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24 Oct 2002 02:30
Despair, anger after Chechens seize Moscow theatre

By Clara Ferreira-Marques

MOSCOW, Oct 24 (Reuters) - There was an ugly, despairing, angry mood on the streets of Moscow on Thursday as the grim drama of distant Chechnya thrust itself back into the homes of ordinary Muscovites with frightening suddenness.

For months, people in the capital have heard Kremlin assurances that the security situation in the far-off rebel province where so many Russian lives have been lost was gradually being brought under control.

Chechens shattered that myth on Wednesday night, storming into a packed theatre in the heart of the capital and taking hundreds of theatre-goers hostage as they enjoyed a bit of escapist fantasy in the form of a spectacular new musical.

Several hours after the drama began, scores of people, from teenagers to the elderly, stood in cold, relentless rain keeping vigil outside the theatre where their kinfolk were trapped.

"I'm cold, wet and scared," said Julia Kushner, in her 20s, whose mother and brother had failed to show up among scores of people being released in batches by the rebels.

Kushner was one of hundreds who were herded back by police from the precincts of the theatre as Russian special forces moved in, backed by armoured personnel carriers.

Swaddled in a black hooded coat, rainwater dripping down her face, she said her mother and brother called twice on someone else's mobile phone: "Then suddenly I heard nothing more."

The last time Chechnya seemed so close to most Muscovites was in the summer of 1999 when over 160 died as mysterious blasts brought down two entire apartment blocks in the city.

The Kremlin blamed the Chechens, despite denials by rebel leaders, and launched a second war on the mainly Muslim region, three years after a humiliating defeat in the 1994-96 conflict.

TURNING TO PUTIN

A moustachioed man in his 50s who gave his name as Alexander vented his anger at Vladimir Putin, whose hard line on Chechnya as prime minister in 1999 helped catapult him to the presidency.

"I wish that Putin, instead of dealing with sports matters, would restore order in the centre of Moscow," Alexander said, referring to the 50-year-old president's regular exhortations to Muscovites to concentrate on their physical fitness.

Every time senior officials, appeared a ripple of expectancy ran through the scores waiting for news of their loved ones.

One woman who thrust aside television camera stands to rush up to one official broke down in tears when she found the person she was looking for was not on a list of those freed.

The crowds derived some comfort from reports that those inside were not being mistreated by their captors, though the knowledge that the rebel gang had explosives spread alarm.

Nerves were at breaking point.

One grandfather shouted out at a police officer: "Is this going to be a second Budennovsk?" In 1995, 120 died when Chechens raided a hospital in the southern Russian town.

"When are you going to get these bastards out of Moscow?"

Chechens, who fought bitter mountain wars in the 19th century against the armies of the tsars, have long been viewed with a mixture of fear and mistrust by many Russians.

A man close to tears told Reuters: "My friend's wife is trapped inside. She said there are about 700 people trapped inside." That corresponded with the police estimate although the exact number remained unclear. The theatre seats about 1,000.

A distraught woman in her 60s said her daughter and two grand-daughters were at the show on a school trip: "My daughter managed to speak to me on the phone, literally three words. Then they took their phones away. I just don't know what happened."

Another woman struggled to get through a police cordon: "Let me through. Let me through. My children are inside."