Svetlana Gubareva's 'Nord-Ost' Resources Site
On October 23rd, 2002, at approximately 9 PM, an organized group of armed terrorists took about 800 men, women, and children hostage at of the Dubrovka Theater, located on Melnikov St., Moscow.
The Chechens held these people hostage until October 26th, 2002, when the Russian police and military carried out a controversial operation. They used a secret gas to storm the theater, and during the course of this operation 129 hostages perished from the gas.
My daughter, Alexandra, and my fiance, Sandy Booker, were among them. The Russian government conducted inquiries into the operation, as did certain US and other foreign agencies. Lawsuits by survivors or their next of kin were also filed. Most, however, were dismissed out of hand.
Some information has come to light because of these suits and inquiries - information concerning inappropriate and often irresponsible actions by some of the Russian leadership and their subordinates. Most of this data have been kept from the media.
This site is for serious students of 'Nord-Ost', as the hostage crisis is known in Russia. It is continuously being added to, and some of the links listed below are but rough translations of original Russian documents. I hope to update and improve these as time permits.
Thank you for your interest and patience,
Svetlana Nikolaevna Gubareva
Karaganda, Kazakhstan
Articles, interviews, reports, hearings, speeches, letters and news releases relating to 'Nord-Ost':
2002
10.23.2002 (Radio Mayak) A hostage’s conversation with the rescue service2003
10.25.2002 (Moscow News) The unusual adventures of Italians in Russia
10.25.2002 (Komsomolskaya Pravda and Moskovsky Komsomolets) Calls from inside the theater
10.25.2002 (Echo of Moscow) Hostage Maria Shkolnikova live on Radio 'Echo of Moscow'
10.25.2002 (Utro.ru) A phone call from a hostage
10.25.2002 (Komsomolskaya Pravda) Terrorist interviews
10.26.2002 (Moskovskaya Pravda) Other communications from inside the theater
10.27.2002 (Izvestiya/Skandaly.ru) Journalist eyewitnesses tell about the events
10.27.2002 (Kommersant.ru) Gas attack kills 90 hostages
10.29.2002 (USA Today) U.S. studied sleep gas as crowd-control tool
10.30.2002 Chechen president's envoy detained in Denmark
10.31.2002 (Toronto Now) Killer clouds
10.31.2002 (Caucasus Reporting Service) (Anna Politkovskaya): My Hours Inside The Moscow Theatre
11.2002 (HRO.org) The Actions of the Authorities
11.01.2002 (The Young Far Easterner) Hostage Irina Hiarrell describes what happened
11.01.2002 (NY Times) A family destroyed before it began
11.02.2002 (Moskovsky Komsomolets) Doctor Roshal tells about the events
11.02.2002 (Rossiyskaya Gazeta) Hostage Galina Delyatitskaya tells about the events
11.02.2002 (Almaty newspaper) Hostage Hostage Vladimir Kovalenko tells about the events
11.04.2002 (Newsru.com) Relatives of hostages found their loved ones shot
11.04.2002 (Moskovsky Komsomolets) Police captain A. Logurev tells about the events
11.05.2002 (Komsomolskaya Pravda) Various articles from Komsomolskaya Pravda, November 5th, 2002
11.06.2002 (Komsomolskaya Pravda) Hostage L. Abramova tells about the events
11.10.2002 (Philharmonic) Hostage Alexandra Chaplygina tells about the events
11.12.2002 (Zaslavsky News) Hostage G. Vasilev tells about the events
11.14.2002 (Anna Politkovskaya ) Hostage I. Lysak tells about the events
11.21.2002 (Molodezh Severa) Hostage G. Mozhegova tells about the events
11.22.2002 ('SPS' party hearings) What was it? Hostage rescue or terrorist destruction?
11.22.2002 (MXG Chronicles) Nord-Ost Aftertaste
11.26.2002 (Federal Post.ru) Truth and untruth about how they saved hostages in the hospital
11.30.2002 (Moskovsky Komsomolets) Hostage L. Lokshina recalls the events
12.23.2002 (Sueddeutsche Zeitung) Genealogy of Chechen Terrorism
12.26.2002 Hostage A. Stahl tells about the events
01.20.2003 (Zalozhniki.ru) Statement of Larisa Frolova to the court2004
01.21.2003 (Vadim Gasanov) Story of a Dead Girl
02.01.2003 (Kontinent, issue #166) Mark Rozovsky, father of a hostage, tells about the events
03.2003 (Federation of American Scientists) Beware the Siren’s Song: Why “Non-Lethal” Incapacitating Chemical Agents are Lethal
03.05.2003 (Grecheskaya Gazeta) Hostages Rozovskaya, Savtsov, and Zabolotny tell about the events
04.07.2003 (Novaya Gazeta) 'Nord-Ost': Is the song and dance over?
04.17.2003 (Novaya Gazeta) 'Nord-Ost' is over - Life goes on!
05.01.2003 (Chechnya Weekly) Mysterious figure implicated in Russian theater tragedy
05.08.2003 Role of Chechen hostage takers remains a mystery
05.30.2003 (Komsomolskaya Pravda) Belarusian hostages Zolina and Tkachuk tell about the events
06.11.2003 (UN Human Rights Committee) Concluding observations: Russian Federation
06.13.2003 (E. Turkistan E-letter) Court dismisses lawsuits
09.15.2003 (Novaya Gazeta) "I must punish all of you"
09.29.2003 (Respublika News of Lithuania) Hostage Dubina tells about the events
10.22.2003 (Noviy Vestnik) A Karagandan at 'Nord-Ost' - 1 year later
10.22.2003 (Weekly Journal) Stebenkova, Kravtsev, and others tell about the events
10.22.2003 (Izvestiya) An FSB participant tells about the events
10.22.2003 (Izvestiya) An Emergency Ministries employee tells about the events
10.23.2003 (sobesednik.ru) "These were strange terrorists"
10.24.2003 (Moskovsky Komsomolets) Hostages Suhareva and Ignatovskaya tell about the events
10.24.2003 (Russian HRO) ...Upholding the right to life during the course of the special operation in the theatrical center on Dubrovka
10.25.2003 (Alexander Rochlin) 'Nord-Ost', a year later
10.26.2003 (Weekly Journal) Ambulance medic Konstantin et al tell about the events
10.27.2003 (Russian Journal) Hostages Novikova, Klenin, and Golub tell about the events
10.31.2003 (Times SPB.ru) FBI Dubrovka Probe
10.31.2003 (Radio 'Freedom') Interview
11.05.2003 (Noviy Vestnik) A Karaganda resident is questioned by the FBI
11.20.2003 (Russian Forward) Interview
11.19.2003 (rusnet.nl) U.S. Investigates Moscow Theater Siege, Seeking Qaeda
12.01.2003 (Novaya Gazeta) Why did she shoot him?
12.16.2003 (Nordostjustice.org) 'Nord-Ost' mastermind dies in road crash
12.18.2003 (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) October 2002 Moscow Hostage-taking Incident (Part I)
01.08.2004 (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) October 2002 Moscow Hostage-taking Incident (Part II)2005
01.12.2004 (Letter) Appeal to presidential candidates
01.13.2004 (Moscow Times) Families Appeal to Presidential Hopefuls
01.15.2004 (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) October 2002 Moscow Hostage-taking Incident (Part III)
03.16.2004 (Affidavit) My description of the seizure of 'Nord-Ost'
05.21.2004 (Agentura) He who cannot be named
06.23.2004 (Noviy Vestnik) Back from America
07.14.2004 (Letter) To the president of Kazakhstan
08.19.2004 (Noviy Vestnik) Unanswered questions about the terror act
09.01.2004 (Noviy Vestnik) Calculation
09.14.2004 (Centrasia) Kazakhstan 'Nord-Ost' hostage continues lawsuit
10.01.2004 (UCS e-news) Gas pipelines everywhere, but life in the East is cheap
10.21.2004 (Novaya Gazeta) Two Years ago, October 23rd, Terrorists seized 'Nord-Ost'
10.22.2004 (Moscow News) Not Stockholm syndrome
11.15.2004 (Novaya Gazeta) There was no order to save
11.18.2004 (Novaya Gazeta) Where did the 12 terrorists go?
11.24.2004 (Noviy Vestnik) Breakthrough
12.06.2004 (Novaya Gazeta) The urgency of justice
12.20.2004 (Letter) To the foreign minister of Belgium
01.06.2005 (Russian Bazaar) We are the inconsolable mothers2006
01.15.2005 (BBC Broadcast) 'The Moscow Theatre Siege'
02.15.2005 (Letter) ‘Nord-Ost’ organization’s appeal to the Russian parliament
03.16.2005 (Novaya Gazeta) The gas would not have stopped an explosion
03.16.2005 (Letter) Complaint against the Moscow attorney general
03.23.2005 (Noviy Vestnik) Bloody calculation
04.01.2005 (Okna) A hostage from Snezhinsk tells her story
04.18.2005 (Novaya Gazeta) (Police witness in court:) "I don't want to talk to you."
04.25.2005 (Statement) Address to the court
04.26.2005 (Kommersant) 'Nord-Ost' flounders in papers
04.28.2005 (Novaya Gazeta) The judge can postpone anything
05.04.2005 (Statement) Address to the court
05.05.2005 (Radio Echo of Moscow) Interview
05.18.2005 (Noviy Vestnik) They want to hide the reason for the peoples' deaths
05.06.2005 (Kommersant) No one is guilty of the deaths of the hostages
09.05.2005 (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) Former 'Nord-Ost' hostages seek cooperation with Beslan mothers
09.22.2005 (Novaya Gazeta) Modern-day Rasputin preys on terrorist victims in Russia
10.23.2005 (Press Release) Candle of memory
10.23.2005 (Radio Echo of Moscow) Interview
10.24.2005 (Letter) Oleg Zhirov’s appeal to the president of Russia
10.25.2005 (Grani.ru) Letter to President Putin from the 'Nord-Ost' survivors, and petition
10.26.2005 (Noviy Vestnik) We all need the truth
10.26.2005 (Zalozhniki.ru) Press conference on the 3rd anniversary of 'Nord-Ost'
10.26.2005 (Nord-Ost Justice) 'Nord-Ost', three years later
10.27.2005 (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) Moscow theater victims' group requests new investigation
11.05.2005 (Izvestiya) My dream - international hearings on 'Nord-Ost'
11.09.2005 (Noviy Vestnik) Impotence after the acts of terror
01.19.2006 Oleg Zhirov's letter to the European Court of Human Rights2007
02.10.2006 (Grani.ru) 'Nord-Ost' organization charges Leonid Roshal with obstructing justice
02.19.2006 Vladimir Kurbatov's statement
04.26.2006 (Pravdabeslana.ru)“NORD-OST” INVESTIGATION UNFINISHED…
05.15.2006 (Radio Freedom) Presentation of the book 'Nord-Ost: Investigation Incomplete'
May 2006 (Pryamaya Rech) Condemned not to be heard
09.14.2006 (Times online) The buried truth
09.18.2006 (Nord-Ost.org) A play about Dubrovka in London
10.19.2006 (Novaya Gazeta) When the theater becomes a war zone
10.23.2006 (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) Lawsuit being readied over theater hostage incident
10.26.2006 (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) Moscow Theater Hostage Taking Remembered
10.27.2006 (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) Russia: Nord-Ost Anniversary Recalls Ascent Of Female Suicide Bomber
10.30.2006 (Novaya Gazeta) An anesthesiologist on the gas used to release the hostages at Nord-Ost
11.30.2006 (www.newswe.com) What will WE allow THEM to do tomorrow?
12.20.2006 (Noviy Vestnik) "I wished to attract attention to the tragedy"
12.20-27.2006 (Premier Vologda Weekly) (Boris Grebenshchikov): "After 'Nord-Ost' I ceased to be a citizen"
01.04.2007 (Radio Echo of Moscow) The capture of hostages – how to negotiate with terrorists
01.18.2007 (Noviy Region) Victims of terror attacks join the Russian presidential election campaigns
01.31.2007 (Radio Echo of Moscow) Moscow Pravda’s editor in chief Shod Mulajanov and his special opinion
02.25.2007 (Liga News Ukraine) A book about ‘Nord-Ost’ is unveiled in St. Petersburg
02.26.2007 (Lenizdat.ru) Families of those who died at Dubrovka show terror films
02.27.2007 (Gazeta) How much an act of terror costs
03.21.2007 (Noviy Vestnik) "People simply can't forget such a thing"
03.27.2007 (Chechenpress) (Mikhail Trepashkin:) I betrayed the Motherland?
03.28.2007 (Russian Magazine, Voronezh) Films on terrorism shown in Voronezh
03.28.2007 (Kasparov.ru) 'Nashi' organization tries to break up a meeting dedicated to the tragedy at 'Nord-Ost'
04.13.2007 (RIA Novosti) Strasbourg court accepts complaint from victims of the terror act at Dubrovka
04.18.2007 (Novaya Gazeta) Terror victims appeal to the Russian government
04.19.2007 (News.ru) 'Nord-Ost' organization demands a new criminal case
04.19.2007 (Radio Echo of Moscow) The government must answer questions about the 'Nord-Ost' case at the European Court in Strasbourg
04.19.2007 (Novaya Gazeta) Hostages of a principle
04.19.2007 (RFG news release) RFG Cinema plans to make movie about the tragedy at 'Nord-Ost'
04.24.2007 My letter to the European Court of Human Rights
05.10.2007 (Radio Echo of Moscow) “Memorial” – a book about those who died at Dubrovka
05.14.2007 (Political News of Siberia) Website dedicated to victims of Nord-Ost was made by a Barnaul web designer
05.21.2007 (Live Journal) Terror in Moscow, a documentary on the seizure of hostages in the Moscow theater by Chechen terrorists
06.01.2007 (RBC.ru) 12 persons who carried out the Dubrovka terror act escaped
06.01.2007 (Radio Echo of Moscow News) Suspension of the investigation into the 2002 Dubrovka theatrical center hostage case
06.01.2007 (Radio Echo of Moscow) Russian prosecutor general suspends investigation of the terror act at the Dubrovka theatrical center
06.02.2007 (Kommersant) Nord-Lost
06.04.2007 (Novaya Gazeta) Stop at Dubrovka
06.07.2007 (Novaya Gazeta) 'Nord-Ost': unpublished details about the terror act
06.07.2007 (Novaya Gazeta) Why did she shoot?
06.14.2007 (Lenta.ru) Lawyer connects the “werewolves in epaulets case” with the investigation into 'Nord-Ost'
06.15.2007 (Russian Chemical Review) A matter for the chemists
07.08.2007 (Radio Svoboda News) Nord-Ost organizaton demands charges
07.11.2007 (Radio Svoboda) Prosecutor General and “Citizen President” get a reminder about ‘Nord-Ost’
07.11.2007 (Grani.ru) Dubrovka versus the Lyubyanka
07.12.2007 (Kommersant) The Prosecutor General is reminded about ‘Nord-Ost’
07.12.2007 (KM.ru) The next black PR technology
07.13.2007 (MZ.ru) Sasha Letyago's memorials
07.13.2007 (MZ.ru) "At the very bottom was a 13-year-old girl"
07.15.2007 (The Sunday Times) Russia sent siege negotiator to Arctic jail
07.16.2007 (Noviy Vestnik) Sasha's Memorial
CORONER'S REPORTS:
Alexander S. Karpov
Alexandra N. Letyago
Grigori M. Burban
Sandy A. Booker
Other articles related to terrorism in Russia:
(My own research) Acts of Terror in Russia
(David A. Koplow, Georgetown Jour. of Int. Law, Spring/2005): Lethal and non-lethal weapons in recent confrontations
04.13.2004 (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) Chechen field commander claims responsibility for attack on Ingush president
04.19.2004 (Novaya Gazeta) Nine-month-old girls are declared martyrs
04.29.2004 (Novaya Gazeta) "An infliction of harm due to carelessness"
06.03.2004 (Novaya Gazeta) "It was very simple - bombing on a peaceful day"
12.10.2004 (Grani.ru) The beginnings of the Chechen war
07.18.2005 (Novaya Gazeta) Colonel Savelyev's Exploit
02.02.2006 (Novaya Gazeta) How Russia storms houses
02.16.2006 (Novaya Gazeta) The court got tired
06.30.2006 (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) Radical field commander named Chechen vice president
07.11.2006 (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) Basayev's death creates fateful choice for Russian leadership
08.30.2006 (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) Russia: A Timeline Of Terrorism Since 1995
09.02.2006 (Beslan Mothers website) A Mother's Confession
09.12.2006 (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) The Kremlin's war on terror
10.10.2006 (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) Russia: Where's Putin?
10.12.2006 (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) Anna Politkovskaya Remembered
11.16.2006 (Novaya Gazeta) (Anna Politkovskaya) "An independent creative unit"
01.01.2007 (Lenta.ru): Those who left
01.13.2007 (Nagatina's blog): The fourth airplane
01.16.2007 (George J. Bryjak): The feminization of suicide bombing
01.19.2007 (Nord-Ost.org news): Russia continues to live, awaiting the next explosion
01.31.2007 (Time of Freedom): The threat of terrorism is to Russia's leaders' advantage
02.13.2007 (kasparov.ru): Patrushev, the FSB, and NAK saved Russia from 300 terror attacks
03.07.2007 (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) Chechen resistance commander says slain pro-Moscow leader was FSB stooge
04.26.2007 (Lenta.ru) Prosecutor General of Russia loses in case brought by Beslan victims
05.03.2007 (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) NORTH OSSETIAN SUPREME COURT OVERRULES BESLAN RULING
05.04.2007 (Moscow Times) Beslan Mothers Stay In Court All Night
05.04.2007 (Novaya Gazeta) A book about Anna Politkovskaya is published
05.09.2007 (Komsomolskaya Pravda) Was an act of terror being prepared for May 9th?
05.10.2007 (Novaya Gazeta) Quiet. Russia is listening.
05.10.2007 (Human Rights Organization in Russia) In defense of Karinna Moskalenko
05.10.2007 (Ezhdnevny Zhurnal) Save our souls
05.12.2007 (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Bioterrorism and your brain
05.30.2007 (Lenta.ru) Beslan policemen granted amnesty
06.19.2007 (Radio Echo of Moscow) Police knew about a terror act being prepared against the Beslan school
06.26.2007 (Radio Echo of Moscow) Victims of the Beslan terror act have filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights
07.04.2007 (Kommersant) Beslan makes it to Europe
07.16.2007 (News @ Mail.ru) Law will require Russian citizens “not to tell tales out of school”
07.27.2007 (Gazeta.ru) “The hole in the wall is not from that explosion”
08.03.2007 (Osetian Radio and TV) The Investigation is over - Forget about it!
International Reports on Russia:
US Report on Human Rights in Russia, 2003
US Report on Human Rights in Russia, 2003-4
US Report on Human Rights in Russia, 2004
US Report on Human Rights in Russia, 2004-5
US Russian Country Report on Terrorism
In Memoriam:
Alexey Aleksandrov
Alexander Alyakin
Elena Anisimova
Elena Anisimova
Sergey Baranovski and Andrei Nikishin
Lyudmila Bogacheva
Sandy Alan Booker
Valery Bondarenko
Grigori Markovich Burban 1, 2
Danila Chernetsov
Dmitry Chernykh
Irina Elmuradova
Yaroslav Fadeyev
Igor Finogenov
Dasha Frolova
Arkady Gerasimov
Zhanna Goncharenko
Alexey Grishin
Lyubov Ivanova
Olga Ivanova
Alexander Karpov
Timur Khaziyev 1, 2
Fyodor Khramtsov (Hramtsov) 1,2
Svetlana Kirichenko
Anatoly Kiselev
Anton Kobozev
Yevgeny Kochat
Arseny Kurilenko
Colonel Vladimir Korablev
Natalya Korableva
Christine Kourbatova (Kristina Kurbatova)
Dmitry Lavrov
Irina Lavrova
Alexandra Letyago
Colonel Konstantin Litvinov
Natasha Malenko
Viktor Martynov
Vadim Medvedev
Maxim Albertovich Mikhailov
Nina Milovidova
Maxim Mitin 1, 2
Alexey Mitrofanov
Aleksey Molofeev
Igor Morev
Anna Oftayeva
Darya Olkhovnikova
Maria Panova
Denis Panteleev
Lena Polyakova
Dmitry Puzikov
Dmitry Rodionov
Olga Romanova
Svetlana Rozgon
Alexandra Ryabova
Sergey Savelev
Sergey Senchenko
Yuri Sidorenko
Alexander Simakov
Denis Simonov
Evgenia Skoptsova
Maxim Soprunov
Alexander Starkov
Elizaveta Starkova
Yulia Taguzayeva
German Tkach
Alexander Tolmachev
Yevgenia Usvaliyeva
Lieutenant Colonel Konstantin Vasilev 1, 2
Gennady Vlakh
Tamara Voinova
Alexander Volkov
Pavel Zakharov
Yuri Zhabotinsky
Vladimir Zhulev
