Instruction
On the evening of October 23, 2002, a group of militants broke into the Theater Center on Dubrovka Street in Moscow, taking hostage the audience of the popular musical Nord-Ost. The terrorists demanded from the Kremlin an immediate cessation of hostilities in the Chechen Republic and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya. This year was generally extremely turbulent: the second Chechen war was in full swing, terrorist attacks in the North Caucasus took place one after another, claiming dozens of lives. The second Chechen war, compared to the first, was covered by the media much worse due to the ideological control of journalistic materials. At that time, only the most large-scale Chechen events were brought to the attention of the Russians, which were impossible to hide.
According to official figures, an armed group of militants who broke into the Theater Center on Dubrovka during a performance took 912 people (spectators and theater employees) hostage. There were more than 700 people in the auditorium where the terrorists broke into. The bandits declared all the people who were in the building that ill-fated evening as hostages and began to mine the center. In the first minutes after the capture, several actors and employees managed to run out of the Theater Center through emergency exits and windows. The hostage-taking took place at 9:15 p.m., and at 10:00 p.m. it became known who exactly carried out the capture: Chechen militants led by Movsar Barayev are working in the building. In addition, among the bandits were suicide bombers, hung from head to toe with explosives.
Already at night (October 24), at 00:15, the first attempt was made to establish contact with the militants. Aslambek Aslakhanov, a deputy of the State Duma from the Chechen Republic, went to the Theater Center on Dubrovka, and after 15 minutes shots were heard in the theater. Some of the hostages then managed to contact the media on their mobile phones, the essence of the conversation was as follows: “Please do not storm the building. These people said that for one of their killed or wounded, they would shoot 10 hostages. In the early morning of October 24, State Duma deputy Iosif Kobzon, the English journalist of the Theater Mark Franketti and two medical workers went to the building on Dubrovka. After some time, they took a woman with three children out of the building.
At 7 pm on the same day, the Al-Jazeera TV channel began broadcasting an appeal by terrorists led by Barayev, which was recorded a few days before the terrorist attack on Dubrovka. According to this video, the militants declared themselves suicide bombers and demanded the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Chechnya. Subsequently, several unsuccessful attempts were made to negotiate with the terrorists, lasting from 19:00 to midnight. It is worth noting that the Kremlin has been officially silent until this time. On October 25, at 1 am, the militants allowed the well-known children's doctor, Leonid Roshal, to enter the building. He brought the necessary medicines for the hostages, and also provided them with first aid on the spot.
At 3 pm on the same day, President Putin held a meeting with the heads of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and from 8 pm to 9 pm, Ruslan Aushev (the former head of Ingushetia), Yevgeny Primakov (head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation), and a deputy from the State Duma tried to establish contact with the bandits Aslambek Aslakhanov and singer Alla Pugacheva. Their attempts were in vain. At about 6 am on October 26, Russian special forces began to storm the building on Dubrovka, during which the special services used an unknown nerve gas. According to the official representative of the FSB, half an hour after the start of the assault, the Theater Center was under the complete control of the special services, and the militants, led by Movsar Barayev, were destroyed.
As a result of the terrorist attack on Dubrovka, 130 people were killed. Of these, six were killed by terrorists, and 124 died as a result of the action of sleeping gas used by special forces. October 28, 2002 in Russia was declared a day of mourning for the victims of this terrorist act. On December 31, President Putin signed a decree on awarding the Orders of Courage to Leonid Roshal and Iosif Kobzon.
Tragedy in the Moscow Theater Center on Dubrovka. A group of militants took hostage the audience of the musical "Nord-Ost" and employees of the theater. After almost three days, the building was stormed, as a result of which the terrorists were destroyed, and the surviving hostages were released. The attack killed 130 hostages.
The building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka was built in Moscow on Melnikova Street in 1974 and at first was called the Palace of Culture of the State Bearing Plant (DK GPZ).
DK GPZ was an ordinary concert hall, variety concerts, theatrical performances, etc. were held here.
In 2001, for the needs of the creators of the musical "Nord-Ost" based on the novel by Veniamin Kaverin "Two Captains", the building was refurbished and renamed.
October 23, 2002 at 21:15 armed men in camouflage broke into the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka. At that time, the musical "Nord-Ost" was going on in the shopping center. The terrorists declared all people - spectators and theater workers - hostages and began to mine the building.
As the investigating authorities later found out, 916 people were captured. Of these, about 100 children of school age.
The invaders gave the people present in the hall the opportunity to call their loved ones on mobile phones, after which communication with all those who called was interrupted.
IN 22 hours it became known that the theater building was seized by a detachment of Chechen fighters led by Movsar Baraev. Among the terrorists were women, all of them were hung with explosives.
Reinforced police units, OMON and SOBR officers, as well as the leadership of the capital's police department, began to gather at the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka.
Two armored personnel carriers in the Theater Center on Dubrovka.
At night, a young woman entered the building of the Theater Center without hindrance (later it turned out that it was Olga Romanova). The militants decided that she was an FSB agent and shot her.
Late at night, the terrorists released about 15 children, several actors of the musical "Nord-Ost" managed to escape. One of the released hostages said that the counter-terrorist operation of the federal troops in Chechnya.
October 24 the first attempt was made to establish contact with the terrorists: at 00.42 Deputy of the State Duma from Chechnya Aslambek Aslakhanov entered the building of the center. He said that he discussed the possibility of negotiating and offered himself as a negotiator with representatives of a number of law enforcement agencies. Around the same time, several hostages managed to get in touch with TV channels and asked not to storm the building, because the terrorists were hung with explosives and were ready to blow up everything around at any moment, in addition, they threatened to kill 10 hostages for each militant killed.
According to law enforcement agencies, by the morning of October 24, the terrorists.
IN 08.20
it became known that Aslakhanov had a telephone conversation with the head of the terrorists, Movsar Baraev, but this conversation did not lead to any results.
After attempts by the secret services to establish contact with the militants, State Duma deputy Iosif Kobzon, British journalist Mark Franchetti and two Red Cross doctors entered the center. Soon they took a woman and three children out of the building. IN 19 hours The Qatari TV channel Al-Jazeera showed the appeal of the head of the militants, Movsar Baraev, recorded a few days before the seizure of the shopping center: the terrorists declared themselves suicide bombers and demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya. From 7 pm until midnight, unsuccessful attempts continued to persuade the militants to accept food and water for the hostages.
the 25th of October at one o'clock in the morning The terrorists allowed Leonid Roshal, head of the Emergency Surgery and Trauma Department of the Center for Disaster Medicine, into the building. He brought medicines to the hostages and provided them with first aid.
In the morning, a spontaneous rally arose near the cordon next to the shopping center. Relatives and friends of the hostages demanded that all the demands of the terrorists be met.
IN 15 hours 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 released all the hostages. WITH 20 hours to 21 hours an attempt to establish contact with the militants was 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.
During the day, the terrorists released several people, including eight children.
October 26 at 5:30 Three explosions and several automatic bursts were heard near the shopping center building. At about 6 o'clock, the special forces began an assault, during which nerve gas was used. IN 6.30 In the morning, the official representative of the FSB reported that the Theater Center was under the control of special services, Movsar Baraev and most of the terrorists had been destroyed. At the same time, dozens of emergency vehicles and ambulances, as well as buses, drove up to the shopping center building. Rescuers and doctors took the hostages out of the building, they were taken to hospitals. IN 7 hours 25 minutes Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Sergei Yastrzhembsky officially announced that the operation to free the hostages had been completed.
Near 8 am Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Vasilyev announced the first results of the operation: 36 terrorists, including female suicide bombers, were killed, more than 750 hostages were released, and 67 people were killed.
On the same day, the FSB of Russia reported that the number of neutralized terrorists in the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka alone amounted to 50 people - 18 women and 32 men. Three terrorists were detained.
Moscow's prosecutor Mikhail Avdyukov subsequently stated that 40 terrorists had been killed in total.
October 28, 2002 was declared a day of mourning in the Russian Federation for the victims of the terrorist action.
October 31, 2002 Colonel Vladimir Eremin, Deputy Head of the Institute of Criminalistics of the FSB of Russia, said that there were 30 explosive devices, 16 F-1 grenades and 89 improvised hand grenades from the Theater Center on Dubrovka. The total TNT equivalent of explosives was about 110-120 kilograms.
November 7, 2002 The Moscow prosecutor's office published a list of citizens who died both during their release from the Theater Center and subsequently in hospitals. This one: 120 Russians and 8 citizens from countries near and far abroad. Five hostages were shot dead by the terrorists.
Later, the number of dead hostages rose to 130 people.
Among the dead were two artists from the children's troupe of the theater, eight musicians of the orchestra, in total more than twenty people who worked at Nord-Ost.
December 30, 2002 Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on awarding the Order of Courage to Iosif Kobzon and Leonid Roshal for their courage and selflessness in rescuing people in life-threatening conditions.
October 23, 2003 in front of the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka "In memory of the victims of terrorism".
IN April 2011 was in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack in the theater center on Dubrovka on Melnikova Street in Moscow. The white-stone church complex, 32 meters high, will include a tented church building for 570 people, crowned with nine golden domes, and a clergy house to accommodate a Sunday school and other needs. The construction of the temple should be completed in 2012.
In connection with the hostage taking October 23, 2002 a criminal case was initiated under Part 3 of Article 30 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Part 3 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and Part 3 of Article 206 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (attempted terrorism and hostage-taking). As part of the investigation, Shamil Basayev, Zelimkhan Yandarbiev and Akhmed Zakayev were charged in absentia with organizing the terrorist attack. IN June 2003 The Moscow prosecutor's office, in accordance with the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, terminated cases against the invaders in connection with their death.
IN April 2004 The Moscow City Court sentenced the brothers Alikhan and Akhyad Mezhievs, as well as Aslan Murdalov and Khanpasha Sobraliev to 15 to 22 years in prison. They were found guilty of blowing up a car at a McDonald's in the south-west of Moscow, as well as aiding terrorism and taking hostages in Nord-Ost. Aslanbek Khaskhanov was also found guilty of complicity in the hostage-taking. In July 2006, the Moscow City Court sentenced him to 22 years in prison.
IN June 2007 the investigation into the criminal case initiated on October 23, 2002 by the Moscow Prosecutor's Office on the fact of hostage-taking in the theater center on Dubrovka, which was repeatedly extended, was suspended due to the failure to establish the whereabouts of Zakayev and other persons subject to criminal liability, the search for which was entrusted to the department of criminal wanted by the Moscow police department.
IN February 2011 lawyer Igor Trunov, who represents the interests of a number of victims in the case of the terrorist attack in the Theater Center on Dubrovka, said that the prosecutor's office of criminal prosecution had given instructions to resume the investigation.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
On October 23, 2002, a group of militants took hostage the audience of the musical Nord-Ost and employees of the Moscow Theater Center on Dubrovka. In total, more than 900 people, including children, were captured by the terrorists. It was one of the largest terrorist attacks in Russian history. The militants held people hostage from 23 to 26 October.
Why "Nord-Ost"?
The militants needed a compact room where many people gather at the same time. As "options" were also the Moscow State Variety Theater and the Moscow Palace of Youth. The choice fell on the Theater Center on Dubrovka, because there are many seats in the auditorium and relatively few utility rooms.
How did the militants manage to take so many people hostage?
The attack had been prepared since the beginning of 2002. Explosives and weapons were delivered to Moscow from Chechnya. There were about 40 people in the terrorist group, and half were female suicide bombers, writes RIA Novosti.
At 21.15 armed men in camouflage broke into the theater building, where there were 916 people. The terrorists declared people hostages and mined the building.
After the tragedy, Interfax journalist Olga Chernyak, who was taken hostage, is already in the hospital:
We sat and watched the play. It was the beginning of the second act, according to the plot, guys in military uniform were dancing. And for no reason, some people in camouflage jumped onto the stage. At first we thought it was part of the plot.
Woman, violence.
How did the terrorists treat the hostages?
The hostages were humiliated. The orchestra pit was equipped with an open "public toilet". People were sleeping in armchairs, a bright light was constantly burning in the hall, there was not enough food and water.
Late at night, after the seizure of the Theater Center, the terrorists released 15 children. The militants shot two people who entered the building in the morning.
The negotiations were conducted by public figures, doctors, journalists, politicians. During these negotiations, the terrorists released several dozen hostages.
What did the terrorists want?
On October 24, the Al-Jazeera TV channel showed an address by the head of the militants, Movsar Barayev: in it, the terrorists declared themselves suicide bombers and demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya.
How were people released?
The militants behaved aggressively, the negotiations did not lead to anything. Several people in the building of the Center died at the hands of militants.
On October 26, the special services launched an assault. They used nerve gas: there was a possibility that after the start of the assault, the militants could blow up the existing devices, and then both the attackers and the hostages would have died.
“The assault was necessary. Everyone was just waiting for this. And they hoped so. We spent three terrible nights and two days. We guessed that there would be an assault when the gas went off, and we were very happy about it. Then I don’t remember anything, because consciousness came to me only in intensive care ... ”- said Olga Chernyak.
The head of the militants and most of the terrorists were killed, the hostages were released. According to official figures, the tragedy claimed the lives of 130 hostages.
Meduza writes that, according to various sources, from 130 to 174 people died, with 119 in hospitals after their release.
A group of militants took hostage the audience of the musical "Nord-Ost" and employees of the theater. After almost three days, the building was stormed, as a result of which the terrorists were destroyed, and the surviving hostages were released. The attack killed 130 hostages.
According to the published investigative data, practical steps to prepare the terrorist attack have been underway since the beginning of 2002. The final decision to carry out a major terrorist attack in Moscow with the capture of a large number of hostages was taken at a meeting of Chechen field commanders in the summer of 2002.
The actual preparation of the terrorist act began in early October 2002, when explosives and weapons were delivered from Chechnya to Moscow in the trunks of cars. Then, within a month, militants 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 female suicide bombers. Initially, three objects were considered as a possible terrorist attack site, which implied the compact presence of a large number of citizens - the Moscow State Variety Theater, the Moscow Youth Palace and the Theater Center on Dubrovka. 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 utility rooms that would need to be searched and then controlled.
It was an ordinary concert hall, pop concerts, theatrical performances, etc. were held here. In 2001, for the needs of the creators of the musical "Nord-Ost" based on the novel by Veniamin Kaverin "Two Captains", the building was refurbished and renamed.
On October 23, 2002, at 21:15, armed men in camouflage uniforms burst into the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka, arriving in three minibuses. At that time, the musical "Nord-Ost" was going on in the shopping center. There were 916 people in the building - spectators, actors, theater employees, as well as students of the Irish dance school "Iridan".
The terrorists declared all people - spectators and theater workers - hostages and began to mine the building.
The bombs were laid along the walls at a distance of five meters from each other, and metal cylinders were placed in the center of the hall and on the balcony. Inside each is a 152-mm artillery high-explosive fragmentation projectile. The internal cavity between the projectile and the wall of the cylinder was filled with submunitions. Female terrorists are located in a checkerboard pattern at opposite walls. They closed the hall in sectors of 30 degrees. The filling of the shahid belt is two kilograms of plastic explosives and another kilogram of metal balls.
In the middle of the hall, in the stalls, a car cylinder with explosives was installed, a suicide bomber was constantly on duty next to it. Such an improvised explosive device was also installed on the balcony. The planned explosions were supposed to go towards each other, destroying all life. For this, a central control panel was made.
Some of the hostages were allowed to call their relatives, to inform about the capture and that for each killed or wounded militant, the terrorists would shoot 10 people.
At 10 p.m., it became known that the shopping center building had been seized by a detachment of Chechen militants led by Movsar Baraev. Reinforced police units, riot police, special forces and internal troops began to converge on the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka.
In the first hours after the capture, part of the actors and employees of the theater center, located in the office, managed to escape from the building through the windows and emergency exits.
Late at night the terrorists released 15 children.
On October 24 at 5.30 a young woman entered the building of the Theater Center (later it turned out that it was Olga Romanova, a saleswoman of a perfume shop located next door), and at 8.15 Lieutenant Colonel Konstantin Vasilyev entered the building of the Theater Center. Both of them were shot by militants.
The first attempt to establish contact with the terrorists was made on October 24: at 00.15, State Duma deputy from Chechnya Aslambek Aslakhanov entered the center building. After that, from October 24 to the early morning of October 26, the militants were quite active in negotiations, in which some Russian politicians (Iosif Kobzon, Grigory Yavlinsky, Irina Khakamada) took part, as well as public figures (doctors Leonid Roshal and Anwar El-Said), journalists (Anna Politkovskaya, Sergei Govorukhin, Mark Franchetti, as well as the film crew of the NTV channel), head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Yevgeny Primakov, ex-president of Ingushetia Ruslan Aushev, singer Alla Pugacheva. During these negotiations, the terrorists released several dozen hostages.
October 28, 2002 was declared a day of mourning in the Russian Federation for the victims of the terrorist action.
On October 31, 2002, Colonel Vladimir Eremin, deputy head of the Institute of Criminalistics of the FSB of Russia, reported that explosives experts seized a total of 30 explosive devices, 16 F-1 grenades and 89 improvised hand grenades from the Theater Center on Dubrovka. A common TNT equivalent of explosives in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack at the theater center on Dubrovka on Melnikova Street in Moscow.
On October 23, 2002, a criminal case was initiated in connection with the hostage-taking. As part of the investigation, Shamil Basayev, Zelimkhan Yandarbiev and Akhmed Zakayev were charged in absentia with organizing the terrorist attack. In June 2003, the Moscow prosecutor's office terminated the cases against the invaders in connection with their death.
In April 2004, the Moscow City Court sentenced the brothers Alikhan and Akhyad Mezhiyev, as well as Aslan Murdalov and Khanpasha Sobraliev, to 15 to 22 years in prison. They were found guilty of blowing up a car at a McDonald's in the south-west of Moscow, as well as aiding terrorism and taking hostages in Nord-Ost. Aslanbek Khaskhanov was also found guilty of complicity in the hostage-taking. In July 2006, the Moscow City Court sentenced him to 22 years in prison.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
Fifteen years ago, on October 23, 2002, at 9:15 pm, armed men in camouflage uniforms burst into the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka, arriving in three minibuses. 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 audience, the theater staff and students of the Iridan Irish dance school were in the building. As a result of the terrorist action, according to official figures, 130 people were killed (according to the data of the public organization Nord-Ost - 174 people).
“The terrorist went up on stage and fired a burst of machine gun fire”
A crowd of people on the square in front of the Palace of Culture, seized by terrorists on Wednesday evening. October 24th. 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 went up to the stage and, in order to attract the attention of people, fired an automatic burst, ”recalls Svetlana Gubareva.
“Most of the artists who were not busy at the beginning of the second act managed to get down from the windows in bound costumes,” 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 conditions. The building of the Palace of Culture of the Moscow Bearing State Plant, where the Theater Center was located, was mined.
The remaining hostages were given sandwiches and juices from the buffet. “One small bottle of water dispersed along the rows, 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 out seven, but the guy from Alpha was injured”
The press secretary of the musical "Nord-Ost" Elena Shmeleva near the Palace of Culture. Specialists from the FSB and the police arrived at the scene. October 24th. TASS
“We thought about when we would be rescued and what we could do to help it. 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 transfer this data to the will, ”recalls an Interfax employee Olga Chernyak.
The phones were confiscated from the hostages, but sometimes they were handed out and allowed to make calls. “We had to call on relatives to go to rallies “against the war in Chechnya.” In fact, it was the best way to hide information about who and from what phone the terrorists called for instructions, ”says Alexey Kozhevnikov.
The FSB officers obtained the phone numbers of the hostages from relatives. “Suddenly a man appears. We caught him: "Who are you?" - "Watchman" ... And he showed how he got out, - says Ilya, FSB officer. - I look at the scheme and call one of the hostages, Anechka. I say that there is an opportunity to leave. She said that there were nine people next to her. And I led them by phone - to the right, to the left, straight ahead. They brought out seven. And already when the last one was leaving, one of the terrorists saw a shadow from the roof and fired an automatic burst. And the guy from Alpha, who was covering the hostages, was wounded.”
“This thing is enough for three such buildings”
The militants placed bombs along the walls of the auditorium, and in the center and on the balcony they placed metal cylinders containing 152-millimeter high-explosive fragmentation artillery shells and submunitions. Women-shahids are located in a checkerboard pattern.
The most powerful explosive device was in the stalls. “I didn’t like this bomb very much ... I kept looking askance at her, and the Chechen woman who was sitting next to the bomb asked me:“ Are you afraid of her? Don't be afraid. Don't think you'll get more out of her than anyone else. This thing is enough for three such buildings,” says Svetlana Gubareva.
“Periodically, the terrorists walked back and forth. Nearby were bombs, suicide bombers. I remember constant fear. I remember what my mother used to say when I was a child: when you are afraid, you should 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. They just sat and waited, the usual state is some kind of numbness, and attacks of fear, when your legs just go numb, or suddenly there is hope for salvation, and now you all start to act ..., - recalls one of the survivors. - One man really went crazy - he suddenly jumped up and ran along the backs of the chairs, threw an empty Coke bottle at the terrorist. They shot at him several times, but they hit not him, but the quietly sitting spectators.
“Jokes were poisoning, 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 down. -<…>I, too, have recounted my entire life."
According to Olga Chernyak, the children themselves supported the adults: “Adults periodically had a panic. The children comforted their relatives.”
“Next to me sat two of our musicians from the orchestra - wife Sasha and husband Zhenya. He has a Ukrainian passport, she has a Russian one,” says Georgy Vasiliev. – Ukrainians were considered foreigners and they promised to let them go. And Sasha kept pushing her husband out to give him his passport... But he didn't move: be quiet, I won't go anywhere without you. Zhenya eventually died.
"Immediately release the woman who was sitting next to me"
State Duma Deputy Iosif Kobzon led a woman, three children and a British citizen out of the building of the Theater Center. October 24th. TASS
Attempts by politicians and public figures to establish contact with the militants began on the night of October 24th. In particular, Iosif Kobzon, British journalist Mark Franchetti and two employees of the Red Cross visited there in the morning. They brought out a woman, three children and a British citizen.
“They brought me three girls. And then one buried herself in me: “There is a mother,” says Iosif 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. - Never mind! Swollen, pale, her eyes red, 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 medicines and provided first aid to the victims.
Former hostages tell of 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 sharply with the militants, and she was simply shot.
"Mom, everything will be fine!"
People who came to the building seized by terrorists offer themselves in exchange for hostages. October 24th. TASS
Relatives and friends of the hostages in desperation insisted on fulfilling the demands of the terrorists, offering themselves in exchange for hostages, standing for days at the captured Theater Center or waiting for news at the headquarters organized in the opposite building.
“I lived in anticipation of Machine calls - every three hours she managed to say a few words to me, she kept repeating: “Mom, everything will be fine!” - recalls Tatyana Lukashova, mother of the deceased Masha Panova. The cell phone was then our greatest asset. And imagine, it was stolen from one mother, pulled out of her pocket.
People caught every grain 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 the building, they were immediately shown live. As a result, plans for the release of the hostages had to be changed.
"We didn't know where the main button was"
