#6521 #6522
#5 - JRL 6522
The Globe and Mail (Canada)
October 30, 2002
We saved the bulk of the hostages, and dealt a blow to
terror
By VLADIMIR VASILYEV
Vladimir Vasilyev is deputy interior minister of Russia.
The Federal Security Service's Alfa and Vympel special units, which conducted the operation to save the hostages taken by Chechen terrorists last week in the Dubrovka Theatre Centre in Moscow, did the impossible when they saved more than 700 lives.
The operational staff created shortly after the terrorists had taken the audience of the Nord-Ost musical hostage did its best to free the innocent people. We complied with the terrorists' wildest whims and requests. We sent them foreign doctors when they were demanded. Leonid Roshal, the leading surgeon of the Disaster Medicine Centre, visited the site several times.
We complied when the terrorists demanded to negotiate with deputies Boris Nemtsov, Irina Khakamada and Grigory Yavlinsky and journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Yevgeny Primakov, head of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a former director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, former Ingush president Ruslan Aushev and Russian pop stars Iosif Kobzon and Alla Pugacheva tried to establish contact with the terrorists.
In the two days of high-strung negotiations with the bandits before the decision to storm the building was made, we installed special equipment in the theatre and hence got glimpses of what was going on in the audience hall. The hostages were our main concern, and our main task was to prevent the terrorists from exploding their bombs.
There were quite a few explosive devices in the hall. Some of them were connected to external sources (such as the stage switch), but others were battery fed. The terrorists changed the location of the bombs every time the negotiators left the hall or some of the hostages were released. We noted that the terrorists became edgy on the third day, giving vent to their frustration by mindless shooting.
After we had exhausted all possibilities of securing the release of hostages (in all, 92 Russian citizens and six foreigners had been let out), the terrorists told presidential representative Viktor Kazantsev that they would not release anyone else. And they started killing hostages in the pre-dawn hours of Oct. 26. We faced an imminent threat of the death of hundreds of people and hence launched the special operation.
We are convinced that it was a correct and timely decision. Otherwise, we would have lost everyone in the hall. The theatre was not built to withstand explosions, which would have brought down the roof.
The operation began with the pumping of special gas into the hall. It was not a poisonous gas but a sleep gas commonly used by counterterror groups. The terrorists slumped. (By the way, the special forces who stormed the building broke windows to let in fresh air.)
We saved the bulk of the hostages. Regrettably, more than 100 died. The chief physician of Veterans Hospital No. 1 says the main reasons for the deaths were mostly cardiovascular diseases, the three days of stress and hunger and the bandits' refusal to let doctors help the ill.
The released hostages were taken to several medical centres in Moscow. Many of them have been discharged since then, as the immediate threat to their health is past. But the post-trauma syndrome of the Dubrovka drama can resurface months and even a year later. By decision of President Vladimir Putin, the hostages will get considerable material assistance and a chance of health rehabilitation at sanatoriums and health resorts.
Another major result of the operation is the liquidation of 50 terrorists. If the special forces lost that battle, the bandits would have started taking hostages and making impossible demands all over Russia. But we have dealt a crushing blow to the terrorists. The militia are combing Moscow for the terrorists' accomplices and have already detained several people with weapons and explosives.
As for negotiations with Chechen bandit leaders Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov, they are impossible. Indeed, can one negotiate with those who deliberately endangered the lives of more than 1,000 hostages, including children, women and old people?
Mr. Putin praised the work of the FSB's Special Task Centre, where the Alfa and Vympel units are incorporated, as well as the special units of the interior and defence ministries, which provided assistance to them. They have proved that terrorists will not force Russia to its knees.
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