At 22.57 MSK, the group of 20/30 terrorists entered the Palace of Culture theatre in Melnikov Street, South-East Moscow, which was showing the first Russian-produced musical, Nord-Ost, and started placing explosives around the perimeter of the building, according to eye-witnesses inside the theatre who were using their cellular phones. The terrorists then told the children and Moslems in the audience that they were free to go (these numbering around 150 people) and demanded an end to the war in Chechnya. They claim that if the police storm the building, they will detonate the explosives and for every one of their number killed, they will execute ten hostages.
Movladi Udugov, ideological leader of the Chechen terrorists, has claimed responsibility for this attack in an interview broadcast on Radio Echo.
The stalls hold around 700 people and the director of the theatre has stated that the total number in the audience is probably around 1,000, which would indicate around 850 still held by the terrorists, believed to be the kamikaze 29th Division led by the Chechen warlord, Arbi Baraev. Outside the theatre, teams of special forces have cordoned off the area.
In 1996, Russian forces abandoned Chechnya after a disastrous war which had lasted two years. They re-entered the republic in 1999 after Chechen terrorists invaded bordering territories and set off a series of attacks in Russia which killed at least 300 people.
THURSDAY - THE LATEST FROM PRAVDA
The latest information as of 12:45 p.m. Moscow time
Defense technology could be seen in the streets of Moscow. This is the first time people can see military vehicles in Moscow in years. Armored vehicles appeared in the streets of the Russian capital right after operation “Groza” (“Thunder”) was announced. This operation takes place in case of hostage-taking. A “hostage,” as police see it, is a human being, whose hostage-takers talk to the authorities about his or her release (not to any relatives). Operation Gorza started, when the military personnel arrived at the site of the terrorist act. Traffic was blocked on the neighboring streets. Specially trained negotiators arrived to establish a contact with the terrorists. The road police examines all cars that come into Moscow and leave it. The people of Southern looks are stopped in the streets of Moscow. Everybody is looking forward to an end, and on one is willing to negotiate yet. Moscow residents treat all those measures with understanding. They realize that those measures are vital for the time being. It has just been reported that Moscow state buildings have been provided with more security. Special military units were deployed on strategic objects of the Russian capital. The production of petroleum products has been temporarily suspended at the Moscow refinery in the town of Kopotnya.
Article comments
1 - John Tobin
You may want to include what the Russians are saying about this. Check out http://english.pravda.ru/
Moscow: Chechen terrorists take theatre
Chechen kamikaze squad take theatre with 1,000 hostages in Moscow
A group of between 20 and 30 kamikaze Chechen terrorists stormed a packed Moscow theatre tonight, threatening to blow the building up unless their demands are met. It is feared that due to the fact that their demands are unrealistic, they will prefer to become martyrs, rather than prisoners. ....
2 - Eric Olsen
Excellent John, thanks. You kind of figured the Russians wouldn't hesitate to characterize the situation as such.
3 - Tom
So do the Russkies continue to oppose us on Iraq, or do we team up and get to work on removing this blight once and for all? And when we're done with the filthy French, we can go after the Islamofacists
4 - Michael Levy
The headline over at The Guardian is "Muslim Peace Activists Detain Russian Theatergoers in Mass Protest"
Okay, I made that up. But it's almost believable.
5 - RC
Why such an increase in activity (Bali, Moscow, Phillippines) when it would appear such terrorist activity would bring more allies to our side? These nutjobs need a course in game theory or marketing or something.
One thing though. Were any of us calling the Chechens 'terrorists' prior to 9/11? Probably not. I think most American right/left-wingers thought the Moscow apartment bombings were some sort of Russian conspiracy to allow Putin to re-invade Chechnya.
Actually, considering this country's isolationist bent at the time, most of us probably didn't really care.
6 - pj
It does cause me to rethink my view of Russian's war in Chechnya, particularly the second war. If I were the Russians, I'd pump the theater full of carbon monoxide, which is odorless and invisible, then drag out the hostages and try to revive them with oxygen. The "mining" activity described in news reports might make that impossible though, because you'd have to move very quickly after everyone passed out to save the hostages.
7 - David Gillies
I certainly thought of the Chechen separatists as terrorists long before 9/11. As far as I'm concerned we should give Russia a free hand to deal with the problem in as brutal a fashion as they see fit.
8 - Thomas Dent
Does anyone here know any Chechen/Russian history? Does it make no difference at all that Russia/USSR has treated the people there like shit since the Russian invasion and conquest of the land a century and a half ago? In this case, as in the case of Ireland post potato famine, "root causes" demonstrably exist and have little to do with religious fanaticism.
If you have a little time to read history, try
http://www.newsbee.net/moscow/chhistory.html
in which you will find the elegant solution of Stalin to the "Islamic fundamentalists" of his day (i.e. Muslims who resisted his authority): deport the whole population hundreds of miles away. Compared to the Russian war in 1995, that was pretty humane.
9 - Eric Olsen
Everyone has legitimate grievances - what counts most is how you deal with them.