#2 - JRL 6597
Russia refuses to discuss use of gas in siege
MOSCOW, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Russia's Health Ministry refused on Wednesday to answer questions from a parliamentarian challenging the use of gas to end the siege of a Moscow theatre in October.
Chechen rebels took hundreds of people hostage in the siege, which ended with the deaths of 129 hostages, almost all of them caused by a powerful opiate-based gas used by Russian special forces who stormed the building.
"The Health Ministry cannot reveal any information about the gas used in the counter-terrorist operation in Moscow to free hostages on October 26, as this is a state secret," Interfax news agency quoted Health Minister Yuri Shevchenko as saying.
The parliamentary health committee quizzed the ministry about the use of the gas at the initiative of independent deputy Sergei Yushenkov.
"The question was about the legality of the gas," Yushenkov told Reuters. "The question was also put to the FSB (Federal Security Service) and the Interior Ministry, and the other bodies that were involved in the operation, but so far there has not been an answer."
The Russian government was criticised after the siege for being tight-lipped about the identity of the gas used to incapacitate more than 40 rebels. Some doctors said the secrecy had hindered their attempts to save the hostages.
All but two of the hostages who were killed in the siege died from the effects of the gas, later identified as fentanyl, an opiate-based anaesthetic. The vast majority died in the hours after the theatre was stormed and some survivors say they still suffer nasty side effects.
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