Chechnya

Massacre in Moscow

Anger and suspicion were mounting in Moscow last night as it emerged that most of the hostages who died in an operation to end a three-day siege in a theatre might have been killed by sleeping gas pumped in to incapacitate their Chechen captors.

After initial relief at official claims that just 10 to 20 of the 800 hostages were killed in an assault by Russian special forces, the mood changed as the figure rose. By nightfall, it was clear that at least 90 hostages were dead - several of them with respiratory problems in hospital - along with nearly all of the 50 Chechen terrorists who seized the theatre on Wednesday. The two British hostages still held, a mother and son, were safe, however.

The elite Alpha special service unit assaulted the building after sleeping gas had been pumped through the ventilation system. Many of the Chechen fighters, some of them women with explosives strapped to their waists, were rendered completely unconscious or unable to resist - and unable to carry out their threat to blow up the building, along with the hostages.

While casualties were heavy, many Russians had expected a general massacre which few would survive. But questions multiplied as a fuller picture emerged. It appeared not only that most of the hostage- takers had been shot while unconscious, but that few of the captives were killed by gunfire or explosions. Doctors at the City Hospital, where more than 320 of the hostages were taken, said none had gunshot wounds, Russian television reported. The internal security service, the FSB, disclosed it had used a specially developed gas in the operation, but refused to say what it was.

The authorities were seeking to dispel speculation that many had been asphyxiated. According to hostages, they realised they were becoming sleepy and confused, but no one reported seeing a vapour cloud, smelling a chemical or experiencing the sort of irritating symptoms associated with tear gas. Footage aired on independent television in Georgia showed doctors reputedly from hospitals in Moscow saying the hostages who died were poisoned by the gas. They described the gas as a neuro-paralysing agent, that disables the nervous system.

In a television address, President Vladimir Putin said: "We could not save everyone. Please forgive us."

In the hours after the siege, haggard relatives gathered around the gates of hospitals, desperate to find out the names of those alive. The body of the terrorists' leader, the notorious Movsar Barayev, was shown on television with a brandy bottle near his outstretched hand. A federal security service official later said that the well-armed raiders had foreign links and contacts with unspecified embassies in Moscow.

The Russian authorities presented the end of the siege as a triumph for President Putin, who had refused to negotiate with the terrorists. The end came after the Chechen rebels shot dead two people and wounded two others who tried to escape from the theatre.

The shootings took place between 5am and 5.15am, according to Vladimir Vasilyev, the deputy Interior Minister. Fearing this was the start of the systematic executions of hostages threatened by the Chechens, the Alpha unit and the Interior Ministry's Vityez battalion, a total force of 300, immediately began a carefully prepared assault.

Over the previous two days, they had carried out a detailed reconnaissance, planting video cameras and listening devices in the ceiling of the theatre. They also looked for ventilation shafts, windows and entry points which the Chechens had failed to guard. As the sleeping gas was pumped into the ventilation system, Alpha troops smashed through the glass doors at the front of the building. Television footage showed the troops kicking in the doors and opening fire, the thunder of their weapons setting off car alarm shrieks in the parking lot. The hostages were brought out, some of them in the arms of special forces, and most were loaded unconscious into city buses.

From video cameras inside the theatre, the troops had known the positions of many of the gunmen, who were asleep along with hundreds of hostages. The troops immediately shot dead veiled Chechen women who had explosives strapped to them. Sounds of fighting went on for over an hour, with shots and the occasional crash of grenades as the troops swept through the maze-like complex. Those in charge had feared that the 800 hostages and 300 assault troops might all be killed if the Chechens were able to detonate the drums of explosives they had planted.

The authorities said that in addition to the Chechen fighters inside they had seized a number of people with mobile phones outside the theatre whom they believed were Chechen spies. Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov said later that about 30 accomplices of the gunmen were arrested in the Moscow area.

Further reports, pages 2 and 3; Phillip Knightley, page 29

© 2002 Independent Newspapers UK Limited