20: Nord-Ost Siege

20 Years Ago (October 23-26, 2002) The Dubrovka Theater Siege (also known as The Nord-Ost Siege) or Теракт на Дубровке  in Russian happened in Moscow, Russia.

(Russian Special Forces storm the Dubrovka Theater during the 2002 Moscow Hostage Crisis.)

40 Chechens took over the theater in the middle of a performance because they wanted Russia to end the Second Chechen War (1999-2009) and took 900 people hostage.

The Terrorists said they had no grudge against Foreign Nationals (about 75 in number from 14 countries, including Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States) and promised to release anyone who showed a Foreign Passport.

On the First Day of the Siege (October 23^rd) the Terrorist released 150 to 200 people, including Children, Pregnant Women, Muslims, some Foreign-born theater-goers and people requiring medical treatment in the early hours after they attacked. Two Russian Women managed to escape on their own (one of them was injured while escaping.)

On the Second Day of the Siege (October 24^th) 50 Hostages were released.

On the Third Day of the Siege (October 25^th) 75 Foreign Citizens in the presence of Diplomatic Representatives of their Countries and 15 Russian Citizens were released, including eight Children (aged 7 to 13).

On the Fourth Day of the Siege (October 26^th) Russian Spetsnaz Special Forces and Russian Internal Ministry Troops stormed the Theater in the morning.

All 40 Chechen Terrorists were shot dead when they were unconscious from the poison gas -  by the Russian Spetsnaz Special Forces and Russian Internal Ministry Troops.

130 Hostages were killed during the Siege (121 Russians, 1 American, 3 Ukrainians, 1 Belarussian, 1 Dutch, 1 Kazakh, 1 Azeri and 1 Armenian) most by the Unknown Gas used by the Russians.

700 surviving Hostages were poisoned by the gas, and some of them received injuries leading to Disabilities of the Second and Third Class (by the Russian/ex-Soviet Disability Classification System; indicate Medium- and Maximum-Severity Debilitation). Several Russian Special Forces Operatives were also poisoned by the gas during the operation.

The Russian Government refused to tell the Victims’ Families who was dead and who was alive, which Hospitals they were in or which Gas was used (which would have saved hundreds of people after the Siege ended.)

By October 28th, of the 646 former hostages who remained hospitalized, 150 were still in Intensive Care and 45 were in Critical Condition.

The Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, said that "the operation was carried out brilliantly by special forces."

Russian President Vladimir Putin defended the scale and violence of the assault in a televised address later on the morning of October 26^th, stating that the Government had "achieved the near impossible, saving hundreds... of people.”

The poison gas used by the Russians to end the Siege (and which killed and wounded hundreds of innocent people) was only determined to be a mixture of Carfentanil and Remifentanyl in 2011.

Side Note: I went to Russia in December 2002-January 2003. On my way home in January 2003 -  going from Yaroslavl to Moscow my Friend, Jenya, and my then-Fiancée, Veronika, got tickets to see the Musical “Chicago” in Russian. There was a long line outside the Theater and you had to take your Coats off outside (in the cold and snow) then go through tightened security inside where they asked you questions – only in Russian. Other than that the show was the same as before the Siege.