Explosion, Gunfire Heard From Moscow Theater Where 600 Hostages Being Held by Chechen Rebels

abcnews.com ^ | October 25, 2002 | AP

[Destro]

October 25, 2002

Explosion, Gunfire Heard From Moscow Theater Where 600 Hostages Being Held by Chechen Rebels

The Associated Press

M O S C O W, Oct. 25 — Chechen rebels threatened to begin killing their 600 hostages in a Moscow theater at dawn Saturday, but later promised to free the captives if Russian President Vladimir Putin declared an end to the war in Chechnya and began withdrawing troops.

A few hours after the demands became known, an explosion and gunshots were heard from the theater early Saturday but an AP photographer with a view of the building's entrance saw no signs of a blast. There was no official comment, and earlier most journalists were moved away from the theater.

[FootBall]

Although I do find it interesting that the NY Times is blaming the cops for not being suspicious about the two Black men, they are bitching that the cops stopped them 3 times and let them go each time!!

1st Mistake.....Putting out Pictures of White Vans because they don't have a clue.

2nd Mistake.....Its a shame that these guys were stopped several times during spree and let go.

[MarMema]

Thanks. I was pretty sure they were going to stay with negotiations as long as possible. I already had read that one Russian man asked "Is this going to be another Buddenovsk?" in something I read earlier on.

I also had read at about 2-3 am that morning, Russian time, that there was a general, I thought, who was scheduled to talk to the terrorists, but I read 11 am.

Hard thing on Lenta.ru, I can never find the stuff I read 4-6 hours ago, later on when I want to see it again.

[Travis McGee]

I hope that the tangos got no info on troop disposition by wataching TV.

In the USA, CNN would broadcast every move the HRT made toward the building.

[LaBelleDameSansMerci]

"...The Russian people are so amazing to me....

A huge bump to this sentiment. What they have endured over the past 300 years--and, in enduring, enriched the culture of the human race--is unfathomable.

[MarMema]

the problem is these same peaceful Muslims keep very quiet when it comes to condemning the radical groups in their religion

Except in Russia, apparently, where ten or more large muslim groups were quoted in public statements on Lenta.ru yesterday. "We strongly condemn this action, which is not islam" etc, etc. I was very surprised to find it and posted about it here. Also much said about the buddhist monks in Russia who apparently went all out in some kind of special thing praying for the hostages.

[MarMema]

So I am still confused this morning. Were there 67 hostages killed or did that number, 67, include the terrorists killed?

[MarMema]

enriched the culture of the human race

And for this simple fact I am deeply in debt to them.

[Travis McGee]

MY SWAG is that the Russians were creeping around on the roof drilling holes to pump in gas, then setting up tanks and manifolds etc.

The smaller rooms containing the terrorists (and terrorist females) were most likely pumped VERY full of gas, very fast, and that killed most in those rooms, terrorists and hostages.

Most of the survivors were probably in the main auditorium, where oxygen levels stayed up high eough to support life until they were rescued.

That's my guess.

[LaBelleDameSansMerci]

Sixty-seven hostages dead in the Moscow theater crisis,
official says
NATIONAL » :: Oct 26, 2002 Posted: 14:01 Moscow time (10:01 GMT)

MOSCOW - Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir
Vasilyev said Saturday that 67 of the hostages in
the Moscow theater crisis were killed. Vasilyev
made the statement several hours after special
forces stormed the theater. He said that more
than 750 hostages had been saved.

He said that 34 of the hostage-takers had been killed and he confirmed that a
special gas had been used to knock out everyone in the theater and allow the rescue
operation to proceed. No children were among the dead, Vasilyev said.

News reports said that President Valdimir Putin had gone to one of the Moscow
hospitals to which the hundreds of freed hostages were taken by bus and
ambulance. /The Associated Press/

[MarMema]

headline on Lenta.ru -

Putin, "We could not rescue them all, forgive us"

[LaBelleDameSansMerci]

No mau-mauing---for today anyway. We'll see tomorrow.


U.S. Ambassador praises Russian handling of hostage crisis
NATIONAL » :: Oct 26, 2002 Posted: 16:21 Moscow time (12:21 GMT)

MOSCOW - U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow
on Saturday congratulated the Russian
authorities for their handling of the hostage crisis
at a Moscow theater and praised them for limiting
the loss of life. "We are relieved the hostage
crisis has come to an end," the ambassador told journalists outside embassy. "We
congratulate the Russian authorities for their success in limiting the loss of innocent
life."

Russian special forces stormed the theater where Chechen gunmen were holding
hundreds of hostages before dawn Saturday, killing their leader and dozens of other
gunmen and freeing more than 700 captives. Sixty-seven hostages died in the crisis,
a top official said. No foreigners were among the hostages who were killed during the
crisis, which began Wednesday night, Russian news agencies reported, citing
diplomats at foreign missions in Moscow.

Vershbow said there were four Americans among the hostages, three citizens and a
green card holder. "As far as the American hostages are concerned, we sent consular
officials to all the hospitals where the hostages were taken," Vershbow said. "We are
in the process of establishing their welfare and whereabouts and providing for them
to receive medical care at the U.S. Embassy if they wish."

He said American security officials, including the FBI, did not take part in the
operation to free the hostages, but said they had consulted with the Russian forces
throughout the crisis. "This hostage taking was clearly a terrorist act," Vershbow said.
"The United States condemns terrorism in the strongest possible terms wherever it
occurs. There can be no justification for kidnapping and killing innocent civilians," he
said. /The Associated Press/

[LaBelleDameSansMerci]

Oh wait. The Germans are doing the dirty work today:


German government says political solution urgent in
Chechnya
NATIONAL » :: Oct 26, 2002 Posted: 19:06 Moscow time (15:06 GMT)

BERLIN - The German government on Saturday
expressed relief over the ending of the hostage
crisis at a Moscow theater, and the country's
foreign minister said a "political solution" to the
war in Chechnya was more urgent than ever.

"The hostage-taking in Moscow once again shows that terrorism is justified by
nothing and that the threat it poses to our societies cannot be accepted," Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder said in a statement after Russian special forces stormed the
theater.

More than 700 captives were freed, but Russian authorities said 67 hostages died in
the crisis, which began Wednesday. Among those freed were two Germans, who were
receiving treatment in a Moscow hospital, according to the Foreign Ministry in Berlin.

Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said the German government was "dismayed that,
once again, many innocent people have become the victims of international
terrorism."

"The (German) government has long pushed for a peaceful solution to the conflict in
Chechnya," he added in a statement. "A political solution is needed more urgently
than ever." /The Associated Press/

[LaBelleDameSansMerci]

Foreigners freed in Moscow hostage crisis with no fatalities
NATIONAL » :: Oct 26, 2002 Posted: 18:04 Moscow time (14:04 GMT)

MOSCOW - The hostage-taking crisis at a Moscow
theater ended Saturday with scores of captives
killed, but the death toll included none of the 67
foreigners who were watching a musical when
gunmen took the audience captive. Special forces
stormed the theater before dawn Saturday, killing their leader and dozens of other
gunmen and freeing more than 700 captives.

Sixty-seven hostages died in the crisis, Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Vasilyev
said. He said there were no children among the dead, and diplomats based in
Moscow said none of the approximately 75 foreigners was killed. U.S. Ambassador
Alexander Vershbow said there were four Americans - three citizens and one
green-card holder, or permanent resident - in the audience when the Chechen
gunmen raided the theater during Wednesday night's performance of the musical
Nord-Ost.

He said he regretted the loss of life, but praised Russia's handling of the crisis. "We
congratulate the Russian authorities for the completion of the operations and for
their success in limiting the loss of innocent life," Vershbow said at a news briefing.
"As far as the American hostages are concerned, we sent consular official to all the
hospitals where hostages were taken," he said. "We are in the process of
establishing their welfare and whereabouts and providing for them to receive medical
care at the U.S. Embassy if they wish."

He did not name the Americans. Two British hostages were among those freed, and
were safe, the British Foreign Office said in London. They were identified in the British
media as Richard Low, a 20-year-old Oxford University student, and his mother
Sidica Low. Low's father, Richard, was released by the hostage-takers on Thursday
after apparently falling ill.

The foreign hostages also included Dutch, Australians, Canadians, Austrians and
Germans as well as citizens of the former Soviet republics of Belarus, Ukraine,
Azerbaijan and Latvia. An Israeli woman concealed her citizenship from the captors
out of fear for her life. Valeria Lisyanskaya, 45, has been living in Israel for 10
years, the Interfax news agency reported. She was visiting her father and had gone
to the theater with Russian friends. The Israeli Embassy lost contact with her and was
seeking her whereabouts on Saturday.

Out of fear, Lisyanskaya hid her identity and had not been included in lists of foreign
hostages until the crisis ended, Interfax said. Two German hostages were being
treated in a Moscow hospital Saturday, and were reported in stable condition, a
Foreign Ministry spokesman in Berlin said. He did not identify them, citing privacy
concerns.

Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel said on Saturday that the Austrian hostage,
Russian-born Emilia Predowa-Usunow, was in good health. Russian Foreign Ministry
spokesman Boris Malakhov told the ITAR-Tass news agency that none of the foreign
hostages freed Saturday had been hurt, but that all of them had been taken to
various hospitals for medical checkups. /The Associated Press/

Hot Topics:
Hostage Crisis »

[LaBelleDameSansMerci]

Barn-door/horse thingie. The US and Russia are resembling each other more and more:


Measures for providing anti-terrorist security determined
NATIONAL » :: Oct 26, 2002 Posted: 15:33 Moscow time (11:33 GMT)

A number of measures for further providing
anti-terrorist security in Moscow and the Moscow
region was determined, Interior Minister Boris
Gryzlov reported after meeting with Russian
President Vladimir Putin.

Among the priority measures are preserving the special regime of service of
law-enforcement authorities, thorough examination of all deserted areas, buildings
and military bases, special regime of guarding the metro, high-rise buildings,
storages of dangerous substances, schools, hospitals, and airports.

It is necessary to pay special attention to checkouts at highways, and to the
evacuating of vehicles left near schools, hospitals, apartment buildings, and
buildings of public administration. Law-enforcement authorities were assigned to
guard over 300 storages of weapons and ammunition, and 1,500 outlets of
production and storage of explosives, in a special regime, the press service of the
Interior Ministry reported. /RosBusinessConsulting/

[Destro]

The Russians have killed more Muslims than the reverse.

[LaBelleDameSansMerci]

Next time---get a nuke. Madeline Albright will dance and clap and sing for you. Maybe even shake her bootie:





North Korea condemns Chechen gunmen
NATIONAL » :: Oct 26, 2002 Posted: 14:23 Moscow time (10:23 GMT)

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea on Saturday
harshly criticized Chechen gunmen who had held
hostages in a theater in Moscow. "The dastardly
terrorism committed by Chechen rebels is bitterly
condemned by the Korean people and other
peace-loving people of the world," said the communist North's state-run news
agency, KCNA.

North Korea disavows all forms of terrorism, KCNA said, repeating the country's public
stance. The U.S. State Department labels North Korea an international sponsor of
terrorism. Washington is also mustering international pressure on North Korea to
abandon its nuclear and other weapons programs.

KCNA said the United States' "hard-line" foreign policy undermined the authority of
the United Nations and was pushing separatists in Chechenya to "reckless terrorism."
On Saturday, Russian special forces stormed the theater where the Chechens were
holding about 700 hostages, killing their leader and dozens of other gunmen and
freeing the captives. Sixty-seven hostages died in the crisis. /The Associated Press/

[Destro]

all terrorists accounted for.

[nicmarlo]

Per your request re: an updated media e-mail list, this is the best I could come up with, for print, radio, and television media. Obviously, I didn't include many that others might want to have. But I think it's a good start, IMHO:

media@sycophants.com,speaker@aim.org,conedit@ajc.com,letters@baltsun.com,letterstoeditor@bostonherald.com,opinion@charlotte.com,news@cleveland.com,letterstoeditor@dallasnews.com,letters@denverpost.com,business@det-freepress.com,letters@examiner.com,letter@globe.com,news@globe.com,HeraldEd@herald.com,letters@latimes.com,Inquirer.Opinion@phillynews.com,DailyNews.Opinion@phillynews.com,letters@post-gazette.com,editor.reuters@reuters.com,editpage@seattle-pi.com,opinion@seatimes.com,letters@sjmercury.com,politics@startribune.com,letters@suntimes.com,letters@time.com,letters@uniontrib.com,editor@usatoday.com,letter.editor@edit.wsj.com,Letterstoed@washpost.com,Letters@washpost.com,pat@theamericancause.org,cato@free-market.net,drudge@drudgereport.com,letter@globe.com,hq@lp.org,morning@npr.org,totn@npr.org,nsight@wt.infi.net,cbnonline@cbn.org,evening@cbsnews.com,cnn.onair@cnn.com,ConnieChungTonight@CNN.com,crossfire@cnn.com,feedback@cnn.com,late.edition@cnn.com,InsidePolitics@CNN.com,NewsNight@cnn.com,Reliable@CNN.com,TalkBack@CNN.com,comments@foxnews.com,hannity@foxnews.com,oreilly@foxnews.com,special@foxnews.com,Dateline@nbc.com,dateline@news.nbc.com,hardball@cnbc.com,imus@msnbc.com,letters@msnbc.com,MTP@nbc.com,nightly@news.nbc.com,Nightly@nbc.com,opinion@msnbc.com,ReutersNews@msnbc.com,TheNews@msnbc.com,today@news.nbc.com,today@nbc.com

I have posted the following notes regarding problems/conditions with other media sites (and those sites previously provided have now been excluded from the above list so that at least you will not get the same "refusal" messages. That's not to say that you won't get any, lol:

abc news, good morning america, etc.:
abc provides no email address. You must use their form to submit any emails.

viewer@c-span.org
They don't accept mass mailing. Here's an excerpt of their response: "There was a problem with your message. It appeared to be "bulk mail" instead of viewer comments regarding C-SPAN programming."

letters@newsday.com:
They won't read or print emails unless your personal info. was supplied. Here's an excerpt of their response: " . . .Please note that only letters that include the writer's full name, postal mailing address, and day and nighttime telephone numbers will be read and considered for publication. . . ."

letters@nytimes.com, nytnews@nytimes.com
They do not accept/consider mass mailings. Here's their response, in part:
". . . Letters should be no longer than 150 words and may be shortened to fit allotted space. They must be exclusive to The Times and refer to an article that has appeared within the last seven days. Letters must include the writer's address and daytime and evening phone numbers (not for publication).

viewpoints@chron.com
Viewpoints will not publish letters unless personal info. is supplied. Here's their response, also in part:
". . . To be considered for publication, letters must include the writer's name, full address, and daytime phone number for verification only. . . . All letters are subject to editing."

letters@newsweek.com
Will not accept mass e-mails or letters to multiple addresses. Again, another excerpt:
"When you write, please include the DATE and TITLE of the article your letter refers to in the subject-heading of your message. E-mail messages that do not address material printed in a recent issue of Newsweek are rarely considered for publication. WE CANNOT OPEN E-MAIL ATTACHMENTS of any kind, and will not consider press releases, mass e-mails or letters sent to multiple addresses."

[LaBelleDameSansMerci]

Yes folks, irony really is dead:

U.S. Issues Hand-Washing Guidelines

By DANIEL Q. HANEY
AP Medical Editor

October 26, 2002, 1:16 PM EDT

CHICAGO -- The government issued guidelines Friday urging doctors
and nurses to abandon the ritual of washing their hands with soap
and water between patients and instead rub on fast-drying alcohol
gels to kill more germs.

The goal: reduce the hospital spread of viruses and bacteria that
infect an estimated 2 million people in the United States each year
and kill about 90,000.

Many hospitals, anticipating the new guidelines from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, have already made the change,
and studies show this can cut their infection rates in half.

Soap and water have been the standard for generations. But
washing up properly between each patient can take a full minute and
is often skipped to save time, especially in busy intensive care units
where the risk of spreading germs is greatest.

While the alcohol-based gels and solutions kill more microbes, the
main advantage is they are easier to use. With vials clipped to their uniforms, nurses can quickly swish
their hands while on the move without stopping at a sink. The CDC estimates this saves an hour in an
eight-hour intensive care shift.

"We've learned that using alcohol-based products improves adherence to hand hygiene," said Dr.
Julie Gerberding, the CDC's director. "We will end up with more people doing the right thing and
cleaning their hands."

She released the guidelines in Chicago at a meeting of the Infectious Disease Society of America.

The solutions are intended only to kill germs, not remove visible dirt. So hospital workers are still
expected to wash up if they get messy hands. Also, surgeons have the choice of using the gels or
sticking with antimicrobial soap.

Many brands of the solutions are available in grocery stores. They vary in how they look, feel and
smell. But all contain 60 percent to 90 percent ethanol or isopropanol, and they are considered
equally effective at killing germs.

The new guidelines apply only to hospitals and clinics, where there are many particularly nasty
microbes, along with sick people who are susceptible to catching them.

At home, where such dangerous bugs are far less common, experts say ordinary soap and water are
probably all people routinely need. But the alcohol gels can make sense in situations where water is
not be easily available, such as at picnics, in portable toilets or on airplanes.

Hospital workers are instructed to clean up between each patient, before they put on gloves, after
they take them off, when inserting catheters or when doing anything else that involves contact with
body fluids.

Besides giving individual containers of gel to their staff, hospitals put dispensers at patients'
bedsides, in clinics and wherever sick people are seen.

The alcohol dries in seconds without a towel and is so easy to use that "it is almost indefensible now
not to clean your hands. People can't say they are too busy anymore," said Dr. David Gilbert of
Providence Portland Medical Center in Portland, Ore., president of the Infectious Disease Society.

Using the gels involves squirting a dime-size dollop on one palm, then rubbing the hands together,
covering all the surfaces, until the hands are dry.

Typically, people carry between 10,000 and 10 million bacteria on each hand. The medical profession
has long known this is one way disease is transmitted. Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis pioneered the field in
Austria in 1846, when he speculated that doctors spread "cadaverous particles" when they delivered
babies after doing autopsies. He insisted that students clean their hands with chlorine.

Introduction of the alcohol gels "is the biggest revolution in hand hygiene since Semmelweis," said
Elaine Larson, associate dean for research at Columbia School of Nursing. "We used to say `hand
washing.' Now it's hand hygiene."

* __

[LaBelleDameSansMerci]

Relatives Wait for Hostage Reunion

By SARAH KARUSH
Associated Press Writer

October 26, 2002, 1:49 PM EDT

MOSCOW -- After spending three long nights outside the besieged
theater, relatives of hostages freed Saturday moved their vigil to the
gates of a nearby hospital, where they stood patiently in freezing
rain waiting to finally embrace loved ones.

Only one former hostage was seen leaving City Hospital No. 13 into
the arms of waiting relatives. Other families were told they would
have to wait at least until Sunday, and many had no information
about their relatives' condition.

Despite the frustration, the people gathered outside the hospital said
their overriding emotion was relief because they had been notified
their loved ones were at the hospital -- and not among the scores of
hostages killed.

"I'm smiling because today is a joyous day," said Viktor Teryokhin,
waiting for stepdaughter Darya Kokoshko, 20.

For some, however, the joy was mixed with painful uncertainty.

Tatyana Chernyak said she knew her daughter Olga, 27, was inside. "But we can't find her
husband," she said. "We need to find that boy."

Oleg Abramov said his wife had called from the hospital to say she was there, but he didn't know her
condition.

During the siege, Larisa Abramova and other hostages had managed at times to make cell phone
calls to their families -- brief, hushed conversations that gave outsiders some picture of their ordeal.

Abramova, 41, a theater employee who handled props for the popular musical "Nord-Ost," ducked
into a dark, windowless room backstage when she heard gunshots during Wednesday night's
performance. As far as her husband knows, she remained there undiscovered until the end.

"She called when she thought no one was near, when there were no footsteps," Abramov said.

He said the last time she called she wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to stay in the
room: It had become difficult to breathe and she had no food and little water.

Olga Chernyak, a hostage who is a reporter for the Interfax news agency, also got a call out
immediately -- to her office -- when gunmen burst onto the stage at the beginning of the second act
and announced that everyone in the building was a prisoner. She continued to call in updates until
her cell phone battery died.

Hours after the theater was stormed by Russian commandos, a steady stream of ambulances
continued to drive through the guarded gates of Hospital No. 13, which admitted 349 former
hostages, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. Several other hospitals took smaller numbers.

Previous patients at Hospital No. 13 were asked to leave if they could. Clutching plastic bags with
their belongings, the mostly elderly patients shuffled out into the rain, some wearing slippers.

Before hospital officials announced that no hostages would be discharged at least until Sunday,
Olga Dolotova, 32, came through the gates. With the hood of her red jacket framing her tear-smeared
face, she hugged her parents and hurried with them down the sidewalk.

Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press