26, at 5.30 am, three explosions and several bursts of machine gun fire were heard near the building of the theater center. At about 6.00 the special forces began the assault. At 6.30, an official representative of the FSB reported that the theater center was under the control of the special services, Movsar Barayev and most of the terrorists had been killed.

At 7.25, Russian Presidential Assistant Sergei Yastrzhembsky officially announced that the operation to free the hostages was completed. All terrorists were destroyed, the hostages were freed. At about 8.00, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Vladimir Vasilyev announced that more than 750 hostages had been freed, 67 people had died. Six and a half hundred hostages were taken to hospitals with varying degrees of poisoning; doctors were unable to save some of them.

Fifteen years ago, on October 23, 2002, at 21:15, armed people in camouflage, arriving in three minibuses, burst into the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka. The musical “Nord-Ost” was on stage.

Militants led by Movsar Barayev took 912 people hostage. They declared themselves suicide bombers and demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Chechnya. In addition to the spectators, there were theater staff and students of the Iridan Irish dance school in the building. As a result of the terrorist attack, according to official data, 130 people died (according to the public organization “Nord-Ost” - 174 people).

“The terrorist walked up onto the stage and fired a burst of machine gun fire.”

A crowd of people in the square in front of the Palace of Culture, seized by terrorists on Wednesday evening. October 24. TASS

“At the beginning of the second part, we saw armed people in the hall... The first thought was that the scriptwriters included such a turn of events in the plot. But then one of the terrorists got up on stage and, to attract people’s attention, fired a burst of machine gun fire,” recalls Svetlana Gubareva.

“Most of the performers who were not engaged at the beginning of the second act managed to climb down from the windows with their costumes tied up,” says Georgy Vasiliev, one of the authors and producers of the musical. Some employees managed to escape through emergency exits.

At night, the terrorists released 17 people without setting any conditions. The building of the cultural center of the State Industrial Plant "Moscow Bearing", where the Theater Center was located, was mined.

The remaining hostages were given sandwiches and juices from the buffet. “One small bottle of water was scattered through the rows, and almost nothing reached the middle of the hall,” says Ksenia Zhorova. “Those who wanted to relieve themselves were not allowed to go to the toilet. The militants decided to organize it in the orchestra pit.”

“We took seven out, but the guy from Alpha was wounded.”

Press secretary of the musical “Nord-Ost” Elena Shmeleva near the cultural center. FSB and police specialists arrived at the scene. October 24. TASS

“We thought about when we would be rescued and what we could do to help. For myself, I determined that we need to count who captured us, how many men, how many women, how many grenades they have, how many weapons they have... I was able to transmit this data to the public,” recalls the Interfax employee. Olga Chernyak.

The hostages' phones were taken away, but sometimes they were handed out and they were allowed to make calls. “We had to call on relatives to go to rallies “against the war in Chechnya.” In reality, this was the best way to hide information about who and from what phone the terrorists called to receive instructions,” believes Alexey Kozhevnikov.

FSB officers asked their relatives for the hostages' phone numbers. “Suddenly a guy appears. We caught him: “Who are you?” “The watchman... And he showed how he came out,” says Ilya, FSB officer. – I look at the diagram and call one of the hostages, Anya. I say that there is an opportunity to get out. She said that there were nine people next to her. And I led them by phone - right, left, straight. Seven were taken out. And when the last one was leaving, one of the terrorists from the roof saw a shadow and fired a machine gun. And the guy from Alpha, who was covering the hostages, was wounded.”

“This thing is enough for three of these buildings.”

The militants placed bombs along the walls of the auditorium, and in the center and on the balcony - metal cylinders, inside of which there were 152-mm high-explosive fragmentation artillery shells and submunitions. The female suicide bombers arranged themselves in a checkerboard pattern.

The most powerful explosive device was on the ground. “I really didn’t like this bomb... I kept looking askance at it, and the Chechen woman who was sitting next to the bomb asked me: “Are you afraid of it?” Don't be afraid. Don't think that you will get more from her than anyone else. This thing is enough for three such buildings,” says Svetlana Gubareva.

“Periodically, the terrorists walked back and forth. There were bombs and suicide bombers nearby. I remember constant fear. I remember what my mother said as a child: when you are scared, you need to pray. I had an icon with me in my wallet, and I prayed,” says Ksenia Zharkova, who came to the musical with her classmates.

"Children supported adults"

“We didn’t sleep, we didn’t eat. We just sat and waited, the usual state is some kind of numbness, and attacks of fear, when your legs simply go numb, or suddenly there is hope for salvation, and then you all begin to act..., - recalls one of the survivors. – One man really went crazy - he suddenly jumped up and ran along the backs of the chairs, throwing an empty cola bottle at the terrorist. They shot at him several times, but they didn’t hit him, but the spectators who were sitting quietly.”

“We told jokes, trombonist Misha Deryugin was sitting behind us - he told us how the musical was being prepared,” recalls Sergey Budnitsky, who came to the recreation center with his 13-year-old daughter and her friend, and saw his task as calming the girls. –<…>I also retold my whole life.”

According to Olga Chernyak, the children themselves supported the adults: “The adults periodically panicked. The children reassured their relatives.”

“Two of our musicians from the orchestra were sitting next to me - my wife Sasha and my husband Zhenya. He has a Ukrainian passport, she has a Russian one,” says Georgy Vasilyev. – Ukrainians were considered foreigners and were promised to be released. And Sasha kept pushing her husband out so that he would give up his passport... But he didn’t move: keep quiet, I won’t go anywhere without you. Zhenya ultimately died."

“Release the woman who was sitting next to me immediately.”

State Duma deputy Joseph Kobzon led a woman, three children and a British citizen out of the Theater Center building. October 24. TASS

Attempts by politicians and public figures to establish contact with the militants began on the night of October 24. In particular, Joseph Kobzon, British journalist Mark Franchetti and two Red Cross employees visited there in the morning. They brought out a woman, three children and a British citizen.

“They brought out three girls for me. And then one nuzzled at me: “There’s mom,” says Joseph Kobzon. He managed to persuade the militants to release the girl’s mother. “I thought she would rush to me, to the children, sobbing,” he continues. - Nevermind! Swollen, pale, red eyes, she rushed to Abu Bakar (one of the militants): “Immediately release the woman who was sitting next to me, she is pregnant.”

According to Kobzon, the pregnant woman was released when Leonid Roshal arrived. A well-known doctor brought medicine and provided first aid to the victims.

Former hostages talk about another, tragic and unsuccessful attempt to help them. On the morning of October 24, a young woman, Olga Romanova, entered the building. She behaved very harshly with the militants, and they simply shot her.

“Mom, everything will be fine!”

People who come to a building seized by terrorists offer themselves in exchange for hostages. October 24. TASS

Relatives and friends of the hostages in desperation insisted on fulfilling the terrorists' demands, offered themselves in exchange for the hostages, stood for days at the seized Theater Center or waited for news at the headquarters set up in the building opposite.

“I lived in anticipation of Masha’s calls - every three hours she managed to say a few words to me, she kept repeating: “Mom, everything will be fine!” – remembers Tatyana Lukashova, mother of the deceased Masha Panova. – A cell phone was our greatest asset back then. And imagine, it was stolen from one mother, taken out of her pocket.”

People were catching every bit of information. But the actions of journalists sometimes caused serious damage. For example, when several special forces soldiers, conducting reconnaissance, climbed to the roof of a building, they were immediately shown in live. As a result, plans to free the hostages had to be changed.

"We didn't know where the main button was"

On October 23, 2002, at the very beginning of the second act of the musical Nord-Ost, armed militants burst onto the stage, more than 900 hostages are in the hands of 42 terrorists.

3 cars drive up to the theater on Dubrovka. At the theater, Alevtina Popova and Bogdanov are preparing for the 303rd performance of the popular play Nord Ost. In three cars there was a group of heavily armed Chechens. Among the spectators there were about 10 women who were waiting for their leaders. When the second act begins, Chechen militants appear. Having gathered the entire detachment, the Chechens began to seize the theater. A man with a machine gun and wearing a black mask jumped onto the stage, shooting and screaming began.

Time 21.35

The siege of Moscow has begun. Many still thought that this was the director's idea. During the panic that arose, the producer of the play managed to call for help by phone. He called the police. The police arrived on the scene within minutes. At first there was complete confusion. In the first half hour, about 50 lucky people miraculously managed to escape from the theater.

News of the terrorist attack reached President Putin in the Kremlin. The area around the theater is fenced off and becomes a restricted area. Putin is putting the military on high alert and sending the first units to the site. Well-known deputies of the Duma appear here. Patients are being taken out of the hospital next to the theater. Now the headquarters of a spontaneously organized group of negotiators will be located here. Confrontation between forces Russian state and Chechen militants begin. Meanwhile, the Chechens begin to mine the hall. The female fighters had explosives, a Makarov pistol and a homemade grenade on their belts. The military build-up continues throughout the evening. Russia's elite anti-terrorist unit Alpha arrives.

Special forces soldiers near the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka.

Despite the show of force, the first victim will soon appear. Around midnight, an unknown woman walked straight through the barrier and headed into the theater. The Chechens decided that she was a spy and shot her.

Day two

About 11 hours passed after the capture. While parliamentary negotiators work without sleep, trying to establish dialogue with the Chechens, President Putin remains silent. Putin, a former KGB officer, simply ignores the negotiator groups and turns to his own former colleagues from the FSB of the Novorossiysk secret police, which replaced the KGB after the collapse Soviet Union. Putin faces a difficult choice. He decides not to negotiate, but is well aware that a frontal attack will lead to the death of 900 people. The Kremlin's silence is increasing Chechens' nervousness.

Hostages in the Nord-Ost hall

At this time, the FSB was looking for an opportunity to secretly bring the Alpha special forces into the building. Consultations were held with the so-called diggers, experts on underground Moscow. The introduced diggers went in search of underground passages, and the team working at the operational headquarters, meanwhile, was desperately trying to find a person who would agree to go into the building. An acceptable person for Chechens too. They resorted to the help of Joseph Kobzon, a State Duma deputy and famous singer in Russia, also well known and respected in Chechnya. Kobzon was the first negotiator to enter the building. He quickly realized that the Chechens were in complete control of all 922 hostages; they even filmed what was happening in the hall. Kobzon begins a dialogue with Barayev’s deputy, Abu Bakar. From Kobzon's words

Kobzon: What will we do?

Abu Bakar: What? What we do is what we will do.

K: And how long can this last?

A: We have enough strength. We can stand there quietly for two weeks. We are suicide bombers.

K: Abu Bakar, what kind of suicide bomber are you? You still have to live and live. You still have to give birth to children, to love girls.

A: No, we are suicide bombers and our girls are suicide bombers. We are tired of you, we are tired of the war. Why is Putin silent?

K: Why do you think he is silent? He is not silent. He conducts consultations and negotiations.

Kobzon's first visit led to the release of three children and a mother.

The living conditions of the remaining hostages quickly deteriorated. When two girls escaped by jumping out of a toilet window, the Chechens forbade them from going to the toilet, and instead forced the hostages to use the orchestra pit. The stench in this pit was unbearable.

The Chechens, who understood the influence on the world media, sent one of the hostages with the message “It is on your conscience to resolve the issue peacefully, otherwise a lot of blood will be shed.” By the evening of the second day, Putin breaks his silence.

Day two

Joseph Kobzon goes to the theater again, but he has nothing to offer in return for the children who were released with him earlier. The Chechens were much more severe. They announced that 15 people would be shot within an hour. It has now become clear that the situation is at a dead end.

Third day

Unknown to the negotiators, the Alpha team finally gets to the theater building. Now it was possible to listen to what was happening inside. Alpha fighters reported everything to the FSB. A group of negotiators, unaware of the plans for the assault, did what they could. Now Politkovskaya went to the theater. Politkovskaya managed to persuade the Chechens to bring food and water to the hostages.

Relatives of the hostages near the theater building.

With each passing hour, the likelihood that the situation would get out of control increased. Putin used a group of negotiators to buy time. On the third night, one person decides to take a desperate step and enters the theater. The man was unarmed, he was pushed into the hall and beaten in front of everyone. The man claimed that he had come for his son. The Chechens loudly pronounced their son's name, but no one responded. After some time, he was taken away and shot.

Suddenly a message appears that the Kremlin has agreed to serious negotiations. The Chechens have already informed the hostages that the conditions are being met and they will soon be released. But the FSB had other plans.

Day four

The FSB begins final preparations. By 6.00, the FSB's secret weapon had already been delivered - sleeping gas, a derivative of the painkiller fentanyl. These were cylinders with a large volume of compressed, soporific gas. This gas has a gentle effect on nervous system, and if it is served in a thin stream, it is practically colorless. Gas had never been used in any hostage rescue operation, but Putin came to the conclusion that this was the best solution. If they had stormed a building in the center of the capital where more than eight hundred hostages were being held, it would have led to catastrophic consequences.

First they started turning on the gas. Many did not understand what was happening, they thought that the ventilation was broken. Terrorists began to run out and shout that this was an assault.

6.20 Explosions make a hole in the floor. Alpha fighters begin to penetrate the building from an underground tunnel. The terrorists began to run, fuss, and grab their machine guns. Shooting began in the foyer.

6.24 The gas and the rapid attack confused everyone. The Chechens ran out into the corridors where Alpha fighters were waiting for them. The disoriented Chechen women fell asleep under the influence of the gas; they never received the order to blow up the theater. The shootout lasted 15 minutes. Movsar Barayev and his men were dead.

6.35 Now Alpha fighters entered the theater to finish off the sleeping Chechen women. For the Russian special forces, the assault was a complete success. Among the Alpha fighters, only one was wounded, and all the Chechens were killed.

6.40 Hundreds of hostages were still exposed to the gas. The assault was planned most carefully, but it soon became clear that the people who organized the rescue operation knew nothing about the use of gas. The rescue mission turned into a disaster. The special service carried people out and stacked them on the floor of the bus. They were all unconscious. Russian authorities never told doctors what gas was used. The tragedy claimed the lives of 130 hostages.

After five days of international pressure, the Kremlin finally announced that the concentration was almost 5 times higher than the commonly used mixture. Only the participants in the operation were provided with the antidote.

It seems that no one thought about hostages from the very beginning. The negotiations were like a game. The supply of water and food was not organized, and final stage The hostages were not provided with an antidote or basic first aid. It seems that in the eyes of the Russian authorities, the success of the special operation outweighed the cost of human life.