Editing Moscow theater hostage crisis

{{Short description|2002 terrorist attack and hostage crisis in Moscow}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2014}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| title             = 2002 Nord-Ost siege
| image             = Moscow Siege, 2002.jpg
| image_size        = 260px
| caption           = Russian [[Spetsnaz|special forces]] storm the Dubrovka Theater during the 2002 Moscow hostage crisis.
| place             = [[Moscow]], Russia
| partof            = the [[Second Chechen War]], [[Terrorism in Russia]] and [[Islamic terrorism in Europe]]
| coordinates       = {{Coord|55|43|32.5|N|37|40|24.5|E|region:RU-MOW|display=inline,title}}
| motive            = Withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya
| result            = Crisis ended 
* Numerous civilian casualties caused by narcotic gas pumped in by Russian security forces
| combatant1        = {{flagicon image|Flag of Russia.svg|22px}} [[Russia]]
* [[File:Spetsnaz emblem.svg|22px]] [[Spetsnaz GRU]]
* [[File:Patch of the SOBR.svg|22px]] [[SOBR]]
* {{flagicon image|Flag of the Russian Federal Security Service.svg}} [[Federal Security Service|FSB]]
| combatant2        ={{flagicon image|Flag of Caucasian Emirate.svg}} [[Riyad-us Saliheen Brigade of Martyrs]]                    
| date              = 23–26 October 2002<br>(4 days)
| time              = 
| timezone          = 
| commander1        = {{flagicon image|Flag of Russia.svg|22px}} [[Vladimir Putin]]
| commander2        = {{flagicon image|Flag of Caucasian Emirate.svg}} [[Movsar Barayev]]{{KIA}} (leader)<br> {{flagicon image|Flag of Caucasian Emirate.svg}} [[Abu Bakar (Caucasian Emirate)|Abu Bakar]]{{KIA}}<br>(deputy leader)<br> {{flagicon image|Flag of Caucasian Emirate.svg}} [[Shamil Basayev]] (claimed responsibility)
| strength1          = {{flagicon image|Flag of Russia.svg|22px}} Unknown number of [[Militsiya]] personnel, [[Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs|MVD]] [[Internal Troops of Russia|Internal Troops]], and [[spetsnaz]] operators from a variety of agencies
| strength2          = {{flagicon image|Flag of Caucasian Emirate.svg}} 40–50 militants
| casualties1       = {{flagicon image|Flag of Russia.svg|22px}} 2 injured
| casualties2       = {{flagicon image|Flag of Caucasian Emirate.svg}} 40 killed
| casualties3       = 132 hostages killed, over 700 injured
| conflict          = Moscow theater hostage crisis
}}
{{Campaignbox Russia terrorism}}
{{Campaignbox First Chechen War and Second Chechen War}}

The '''Moscow theater hostage crisis''', also known as the '''2002 Nord-Ost siege''', was the seizure of the crowded Dubrovka Theater in [[Moscow]] by [[Chechen people|Chechen]] terrorists on 23 October 2002, resulting in the taking of 912 hostages. The attackers, led by [[Movsar Barayev]], claimed allegiance to the [[Chechen Republic of Ichkeria|Islamist separatist movement in Chechnya]].<ref name = "apoverview">{{cite web |first =Eric |last =Engleman |title=Chechen Warlord Claims Hostage Siege|url=https://apnews.com/article/609142b7f72909ce9a7549feee3a37fd|date=1 November 2002|website=AP News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423191507/https://apnews.com/article/609142b7f72909ce9a7549feee3a37fd|archive-date=23 April 2023}}</ref> They demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from [[Chechnya]] and an end to the [[Second Chechen War]]. The crisis was resolved when Russian security services released [[Moscow hostage crisis chemical agent|sleeping gas]] into the building, and subsequently stormed it, killing all 40 hostage takers. 132 hostages died, largely due to the effects of the gas.<ref name="Satter">{{cite book |title=It Was a Long Time Ago, and It Never Happened Anyway: Russia and the Communist Past |author-link=David Satter |first=David |last=Satter |publisher=Yale University Press |date=13 December 2011 |page=303 |isbn=978-0300111453 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2365383.stm|title=Gas 'killed Moscow hostages'|date=27 October 2002|via=news.bbc.co.uk|access-date=29 October 2002|archive-date=31 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731010211/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2365383.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2602945.stm |title=Moscow court begins siege claims |work=BBC News |date=24 December 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=31 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731005532/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2602945.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Due to the layout of the theater, special forces would have had to fight through {{convert|30|m|ft|-1}} of corridor and advance up a well-defended staircase before they could reach the hall in which the hostages were held. The attackers had numerous explosives, with the most powerful in the center of the [[auditorium]]. [[Spetsnaz]] operators from [[Federal Security Service]] (FSB) [[Alpha Group|Alpha]] and [[Vympel]], supported by a [[Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs]] (MVD) [[SOBR]] unit, pumped a chemical agent into the building's [[Ventilation (architecture)|ventilation]] system and began the rescue operation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=90 Hostages Killed in Moscow Theater (washingtonpost.com) |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/articles/A21613-2002Oct26.html |access-date=2024-03-15 |website=www.washingtonpost.com}}</ref>

The identity of the gas was not disclosed at the time, although it was believed to have been a [[fentanyl]] derivative.<ref name="nal">{{cite magazine |first=Debora |last=MacKenzie |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2979-mystery-of-russian-gas-deepens.html |date=29 October 2002 |title=Mystery of Russian gas deepens |magazine=[[New Scientist]] |access-date=5 September 2017 |archive-date=9 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100809113949/http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2979-mystery-of-russian-gas-deepens.html |url-status=live }}</ref> A study published in 2012 concluded that it had been a mixture of [[carfentanil]] and [[remifentanil]].<ref name="Riches et al">{{Cite journal |last1=Riches |first1=James R. |last2=Read |first2=Robert W. |last3=Black |first3=Robin M. |last4=Cooper |first4=Nicholas J. |last5=Timperley |first5=Christopher M. |date=2012-09-20 |title=Analysis of Clothing and Urine from Moscow Theatre Siege Casualties Reveals Carfentanil and Remifentanil Use |journal=Journal of Analytical Toxicology |volume=36 |issue=9 |pages=647–656 |doi=10.1093/jat/bks078 |pmid=23002178 |issn=1945-2403|doi-access=free | url=https://zenodo.org/record/1038609 |archive-date=13 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181213212115/https://zenodo.org/record/1038609 |url-status=live }}</ref> The same study pointed out that in a 2011 case at the European Court of Human Rights, the Russian government stated that the aerosol used was a mixture of a fentanyl derivative and a chemical compound with a narcotic action.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://academic.oup.com/jat/article/36/9/647/785132|title=Analysis of Clothing and Urine from Moscow Theatre Siege Casualties Reveals Carfentanil and Remifentanil Use|date=20 September 2012|via=academic.oup.com|access-date=4 February 2022|archive-date=5 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220205072446/https://academic.oup.com/jat/article/36/9/647/785132|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Initial siege==
The hostages were seized on 23 October at the House of Culture of State Ball-Bearing Plant Number 1 in the Dubrovka area of Moscow about four kilometers south-east of the [[Moscow Kremlin]].<ref name="death"/> During Act II of a sold-out performance of ''[[Nord-Ost]]'' a little after 9:00 PM, 40–50 heavily armed masked men and women drove in a bus to the theater and entered the main hall firing [[assault rifle]]s in the air.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/10/23/russia.siege |title=Chechen gunmen seize Moscow theatre |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090216172507/http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/10/23/russia.siege/ |archive-date=16 February 2009 |work=[[CNN]] |date=24 October 2002 }}</ref>

The black-and-camouflage-clad attackers<ref name="gunmen"/> took approximately 850–900 people hostage, including members of the audience and performers, among them an [[Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs|MVD]] general. The reaction of spectators inside the theater to the news that the theater was under terrorist attack was not uniform: some people remained calm, some reacted hysterically, and others fainted. Some performers who had been resting backstage escaped through an open window and called the police; in all, some 90 people managed to flee the building or hide.

The terrorist leader told the hostages that the attackers (who identified themselves as a [[suicide attack|suicide squad]] from "the 29th Division"<ref name="chechens"/>) had no grudge against foreign nationals (about 75 in number from 14 countries, including [[Australia]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], [[Germany]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Ukraine]], the [[United Kingdom]] and the [[United States]]) and promised to release anyone who showed a foreign [[passport]].{{Citation needed|reason=Where is a reliable source for this claim?|date=October 2022}}

===Demands===
The gunmen were led by [[Movsar Barayev]], nephew of slain Chechen rebel [[militia]] commander [[Arbi Barayev]], and threatened to kill the hostages unless Russian forces were immediately and unconditionally withdrawn from Chechnya. They said the [[time limit|deadline]] was one week, after which they would start killing the hostages.<ref name="ready">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2360735.stm |title=Hostage-takers 'ready to die' |work=BBC News |date=25 October 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=13 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813051211/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2360735.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

A [[videotape]]d statement was acquired by the media in which the gunmen declared their willingness to die for their cause. The statement contained the following text:<ref>{{cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/10/24/moscow.siege.video/ |title=Gunmen release chilling video |work=CNN |date=25 October 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141016235303/http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/10/24/moscow.siege.video/ |archive-date=16 October 2014 }}</ref>

{{blockquote|Every nation has the right to their fate. Russia has taken away this right from the Chechens and today we want to reclaim these rights, which Allah has given us, in the same way he has given it to other nations. Allah has given us the right of freedom and the right to choose our destiny. And the Russian occupiers have flooded our land with our children's blood. And we have longed for a just solution. People are unaware of the innocent who are dying in Chechnya: the [[sheikh]]s, the women, the children and the weak ones. And therefore, we have chosen this approach. This approach is for the freedom of the Chechen people and there is no difference in where we die, and therefore we have decided to die here, in Moscow. And we will take with us the lives of hundreds of sinners. If we die, others will come and follow us—our brothers and sisters who are willing to sacrifice their lives, in Allah's way, to liberate their nation. Our nationalists have died but people have said that they, the nationalists, are terrorists and criminals. But the truth is Russia is the true criminal.}}

According to the Kremlin's aide [[Sergei Yastrzhembsky]], "When they were told that the withdrawal of troops was unrealistic within the short period, that it was a very long process, the terrorists put forward the demand to withdraw Russian troops from anywhere in the Republic of Chechnya without specifying which area it was." The hostage-takers demanded termination of the use of [[artillery]] and [[air force]]s in Chechnya starting the next day (Russian forces ceased using heavy weapons until 28 September), a halt to the notorious ''[[zachistka]]'' ("mopping-up") operations, and that [[President of Russia]] [[Vladimir Putin]] should publicly declare that he was striving to stop the war in Chechnya. By the time of the hostage-taking, the conflict in the embattled republic was killing an average of three federal troops daily.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1025/p01s03-woeu.html |title=Hostage crisis refuels Chechnya debate |work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |date=25 October 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=19 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090219011316/http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1025/p01s03-woeu.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Cell phone conversations between the hostages trapped in the building and their family members<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/25/world/hostage-drama-moscow-hostage-voices-cellphones-let-families-hear-ordeal-captives.html |title=Hostage Drama in Moscow: Hostage Voices; Cellphones Let Families Hear Ordeal Of Captives |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=25 October 2002 |access-date=14 September 2019 |archive-date=2 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602201557/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/25/world/hostage-drama-moscow-hostage-voices-cellphones-let-families-hear-ordeal-captives.html |url-status=live }}</ref> revealed that the hostage-takers had [[hand grenade|grenades]], [[land mine|mines]] and [[improvised explosive device]]s strapped to their bodies, and had deployed more explosives throughout the theater.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.echo.msk.ru/programs/albac/55756/ |title=Норд-Ост: 5 лет |work=[[Echo of Moscow]] |date=21 October 2007 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=12 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612101714/http://echo.msk.ru/programs/albac/55756/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The militants used Arabic names among themselves, and the female terrorists wore Arab-style ''[[niqab]]'' clothes which are highly unusual in the [[North Caucasus]] region.<ref name="dark"/>

Mufti Akhmad-Khadzhi Shamayev, official leader of Chechnya's Muslims, said he had no information about who the attackers were and condemned attacks on civilians. The pro-Moscow Islamic leader of Chechnya also condemned the attack.<ref name="seize">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2354753.stm |title=Terrorists seize Moscow theatre |work=BBC News |date=23 October 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=13 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813051241/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2354753.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

All hostages were kept in the [[auditorium]] and the [[orchestra]] pit was used as a [[Latrine|lavatory]].<ref name="nightmare"/> The situation in the hall was nervous and it frequently changed depending on the mood of the hostage-takers, who were following reports in the [[mass media]]. Any kind of [[misinformation]] caused hopelessness among the hostages and new aggression among their captors, who would threaten to shoot hostages and blow up the building, but no major incidents took place during the siege. The gunmen let members of the audience make phone calls.<ref name="gunmen">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/24/russia.chechnya |title=Chechen gunmen storm Moscow theatre |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=24 October 2002 |access-date=17 December 2016 |archive-date=1 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161201224650/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/24/russia.chechnya |url-status=live }}</ref> One hostage used her mobile phone to plead with authorities not to storm the auditorium,<ref name="seize"/> as truckloads of police and soldiers with [[armored vehicle]]s surrounded the building.<ref name="chechens">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/24/world/chechens-seize-moscow-theater-taking-as-many-as-600-hostages.html |title=Chechens Seize Moscow Theater, Taking as Many as 600 Hostages |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=24 October 2002 |access-date=14 September 2019 |archive-date=31 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031080829/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/24/world/chechens-seize-moscow-theater-taking-as-many-as-600-hostages.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Hostage-taking==
===Day one{{snd}}23 October===
The attackers released 150 to 200 people, including children, [[pregnancy|pregnant]] women, [[Muslim]]s, some foreign-born theater-goers and people requiring medical treatment in the early hours after they invaded. Two women managed to escape (one of them was injured while escaping).<ref name="more">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2359491.stm |title=Seven hostages freed in Moscow siege |work=BBC News |date=25 October 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=14 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080814031749/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2359491.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> The terrorists said they were ready to kill ten hostages for any of their number killed if the security forces intervened.<ref name="seize"/>

====Olga Romanova====
At 1:30 AM, Olga Romanova, a 26-year-old civilian acting on her own, entered the theater, crossing the police cordon by herself.<ref name="romanova">{{cite web|url=http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/she-died-trying-to-save-the-hostages/242251.html|title=She Died Trying to Save the Hostages|date=12 November 2002 |access-date=28 January 2012|archive-date=9 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130909140154/http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/she-died-trying-to-save-the-hostages/242251.html|url-status=live}}</ref> She entered the theater and began urging the hostages to stand up to their captors. There was considerable confusion in the auditorium. The terrorists believed she was a [[Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation|Federal Security Service]] (FSB) agent and she was shot and killed seconds later. Romanova's body was later removed from the building by a Russian medical team, incorrectly reported by the Moscow police as the body of the first hostage who was killed while trying to escape.<ref name="more"/> Romanova was described as "strong-willed", and lived near the theater.<ref name="romanova"/> It is unknown how she crossed the police lines undetected.

===Day two{{snd}}24 October===
The Russian government offered the hostage-takers the opportunity to leave for any country other than Russia or Chechnya if they released all hostages unharmed.<ref name="more"/> The hostages made an appeal, possibly under orders or duress, for Putin to cease hostilities in Chechnya and asked him to refrain from assaulting the building. Because of the crisis, Putin canceled an overseas trip that would have included meetings with [[President of the United States|then-U.S. President]] [[George W. Bush]] and other world leaders.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2357729.stm |title=Two hostages flee Moscow theatre |work=BBC News |date=24 October 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=14 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080814031644/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2357729.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

The hostage-takers demanded to talk with [[Joseph Kobzon]], a member of parliament and singer, and with International Red Cross representatives. Kobzon (accompanied by three people, including a man waving some white fabric like a flag), entered the building about 1:20 PM. Shortly thereafter, a man in his sixties, appearing feeble and distraught, left the theater. The Interfax news agency identified him as a British citizen, but did not provide details. A woman and three children, believed to be Russians, were let out a few minutes later.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/10/24/1035416926945.html |title=Chechen rebels release some hostages |newspaper=smh.com.au |date=24 October 2002 |access-date=11 January 2016 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924124430/http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/10/24/1035416926945.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Other well-known public and political figures such as [[Aslambek Aslakhanov]], [[Irina Khakamada]], [[Ruslan Khasbulatov]], [[Boris Nemtsov]] and [[Grigory Yavlinsky]]<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/850/49/242402.htm |title=Yavlinsky Describes His Role In Crisis |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080929175211/http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/850/49/242402.htm |archive-date=29 September 2008 |work=[[The Moscow Times]] |date=4 November 2002 }}</ref> took part in negotiations with the hostage-takers. Ex-President of the [[Soviet Union]] [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] also announced his willingness to act as an intermediary in the course of negotiations. Militants also demanded that representatives of the [[International Red Cross]] and ''[[Médecins Sans Frontières]]'' (Doctors Without Borders) come to the theater to lead negotiations. FSB [[Colonel]] Konstantin Vasilyev attempted to enter the patio of the theater, but was shot at while approaching the building and forced to retreat.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

According to the FSB, thirty nine hostages were set free by the terrorists on 24 October 2002, but they repeated via one of the hostages an earlier threat to start shooting their captives if Russia failed to take their demands seriously.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2355627.stm |title=Chechens release more hostages |work=BBC News |date=24 October 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=11 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100111231017/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2355627.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Negotiations on the release of non-Russian nationals were conducted by various [[embassy|embassies]] and the Chechens promised to release all foreign hostages. The kidnappers claimed they were ready to release 50 Russian hostages if [[Akhmad Kadyrov]], head of Chechnya's pro-Moscow administration, would come to the theater, but Kadyrov did not respond, and the release did not take place.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

A hot water pipe burst overnight and was flooding the ground floor. The hostage-takers called the flooding a "provocation" and an FSB spokesman said no agreement had been reached on having the pipe repaired.<ref name="nightmare"/> It later turned out that the [[Sanitary sewer|sewer system]] was used by the Russian special forces for listening purposes.<ref name="how"/>

===Day three{{snd}}25 October===
During the third day, the following people took part in negotiations with the militants: journalists [[Anna Politkovskaya]],<ref>{{cite news |first=Anna |last=Politkovskaya |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/30/russia.terrorism |title=I tried and failed |work=The Guardian |date=30 October 2002 |access-date=17 December 2016 |archive-date=1 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161201224651/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/30/russia.terrorism |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Sergei Govorukhin]] and [[Mark Franchetti]] as well as public figures [[Yevgeny Primakov]], [[Ruslan Aushev]] and again, Aslambek Aslakhanov. The terrorists demanded negotiations with an official representative of Vladimir Putin. Relatives of the hostages staged anti-war demonstrations outside the theater and in central Moscow.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

The hostage-takers agreed to release seventy-five foreign citizens in the presence of diplomatic representatives of their states. 15 Russian citizens were released, including eight children (aged 7 to 13). After a meeting with Putin, the FSB head [[Nikolai Patrushev]] offered to spare the lives of the Chechens if they released the remaining hostages unharmed.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2359843.stm |title=Children freed from Moscow siege |work=BBC News |date=25 October 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=13 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813051156/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2359843.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

A group of Russian doctors including Dr. [[Leonid Roshal]], head of the Medical Center for Catastrophes, entered the theater to bring medicine for the hostages and said the terrorists were not beating or threatening their captives. He said most of the hostages were calm and that only "two or three" of the hostages were hysterical. Some hot food, warm clothes, and medicine had also been taken in by the Red Cross.<ref name="nightmare">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2360583.stm |title=Non-stop nightmare for Moscow hostages |work=BBC News |date=25 October 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=13 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813035903/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2360583.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[NTV (Russia)|NTV]] channel journalists recorded an interview with Movsar Barayev, in which he sent a message to the Russian government:

<blockquote>We have nothing to lose. We have already covered 2,000 kilometers by coming here. There is no way back... We have come to die. Our motto is freedom and [[paradise]]. We already have freedom as we've come to Moscow. Now we want to be in paradise.<ref name="ready"/></blockquote>

He also said the group had come to Moscow not to kill the hostages or to fight with Russia's elite troops, as they had had enough fighting in Chechnya over the years: "We came here with a specific aim{{snd}}to put an end to the war and that is it."<ref name="ready"/>

At 9:55 PM, four hostages (citizens of [[Azerbaijan]]) were released, bringing the total number of hostages that were set free on this day to 19.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

====Gennady Vlakh====
After dusk, a man identified as Gennady Vlakh ran across the square and gained entry to the theater. He said that his son was among the hostages, but his son did not seem to be present and the man was led away and shot by the Chechens.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.pravdabeslana.ru/nordost/dokleng.htm | title=Events, facts, conclusions | access-date=29 January 2012 | archive-date=1 February 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201000714/http://www.pravdabeslana.ru/nordost/dokleng.htm | url-status=live }}</ref>
There is considerable confusion surrounding this incident, and Vlakh's body was cremated before it was identified.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nord-ost.org/today/why-did-she-shoot_en.html |title=Why did she shoot |access-date=29 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140712195022/http://www.nord-ost.org/today/why-did-she-shoot_en.html |archive-date=12 July 2014 }}</ref>

====Denis Gribkov====
Around midnight, a gunfire incident took place as Denis Gribkov, a 30-year-old male hostage, ran over the backs of theater seats toward the female insurgents who were sitting next to a large improvised explosive device.<ref name="how">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2363601.stm |title=How special forces ended siege |work=BBC News |date=29 October 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=13 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813022459/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2363601.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> A male Chechen shot at him and missed, but stray bullets hit and severely wounded Tamara Starkova and fatally wounded Pavel Zakharov,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/potw/20021101/3.html |title=Pictures of the Week |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100919175446/http://www.time.com/time/potw/20021101/3.html |archive-date=19 September 2010 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url-status=dead |date=31 October 2002 }}</ref> who were evacuated from the building soon after. Gribkov was removed from the auditorium and later found dead from gunshot wounds.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

===Day four{{snd}}Morning of 26 October===
[[File:Vladimir Putin with victims of Nord-Ost terrorism.jpg|thumb|right|President [[Vladimir Putin]] visiting the Sklifosovsky Emergency Medicine Institute to meet with hostages rescued from the theater in Dubrovka.]]

During the night, [[Akhmed Zakayev]], a Chechen envoy and associate of the separatist President [[Aslan Maskhadov]], appealed to the extremists and asked them to "refrain from rash steps". The Chechens told the [[BBC]] that a special representative of President Putin planned to come to the theater for talks the next day. Two members of the [[Spetsnaz]] [[Alpha Group]] moving around in the [[no-man's land]] were seriously wounded by a grenade fired from the building by the terrorists, which was blamed by the Moscow police chief [[Vladminr Pronin (policeman)|Vladimir Pronin]] on the media [[news leak]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jamestown.org/edm/article.php?volume_id=409&issue_id=3525&article_id=2370469 |title=Beslan and Dubrovka Victims' Relatives Join Forces |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080929062125/http://www.jamestown.org/edm/article.php?volume_id=409&issue_id=3525&article_id=2370469 |archive-date=29 September 2008 |work=[[The Jamestown Foundation]] |date=3 November 2005 }}</ref>

According to an officer in the Russian special forces cited by ''[[The Guardian]]'', the leak was controlled: "We leaked the information that the storming would take place at three in the morning. The [[Chechen people|Chechen]] fighters were on their guard. They began shooting, but there was no raid. Then there was the natural reaction{{snd}}a relaxation. And at 5 a.m. we stormed the place."<ref>{{cite news|last=Traynor|first=Ian|title=Troops bring freedom and death to theatre of blood|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/27/russia.chechnya|access-date=23 February 2012|newspaper=The Guardian|date=27 October 2002|archive-date=28 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200528074211/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/27/russia.chechnya|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Special forces raid====
Early Saturday morning, 26 October, forces from Russia's [[Spetsnaz]] (Special Forces, literally "special purpose") from the FSB ([[Alpha Group]] and [[Vympel]]), with the assistance of the [[Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs]] (MVD) [[SOBR]] unit, surrounded and stormed the theater; all were heavily armed and masked. Deputy [[Interior Minister]] [[Vladimir Vasilyev (politician)|Vladimir Vasilyev]] stated that the raid was prompted by a panic among the captives due to the execution of two female hostages. The raid was planned shortly after the hostages were initially seized and the shooting cited as a proximate cause had occurred about three hours before the operation began.<ref name="aftermath">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/28/world/hostage-drama-moscow-aftermath-hostage-toll-russia-over-100-nearly-all-deaths.html |title=Hostage Drama In Moscow: The Aftermath; Hostage Toll in Russia Over 100; Nearly All Deaths Linked to Gas |work=The New York Times |date=28 October 2002 |access-date=14 September 2019 |archive-date=25 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181125063629/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/28/world/hostage-drama-moscow-aftermath-hostage-toll-russia-over-100-nearly-all-deaths.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Chemical attack====
{{Main|Moscow hostage crisis chemical agent}}
Early in the morning before dawn, at around 5:00{{nbsp}}a.m. Moscow time, the [[searchlight]]s that had been illuminating the main entrance to the theater went out.

Inside, although many hostages at first took the gas ([[aerosol]]) to be smoke from a fire,<ref name="scene">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/28/world/hostage-drama-moscow-scene-survivors-dribble-all-with-story-tell.html |title=Hostage Drama in Moscow: The Scene; The Survivors Dribble Out, All With a Story to Tell |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=28 October 2002 |access-date=14 September 2019 |archive-date=26 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190526183931/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/28/world/hostage-drama-moscow-scene-survivors-dribble-all-with-story-tell.html |url-status=live }}</ref> it soon became apparent to gunmen and hostages alike that a mysterious gas had been pumped into the building.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2366913.stm |title=What was the gas? |work=BBC News |date=28 October 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=7 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207211522/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2366913.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Different reports said it came either through the specially created hole in the wall, that it was pumped through the theater's ventilation system, or that it emerged from beneath the stage. The security services pumped an [[Particulate|aerosol]] [[Anesthesia|anaesthetic]], later stated by Russian Health Minister Yuri Shevchenko to be based on [[fentanyl]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2377563.stm |title=Russia names Moscow Siege Gas |date=31 October 2002 |publisher=BBC |access-date=2 August 2015 |archive-date=19 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619064228/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2377563.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> into the theater through the [[air conditioning]] system. The discovery caused panic in the auditorium. Hostage Anna Andrianova, a correspondent for ''[[Moskovskaya Pravda]]'', called [[Echo of Moscow]] radio studio and conducted a [[live television|live broadcast]] with hostages who started feeling the effects of the gas used by the government forces and begged them to desist.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2363679.stm |title=Hostages speak of storming terror |work=BBC News |date=26 October 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=13 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813022433/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2363679.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Assault====
The Chechens, some of whom were equipped with [[conflict gas mask|gas mask]]s, responded by firing blindly at the Russian positions outside. After thirty minutes, when the gas had taken effect, a physical assault on the building commenced. The combined forces entered through numerous building openings, including the roof, the basement, and finally the front door.<ref name="how"/>

When the shooting began, the terrorists told their hostages to lean forward in the theater seats and cover their heads behind the seats.<ref name="how"/> Hostages reported that some people in the audience fell asleep, and some of the gunmen put on [[respirator]]s. As the terrorists and hostages began to fall unconscious, several of the female terrorists made a dash for the balcony but passed out before they reached the stairs. They were later found shot dead. Two of the Spetsnaz [[Alpha Group]] were also overcome by the gas.<ref name="how"/>

After nearly one and a half hours of sporadic gun battles, the Russian special forces blew open the doors to the main hall and poured into the auditorium. In a fierce firefight, the federals killed most of the hostage-takers, both those still awake and those who had succumbed to the gas.<ref name="how"/><ref name="troops"/>

According to the Russian government, fighting between the troops and the still-conscious Chechen fighters continued in other parts of the building for another 30 minutes to one hour. Initial reports stated that three terrorists were captured alive (the BBC reported that a "handful of surviving fighters were led away in [[handcuffs]]"<ref name="how"/>) and two of them managed to escape. Later, the government claimed that all hostage-takers had been killed in the storming.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

Alpha team troops said that "this is our first successful operation [in] years".<ref name="troops">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/27/russia.chechnya |title=Troops bring freedom and death to theatre of blood |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=27 October 2002 |access-date=17 December 2016 |archive-date=28 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200528074211/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/27/russia.chechnya |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[Moskovskij Komsomolets]]'' cited a Russian special forces operative saying that "if it were a usual storming, we'd have had 150 casualties among our men, added to the hostages."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1029/p01s03-woeu.html |title=Gas enters counterterror arsenal |work=The Christian Science Monitor |date=29 October 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=11 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011074456/http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1029/p01s03-woeu.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Evacuation==
[[File:Melnikova Street 7 2024-06 1719007263.tiff|thumb|Dubrovka theater building (2024)]]
At 7:00&nbsp;a.m., rescuers began carrying the bodies of hostages out of the building. Bodies were laid in rows in the [[foyer]] and on the pavement at the main entrance to the TC, unprotected from falling rain and snow. None of the bodies witnessed by ''The Guardian'' correspondent [[Nick Paton Walsh]] had bullet wounds or showed signs of bleeding, but "their faces were waxy, white and drawn, their eyes open and blank."<ref name="Paton Walsh"/> Shortly, the entire space was filled with bodies of the dead and those unconscious from the gas but still alive.

[[Ambulance]]s were standing by and ordinary city buses were brought in. Medical workers were expecting to treat victims of explosions and gunfire but not a secret chemical agent. If the drug used was indeed a fentanyl derivative or other [[μ-opioid receptor|μ⁠-⁠opioid receptor]] [[agonist]], an opioid [[receptor antagonist]] drug like [[naloxone]] would have counteracted the chemical agent's effects, but would have had to be administered by rescue workers immediately upon arriving.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2002/10/31/russia-confirms-suspicions-about-gas-used-in-raid/6d2e8271-3064-4a79-a203-d8489274de2d/ |title=Russia Confirms Suspicions About Gas Used in Raid |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=31 October 2002 |access-date=14 September 2019 |archive-date=29 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191229005629/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2002/10/31/russia-confirms-suspicions-about-gas-used-in-raid/6d2e8271-3064-4a79-a203-d8489274de2d/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Some reports said the drug was used to save some hostages.<ref name="nal"/>

The bodies of dead hostages were put in two buses which were parked at the TC. Initial reports said nothing about casualties among the hostages. The crisis HQ representatives went to the college hall, where relatives of the hostages had been waiting, and told them that allegedly there were no fatalities among the hostages. The first official report of fatalities among the hostages came at about 9:00&nbsp;a.m. Despite the death of five children which had been already reported by medical personnel, the official statement claimed there were no children among the dead.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

At 1:00&nbsp;p.m., Vasilyev announced at a press conference a "definitive" death toll of 67 hostages, who he said were killed by Chechens,<ref name="clouds">{{cite news |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1028/p01s04-woeu.html |title=Gas clouds Moscow rescue |work=The Christian Science Monitor |date=28 October 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=16 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090816111245/http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1028/p01s04-woeu.html |url-status=live }}</ref> but again said no children nor foreigners were among those killed.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/bloody-end-to-moscow-hostage-crisis-1.352824 |title=Bloody end to Moscow hostage crisis |work=[[CBC News]] |date=29 October 2002 |access-date=26 January 2020 |archive-date=2 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201002183616/https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/bloody-end-to-moscow-hostage-crisis-1.352824 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2364873.stm |title=Moscow hostage relatives await news |work=BBC News |date=27 October 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=29 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329175816/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2364873.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Armed guards were posted at the hospitals where victims were taken and doctors were ordered not to release any of the theater [[patient]]s in case militants had concealed themselves among the hostages.

The hostages' family members panicked as the government refused to release any information about which hospitals their loved ones had been taken to, or even whether their relatives were among the dead.<ref name="toll"/> The official number of the dead rose to 90, including 25 children, while it was still claimed that the final attack was provoked by the terrorists executing their captives.<ref name="climax">{{cite news |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/10/26/moscow.standoff/ |title=140 die in theatre siege climax |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080525100929/http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/10/26/moscow.standoff/ |archive-date=25 May 2008 |work=CNN |date=27 October 2002 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2363547.stm |title=Family reunited after Moscow siege |work=BBC News |date=27 October 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=7 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207211517/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2363547.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Later the same day, the official death toll among hostages had risen to at least 118 and the officials had not specified exactly what killed them.<ref name="toll">{{cite news |url=http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2002-10/a-2002-10-27-14-Death.cfm |title=Death Toll in Moscow Hostage Situation Climbs to 118 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090220174017/http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2002-10/a-2002-10-27-14-Death.cfm |archive-date=20 February 2009 |work=[[Voice of America]] |date=27 October 2002 }}</ref> By 28 October, of the 646 former hostages who remained hospitalized, 150 were still in [[intensive care]] and 45 were in critical condition.<ref name="gas">{{cite news |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/224294031.html?dids=224294031:224294031&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&fmac=&date=Oct+28%2C+2002&author=Susan+B.+Glasser+and+Peter+Baker&desc=Gas+in+Raid+Killed+115+Hostages |title=115 Hostages in Moscow Killed by Gas |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=27 October 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313010058/https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/224294031.html?dids=224294031:224294031&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&fmac=&date=Oct+28%2C+2002&author=Susan+B.+Glasser+and+Peter+Baker&desc=Gas+in+Raid+Killed+115+Hostages |archive-date=2007-03-13 }}</ref>

Seventy-three hostages (including six minors) were rendered no medical aid.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/6523/ |title=Dubrovka victims association accuses the authorities of falsification |work=[[Memorial (society)|Memorial]] |date=22 October 2007 |access-date=14 September 2019 |archive-date=14 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190914121324/https://www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/6523/ |url-status=live }}</ref> There were several Chechens among the hostages and it may be that some of them were not treated because of their Chechen names.<ref name="Putin's Russia">Anna Politkovskaya. ''Putin's Russia''. The Harvill Press. 2004.</ref> Money and other valuables belonging to the victims vanished; official reports stated that the valuables were stolen by an FSB officer who was later killed in a car crash.<ref name="Gazeta">{{cite web |language=pl |url=http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80277,4195682.html |title=Dubrowka pozostanie tajemnicą |work=[[Gazeta Wyborcza]] |date=1 June 2007 |access-date=2 June 2007 |archive-date=12 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312112515/https://wyborcza.pl/7,75399,4195682.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Russian authorities initially maintained that none of the deaths among the hostages occurred through poisoning. They spoke of health problems that were exacerbated by the three-day ordeal with very little food or water, or indeed, medical attention.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

==Casualties==
The number of estimated casualties varies widely because many hostages remained unaccounted for and were not included in the official list (see below).<ref name="Satter"/> Some estimates have put the civilian death toll at more than 200<ref name="part1"/> with 204 names on one list,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/russiascolluders |title=Russia's colluders |first=Jeremy |last=Putley |work=[[Prospect (magazine)|Prospect]] |date=July 22, 2006 |access-date=14 September 2019 |archive-date=14 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190914123317/https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/russiascolluders |url-status=dead }}</ref> or even 300, including people who died during the year after the siege from complications from the poison gas.<ref name="Satter"/> Some former hostages and relatives of the victims claim that the death toll from the chemical agent is being kept secret.<ref name="secret">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/oct/18/chechnya.russia |title=Families claim death toll from gas in Moscow siege kept secret |work=The Guardian |date=18 October 2003 |access-date=17 December 2016 |archive-date=21 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821041027/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/oct/18/chechnya.russia |url-status=live }}</ref> According to official numbers, 40 terrorists and about 130 hostages died during the raid or in the following days.<ref name="moscnews">{{cite news |url=http://english.mn.ru/english/issue.php?2004-41-2 |title=Nord-Ost Tragedy Goes On |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080229135507/http://english.mn.ru/english/issue.php?2004-41-2 |archive-date=29 February 2008 |work=Moscow News }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable centre sortable"
|+ Civilian deaths by nationality
!Country
!Number
|-
| {{RUS}}
! 121
|-
| {{UKR}}
! 3
|-
| {{USA}}
! 1
|-
| {{BLR}}
! 1
|-
| {{AUT}}
! 1
|-
| {{BUL}}
! 1
|-
| {{NED}}
! 1
|-
| {{KAZ}}
! 1
|-
| {{AZE}}
! 1
|-
| {{ARM}}
! 1
|- class="sortbottom"
|'''Total'''
! 132
|}

Andrei Seltsovsky, Moscow's health committee chairman, announced that all but one <!-- see cite --> of the hostages killed in the raid had died from the effects of the unknown gas rather than from gunshot wounds.<ref name="bbc">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2365383.stm |title=Gas 'killed Moscow hostages' |work=BBC News |date=27 October 2002 |access-date=29 October 2002 |archive-date=31 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731010211/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2365383.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> The cause of death listed for all hostages was declared to be "terrorism," claiming they died from [[heart attack]]s or other physical ailments.<ref name="secret"/> Among the fatalities, 17 were ''Nord-Ost'' cast members, including two child actors.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0210/p07s01-woeu.html |title=At a scene of tragedy in Moscow, an act of hope |work=The Christian Science Monitor |date=10 February 2003 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=27 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101027171330/http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0210/p07s01-woeu.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Of the foreign nationals, three were from Ukraine, and the others were citizens of Austria, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands and the United States.<ref name="russia"/> About 700 surviving hostages were poisoned by the gas, and some of them received injuries leading to second- and third-degree [[Disability|disabilities]] (indicating medium- and light-severity debilitation in the Russian disability classification system).{{fact?|date=March 2024}} Several Russian special forces operatives were also poisoned by the gas during the operation. According to court testimony from A. Vorobiev, Director of the Russian Academic Bacteriology Center, most, if not all, of the deaths were caused by suffocation when hostages collapsed on chairs with heads falling back or were transported and left lying on their backs by rescue workers; in such a position, tongue [[prolapse]] causes blockage of breathing.<ref name="suffocate">{{cite web|url=http://feedbackgroup.info/proetcon/sudnordost.htm|title=Замоскворецкий суд продолжает рассмотрение жалоб пострадавших при "Норд-Ост" на прокуратуру Москвы |website=feedbackgroup.info|access-date=23 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230420055904/http://feedbackgroup.info/proetcon/sudnordost.htm|archive-date=20 April 2023|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

==Responsibility==
The operation was conducted primarily by the Chechen radical militant group The [[Special Purpose Islamic Regiment]] (SPIR), with involvement from the [[Riyad-us Saliheen Brigade of Martyrs|RSRSBCM]] and [[Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade|International Islamic Brigade]]. The operation was led by [[Movsar Barayev]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/sanctions/1267/aq_sanctions_list/summaries/entity/special-purpose-islamic-regiment-%28spir%29|access-date=19 April 2023|title=Special Purpose Islamic Regiment (SIPR)|website=UN Security Council|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313154244/https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/sanctions/1267/aq_sanctions_list/summaries/entity/special-purpose-islamic-regiment-(spir)|archive-date=13 March 2022}}</ref>

Military commander [[Shamil Basayev]] posted a statement on his website claiming ultimate responsibility for the incident, resigning all official positions within the Chechen government and promising new attacks. He also apologized to Chechnya's elected president and separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov for not informing him of the planned raid and asked him for forgiveness.<ref name="warlord">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2388857.stm |title=Chechen warlord claims theatre attack |work=BBC News |date=1 November 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=20 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170520031727/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2388857.stm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="wpost">{{cite news |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/230245861.html?dids=230245861:230245861&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&fmac=&date=Nov+2%2C+2002&author=Peter+Baker&desc=Russian++Lawmakers++Vote+to+Curb++News+Media |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313010043/https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/230245861.html?dids=230245861:230245861&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&fmac=&date=Nov+2%2C+2002&author=Peter+Baker&desc=Russian++Lawmakers++Vote+to+Curb++News+Media |archive-date=2007-03-13 |title=Russian Lawmakers Vote to Curb News Media{{snd}}Terrorism Reporting Restricted After Crisis |first=Peter |last=Baker |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2 November 2002 |page=A.18 }}</ref> Basayev defended the hostage-taking for giving "all Russians a first-hand insight into all the charms of the war unleashed by Russia and take it back to where it originated from" and said that his "main goal will be destroying the enemy and exacting maximum damage" and "the next time, those who come won't make any demands, won't take hostages."<ref name="warlord"/><ref name="raid"/>

The Russian government claimed that [[Telephone tapping|wiretap]]ped phone conversations prove that Maskhadov knew of the plans in advance, which he denied.<ref name="wpost2">{{cite news |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313010023/https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/229448181.html?dids=229448181:229448181&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&fmac=&date=Nov+1%2C+2002&author=Peter+Baker&desc=Russia+Defends+Actions+Taken+in+Theater+Siege |archive-date=2007-03-13 |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/229448181.html?dids=229448181:229448181&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&fmac=&date=Nov+1%2C+2002&author=Peter+Baker&desc=Russia+Defends+Actions+Taken+in+Theater+Siege |title=Russia Defends Actions Taken in Theater Siege{{snd}}No Regrets About Use of Gas or Secrecy |first=Peter |last=Baker |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=1 November 2002 |page=A30 }}</ref> Aslan Maskhadov and his representatives in the West condemned the attack which they said had nothing to do with official policy. Maskhadov said he felt responsible for those "who resorted to self-sacrifice in despair", but also said the "barbaric and inhumane policies" of the Russian leadership were ultimately to blame and criticized the storming of the theater. He offered to start unconditional peace talks with the Russian government to find a political solution to the conflict in Chechnya.<ref name="seek">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2369083.stm |title=Chechen terrorists seek talks with Moscow |work=BBC News |date=28 October 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=22 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922070358/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2369083.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

The siege was seen as a [[public relations]] disaster for Maskhadov, and his more radical Islamic field commanders correspondingly benefited.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2356033.stm |title=Analysis: Chechen danger for Putin |work=BBC News |date=24 October 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=13 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813051234/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2356033.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Some commentators suggested that [[Movladi Udugov]] was in charge from behind the scenes.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=1330&from_page=../index.cfm |title=The Riyadus-Salikhin Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion of Chechen Martyrs |publisher=cdi.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070509184704/http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=1330&from_page=..%2Findex.cfm |archive-date=9 May 2007 }}</ref> Russian military expert [[Pavel Felgenhauer]] suggested that the aim of the extremist leaders seemed to have been to provoke the Russian government forces "to kill ethnic Russians in Moscow on a large scale", which happened.<ref name="part1"/> According to the report by Russian investigators, [[Zura Barayeva]], the widow of Arbi Barayev, led the female members of the group, while a man known as Yasir, identified by his documents as Idris Alkhazurov, was said to be the group's "ideologist" believed to be trained in [[Saudi Arabia]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2558245.stm |title=Moscow kidnappers 'posed as traders' |work=BBC News |date=9 December 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=13 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813034731/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2558245.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Russian officials said Chechen militants received financing from groups based in [[Turkey]] and that they intercepted telephone calls from the captors to unidentified embassies in Moscow, as well as to Turkey and the [[United Arab Emirates]].<ref name="russia"/>

==Aftermath==
After the raid, Moscow Mayor [[Yuri Luzhkov]] said that "the operation was carried out brilliantly by special forces;" he claimed he had wanted a negotiated end to the crisis, but the final attack was made necessary by the reported killing of hostages. The Russian presidential special envoy for [[human rights]] in Chechnya, [[Abdul-Khakim Sultygov]], said the bloody outcome was "a good lesson to the terrorists and their accomplices."<ref name="death">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2364141.stm |title=Moscow hostage death toll soars |work=BBC News |date=26 October 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=13 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813040110/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2364141.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Deputy Interior Minister Vasilyev launched a Moscow-wide operation to catch anyone who might have helped the militants, while his superior, Interior Minister [[Boris Gryzlov]], urged people to be vigilant and to report anyone acting suspiciously to police. On 29 October, Vasilyev said he had the authority to state only that special chemical agents had been used and that some 30 suspected militants and their collaborators, including several civil servants and security officers, had been arrested around the theater and in other parts of the city in what Gryzlov called an "unprecedented operation" to identify what he described as a vast terrorist network in Moscow and the surrounding region.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2372977.stm |title=Mass arrests follow Moscow siege |work=BBC News |date=29 October 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=13 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813060211/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2372977.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Russian President [[Vladimir Putin]] defended the scale and violence of the assault in a televised address later on the morning of 26 October, stating that the government had "achieved the near impossible, saving hundreds... of people" and that the rescue "proved it is impossible to bring Russia to its knees".<ref name="CDI Russia Weekly">{{cite news |url=http://www.cdi.org/russia/279-1.cfm |title=Russia: Moscow City Officials, Victims' Relatives, Hold Separate Nord-Ost Services Outside Theater |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080312224010/http://www.cdi.org/russia/279-1.cfm |archive-date=12 March 2008 |work=CDI Russia Weekly |date=2003 }}</ref> Putin thanked the special forces as well as the Russian citizens for their "bravery" and the [[international community]] for the support given against the "common enemy". He also asked forgiveness for not being able to save more of the hostages, and declared Monday a [[national day of mourning]] for those who died.<ref name="bbc"/> He vowed to continue fighting "[[international terrorism]]".<ref name="climax"/>

On 29 October, Putin released another televised statement, saying: "Russia will respond with measures that are adequate to the threat to the Russian Federation, striking all the places where the terrorists themselves, the organizers of these crimes and their ideological and financial inspirations are. I stress, wherever they may be located." It was commonly assumed Putin was threatening the former Soviet Republic of [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]].<ref name="russia">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/29/world/hostage-drama-moscow-russia-responds-putin-vows-hunt-for-terror-cells-around.html |title=Hostage Drama In Moscow: Russia Responds |work=The New York Times |date=29 October 2002 |access-date=14 September 2019 |archive-date=9 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109043749/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/29/world/hostage-drama-moscow-russia-responds-putin-vows-hunt-for-terror-cells-around.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="backlash">{{cite news |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1107/p09s01-woeu.html |title=Russian backlash against Chechens begins |work=The Christian Science Monitor |date=7 November 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=4 December 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051204212154/http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1107/p09s01-woeu.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Putin's comments came as British [[Prime Minister]] [[Tony Blair]] phoned him to congratulate him on the ending of the siege.<ref name="Paton Walsh">{{cite news|last=Walsh|first=Nick Paton|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/27/chechnya.russia3|title=Siege rescue carnage as gas kills hostages|work=The Guardian|date=27 October 2002|access-date=5 March 2018|archive-date=20 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170520030322/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/27/chechnya.russia3|url-status=live}}</ref>

President Putin was unhappy with the coverage of the hostage crisis by [[NTV (Russia)|NTV]], the last nationwide TV channel effectively independent of the government. In January 2003 the management of NTV was replaced, resulting in a profound effect on its editorial policy.<ref>{{cite web |first=Vladimir |last=Kovalev |url=http://www.tol.org/client/article/8899-ntv-rip-again.html |title=NTV RIP, Again |work=[[Transitions Online]] |date=19 February 2003 |access-date=31 March 2010 |archive-date=24 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724184633/http://www.tol.org/client/article/8899-ntv-rip-again.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newsru.com/russia/17jan2003/koh.html |title=Альфред Кох: пост главы "Газпром-Медиа" заняла марионетка Кремля |work=[[Newsru.com]] |language=ru |date=17 January 2003 |access-date=14 September 2019 |archive-date=4 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804025200/https://www.newsru.com/russia/17jan2003/koh.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newsru.com/russia/20jan2003/iordan.html |trans-title=Jordan's going to be checked first, and then left behind |title=Йордана сначала проверят, а потом отставят |work=Newsru.com |language=ru |date=20 January 2003 |access-date=14 September 2019 |archive-date=4 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804021421/https://www.newsru.com/russia/20jan2003/iordan.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Long-term consequences===
The attacks prompted Putin's government to take harsher measures against Chechen separatists. On 28 October, two days after the crisis, he announced that unspecified "measures adequate to the threat" would henceforth be taken in response to terrorist activity, with reports of 30 fighters killed near the Chechen capital [[Grozny]].<ref name="bbcvows">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2368023.stm |title=Putin vows to crush terrorists |work=BBC News |date=28 October 2002 |access-date=29 October 2002 |archive-date=16 December 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021216115713/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2368023.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Russian Ministry of Defense]] cancelled plans to reduce the 80,000 troop presence in the tiny breakaway Chechen republic.<ref name="backlash"/>

In early November, [[Defense Minister]] [[Sergei Ivanov]] announced Russian forces had launched large-scale operations against separatists throughout Chechnya.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/2367601.stm |title=Chechnya: Is Russian retaliation the answer? |work=BBC News |date=6 November 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=23 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081123125142/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/2367601.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> The actions of the military caused a new wave of [[refugee]]s, according to the pro-Moscow Chechen official and the hostage crisis negotiator Aslanbek Aslakhanov.<ref name="backlash"/>

On 29 May 2008, the [[European Court of Human Rights]] (ECHR) unanimously condemned Russia for enforced disappearances in five cases from Chechnya, including the disappearance of two young women in [[Ulus-Kert]] (the prosecutor's office initially stated to media that Aminat Dugayeva and Kurbika Zinabdiyeva had been arrested on suspicion of involvement with the Moscow siege).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-86612 |title=Judgment: Gekhayeva and Others v. Russia |work=[[European Court of Human Rights]] |date=29 May 2008 |access-date=14 September 2019 |archive-date=9 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109043800/https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i%3D001-86612 |url-status=live }}</ref>

President Maskhadov's unconditional offer for peace talks with Russia was swiftly dismissed, and Russian [[Foreign Minister]] [[Sergei Lavrov]] compared such calls with the suggestion that Europe should conduct such talks with the former [[al-Qaeda]] leader [[Osama bin Laden]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.rferl.org/reports/caucasus-report/2005/02/6-110205.asp |title=Is It Too Late For Peace Talks In Chechnya? |work=[[RFE/RL]] |date=11 February 2005 |access-date=30 April 2007 |archive-date=11 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070511063242/http://www.rferl.org/reports/caucasus-report/2005/02/6-110205.asp |url-status=live }}</ref> Russia also accused former Chechen Republic leader [[Akhmed Zakayev]] of involvement in the attack. When he visited Denmark for a peace congress in October 2002 (the [[World Chechen Congress]] event in [[Copenhagen]]), the Russians demanded his arrest and [[extradition]];<ref name="warlord"/> Zakayev was held for over a month, but was released after Danish authorities stated they were not convinced that sufficient evidence had been provided.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2391629.stm |title=Russia pushes for Chechen extradition |work=BBC News |date=2 November 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=13 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813044448/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2391629.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> The Kremlin also accused the Danish authorities of "solidarity with terrorists" by allowing the meeting of about 100 Chechens, Russian human rights activists and lawmakers from Russia and other European countries to gather and discuss ways to end the fighting.<ref name="seek"/>

In early November, the Russian [[Duma]] approved a broad array of [[anti-terrorism legislation]] ranging from far-reaching restrictions on media coverage of terrorism-related incidents to secret burials for killed terrorists (one lawmaker went as far as to suggest wrapping terrorists' corpses in pigskin and another suggested "carting them around the city with their legs dangling").<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.eng.yabloko.ru/Publ/2002/PAPERS/moscow-times-041102-02.html |title=Duma Votes to Limit News Coverage] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225082346/http://www.eng.yabloko.ru/Publ/2002/PAPERS/moscow-times-041102-02.html |archive-date=25 February 2012 |work=The Moscow Times |date=4 November 2002 |via=[[Yabloko]] }}</ref> The new media law severely restricted the media's reporting of anti-terrorist operations, banning publication or broadcast of "any statement that hinders an operation to break such a siege, or attempts to justify the aims of the hostage-takers".<ref name="warlord"/> These new policies prompted renewed fears in Russia that Putin was systematically taking control of all Russian media.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/media/media_watch/july-dec02/russia_11-13.html |title=Russian Duma Approves Anti-Terror Measures |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110211302/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/media/media_watch/july-dec02/russia_11-13.html |archive-date=10 November 2012 |work=[[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] |date=13 November 2002 }}</ref> [[Sergei Yushenkov]], whose [[Liberal Russia]] party voted against the change, was quoted by [[Reuters]] as saying: "On a wave of emotion, we have in fact legitimised [[censorship]] and practically banned [[criticism]] of the authorities in [[emergency]] situations."<ref name="raid">{{cite news |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/11/01/moscow.web |title=Warlord admits Moscow theatre raid |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080210062504/http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/11/01/moscow.web/ |archive-date=10 February 2008 |work=CNN |date=1 November 2002 }}</ref> Coverage of Chechnya had already been severely restricted, needing the cooperation of both the Russian military and the Moscow-backed Chechen administration (see [[Russian government censorship of Chechnya coverage]]). A law by which corpses of people convicted or accused of terrorism would not be released to their families, but disposed of in secret was approved, applying to the bodies of the militants killed in the Moscow crisis, and later applying even to President Maskhadov, who was killed in 2005.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4349765.stm |title=Russians 'paid Maskhadov bounty' |work=BBC News |date=15 March 2005 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=14 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080814031723/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4349765.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2003, [[Human Rights Watch]] reported Chechens in Moscow were subjected to increased police [[harassment]] after the hostage crisis.<ref name="abc">{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/eca/russia032003.htm |title=On the Situation of Ethnic Chechens in Moscow |work=[[Human Rights Watch]] |date=2003 |access-date=4 December 2016 |archive-date=2 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081102090441/http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/eca/russia032003.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Moscow's Chechens rose in numbers from about 20,000 in the Soviet period to an estimated 80,000 in 2002.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2359451.stm |title=Moscow's Chechens fear siege fall-out |work=BBC News |date=26 October 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=14 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080814031713/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2359451.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Many in the Russian press and in the international media warned that the death of so many hostages in the special forces' rescue operation would severely damage President Putin's popularity. This prediction reportedly turned out to be wrong. Shortly after the siege, the Russian president had record public approval ratings; in December 2002, 83% of Russians reportedly declared themselves satisfied with Putin's rule and his handling of the siege.<ref name="dark">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2565585.stm |title=Moscow siege leaves dark memories |work=BBC News |date=16 December 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=28 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028060245/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2565585.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Investigation==
The official investigation that the Moscow City Prosecutor's Office had been carrying out for three and a half years failed to provide positive information on the gas agent that killed hostages, possible antidote to that agent, the number of hostages released by the operation, the number of militants who had seized the theater (hostages claimed that they saw more than 50 militants, whereas only 40 hostage takers were in the building according to the official version), and the names of officials who had made the decision about the assault.<ref name="investigation"/> On 1 June 2007, news came that the official investigation had been suspended. The reason provided was that the "culprit had not been located".<ref name="investigation">{{cite web|date=1 June 2007|url=http://www.echo.msk.ru/news/377874.phtml|title=Investigation of the case of hostage taking at the Theater Center at Dubrovka in October 2002, was suspended.|work=echo.msk.ru|publisher=[[Echo of Moscow]] News Service|language=ru|access-date=1 June 2007|archive-date=4 November 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071104001253/http://www.echo.msk.ru/news/377874.phtml|url-status=live}}</ref>

The same month, Tatiana Karpova, co-chair of the Nord-Ost Organization of former hostages and families of the dead, demanded a new criminal investigation. She claimed the authorities failed to meet their obligations related to right to life. She stated her concern about the lack of medical care for the injured, and future medical problems for the survivors.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://eng.kavkaz.memo.ru/newstext/engnews/id/1184582.html |title='Nord-Ost' demands new criminal cases |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071028150616/http://eng.kavkaz.memo.ru/newstext/engnews/id/1184582.html |archive-date=28 October 2007 |work=[[Memorial (society)|Memorial]] |date=19 April 2007 }}</ref> In July 2007, relatives of those who died in the hostage-taking urged the Office of the [[Prosecutor General of Russia]] to investigate whether senior officials were responsible for the deaths.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/850/49/195737.htm |title=Dubrovka Relatives Demand Inquiry |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221025649/http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/850/49/195737.htm |archive-date=21 February 2009 |work=The Moscow Times |date=12 July 2007 }}</ref>

===Claims of FSB involvement===
The Duma refused to consider a proposal by the [[liberal democracy|liberal democratic]] [[Union of Rightist Forces]] party to form an investigative commission charged with probing the government's actions in the theater siege.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

An independent investigation of the event was undertaken by Russian politicians [[Sergei Yushenkov]], [[Sergei Kovalev]], journalist [[Anna Politkovskaya]], [[Hoover Institute]] scholar [[John B. Dunlop]], and former FSB officers [[Aleksander Litvinenko]] and [[Mikhail Trepashkin]]. According to their version, the FSB knew about the terrorist group's arrival in Moscow and directed them to the theater through their [[agent provocateur]] [[Khanpasha Terkibayev]] ("Abu Bakar"), whose name was in the list of hostage takers and who left the theater alive.<ref name="part1">{{cite news |url=http://www.rferl.org/a/1342392.html |title=The October 2002 Moscow Hostage-Taking Incident (Part 1) |first=John B. |last=Dunlop |work=[[Radio Free Europe]] Reports |date=18 December 2003 |access-date=8 March 2017 |archive-date=9 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170309062605/http://www.rferl.org/a/1342392.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.rferl.org/a/1342329.html |title=The October 2002 Moscow Hostage-Taking Incident (Part 2) |first=John B. |last=Dunlop |work=Radio Free Europe Reports |date=8 January 2004 |access-date=8 March 2017 |archive-date=9 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170309071959/http://www.rferl.org/a/1342329.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.rferl.org/a/1342330.html |title=The October 2002 Moscow Hostage-Taking Incident (Part 3) |first=John B. |last=Dunlop |work=Radio Free Europe Reports |date=15 January 2004 |access-date=8 March 2017 |archive-date=21 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921095903/https://www.rferl.org/a/1342330.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.rferl.org/reports/rpw/2003/10/43-291003.asp |title=The Moscow Hostage Crisis: one year later |first=John |last=Dunlop |work=Radio Free Europe Reports |date=29 October 2003 |access-date=30 December 2006 |archive-date=15 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070115130451/http://www.rferl.org/reports/rpw/2003/10/43-291003.asp |url-status=live }}</ref> In April 2003 Litvinenko gave information about Terkibayev ("the Terkibayev file") to [[Sergei Yushenkov]] when he visited London. Yushenkov passed this file to Politkovskaya and she was able to interview Terkibayev in person.<ref name="dissident">[[Alexander Goldfarb (microbiologist)|Alex Goldfarb]] and Marina Litvinenko. ''[[Death of a dissident]]: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB'', The Free Press (2007) {{ISBN|1-4165-5165-4}}</ref> A few days later, Yushenkov was assassinated by gunfire in Moscow. Terkibayev was later killed in an apparent car crash in Chechnya.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

In June 2003, Litvinenko stated in an interview with the Australian television programme ''[[Dateline (Australian TV program)|Dateline]]'', that two of the Chechen militants involved in the siege—whom he named "[[Abdul]] the Bloody" and "Abu Bakar"—were working for the FSB, and that the agency manipulated the terrorists into staging the attack.<ref>{{cite web|last=Lazaredes|first=Nick|title=Terrorism takes front stage{{snd}}Russia's theater siege|publisher=SBS|date=4 June 2003|url=http://news.sbs.com.au/dateline/index.php?page=archive&daysum=2003-06-04#|access-date=28 November 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060821223252/http://news.sbs.com.au/dateline/index.php?page=archive&daysum=2003-06-04|archive-date=21 August 2006}}</ref> Litvinenko said: "[w]hen they tried to find [Abdul the Bloody and Abu Bakar] among the rotting corpses of dead terrorists, they weren't there. The FSB got its agents out. So the FSB agents among Chechens organized the whole thing on FSB orders, and those agents were released".<ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050109094437/http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=13&issue_id=596&article_id=4407 |url=http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=13&issue_id=596&article_id=4407 |archive-date=2005-01-09 |title= Dissident lawyer jailed on trumped up charges |work=The Jamestown Foundation |date=13 November 2003 }}</ref> "Abu Bakar" (presumably Terkibayev) was also described as an FSB agent and organizer of the theater siege by [[Anna Politkovskaya]], [[Alexander Khinshtein]] and other journalists.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=atqwMSQBML38&refer=home |title=Litvinenko 'Rebellion' Poses Awkward Questions: Cannes Roundup |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930065321/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=atqwMSQBML38&refer=home |archive-date=30 September 2007 |first=Iain |last=Millar }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=13&issue_id=574&article_id=4199 |archive-date=2004-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040312170143/http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=13&issue_id=574&article_id=4199 |title=Where is 'ABUBAKAR?' |work=The Jamestown Foundation |date=29 May 2003 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://eng.terror99.ru/publications/098.htm |title=Russian Authorities Hedge Over Special Services Involvement In Moscow Theater Siege |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071025042808/http://eng.terror99.ru/publications/098.htm |archive-date=25 October 2007 |first=Anna |last=Politkovskaya |author-link=Anna Politkovskaya |work=[[Novaya Gazeta]] |date=5 May 2003 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hrvc.net/htmls/westcomment.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030205015342/http://www.hrvc.net/htmls/westcomment.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 February 2003|title=Human Rights Violations in Chechnya|date=5 February 2003|publisher=hrvc.net }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1342392.html|title=Corruption Watch|date=18 December 2003|website=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty|access-date=21 September 2017|archive-date=21 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921144203/https://www.rferl.org/a/1342392.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?idr=1&id=520293 |title=Chechen Bank Formation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930191822/http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?idr=1&id=520293 |archive-date=30 September 2007 |first=Alek |last=Akhundov |work=[[Kommersant]] |date=28 October 2004 }}</ref> Sanobar Shermatova and a co-author had pointed out in "Moskovskie novosti" that Terkibaev had for a number of years been involved in "anti-Wahhabi" activities.<ref name="Rferl Dunlop 08_01_04">{{cite web|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1342329.html|title=Corruption Watch|date=8 January 2004|website=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty|access-date=21 September 2017|archive-date=21 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921143848/https://www.rferl.org/a/1342329.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

John Dunlop identifies "Abu Bakar" as Ruslan Elmurzaev, claimed by Mikhail Trepaskin to have been a resident of Moscow, not Chechnya, and to have been involved in various criminal activities operating out of the Hotel Salyut in Moscow. There were reports that Elmurzaev had not been killed in the storming of the theater. Film director Sergei Govorukhin, one of the volunteer negotiators at Dubrovka, has said that he is convinced that Elmurzaev, who he identified as an FSB agent, is still alive. Russian prosecutors were unable to show Elmurzaev's corpse and during a visit to Chechnya in October 2003, Russian intelligence officers confirmed to him that Elmurzaev was alive and well and living in Chechnya.<ref name="Rferl Dunlop">{{cite web|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1344376.html|title=Russia Report: October 29, 2003|website=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty|date=29 October 2003|access-date=21 September 2017|archive-date=21 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921095810/https://www.rferl.org/a/1344376.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The titular leader of the hostage takers was one Movsar Baraev, the nephew of the late and infamous "[[Wahhabism|Wahhabi]] kidnapper" Arbi Baraev, a figure reported to have shadowy connections to both the FSB and GRU. In January 2003, the French journalist Anne Nivat reported that Baraev had been arrested two months before the hostage-taking incident. This information being true, Baraev was already in Russian custody when the theater siege occurred. Nivat also reported that two of the female hostage takers were also in Russian custody at the time of the siege while late Duma Deputy Yurii Shchekochikhin wrote that another female hostage taker was in custody at the time.<ref name="Rferl Dunlop"/>

That "Abu Bakar" was in control and not Baraev was supported by an article in "Moskovskie novosti" by journalists Shermatova and Teit, in which it was reported that a hushed conversation between Abu Bakar and Baraev had been accidentally captured by NTV. Baraev declared that the hostage takers had been sent by Shamil Basaev only to be quietly corrected by Abu Bakar to add 'Aslan Maskhadov', in order to link the latter to the hostage taking.<ref name="Rferl Dunlop 08_01_04"/> As an evidence against Maskhadov, Russians cited a tape first shown on Al Jazeera and subsequently on Russian television, although only a fragment of the original tape was shown on Russian TV. On the original full length tape it was evident that it had been made in late summer, not in October, and had concerned a military operation against federal forces, not an act of hostage taking.<ref name="Rferl Dunlop 08_01_04"/> Nevertheless, Maskhadov had been discredited although there is no credible evidence to link him with the siege. In the end, it could be said that both the Russian government and the Chechen extremists had achieved their goals; talk of negotiations had ended and Maskhadov's reputation had been damaged.<ref name="Rferl Dunlop"/>

There is also the figure of Arman Menkeev, a retired major in the GRU and a specialist in making explosive devices. He was arrested by the Interior Ministry in November 2002 at the Moscow Oblast base allegedly used by the terrorists but was released shortly afterwards. He may have subsequently been rearrested but was not charged with a crime and is apparently not in custody. FSB officers, who interrogated Menkeev in Lefortovo prison, classified him as "loyal to the Russian government", adding that "He knows how to keep a military and state secret".<ref name="Rferl Dunlop"/> The plastic explosive used by the terrorists was in fact "imitation plastic explosives" which had a "Ministry of Defense origin". The Moscow City Prosecutor's Office claimed that Menkeev could have been the source of this material.<ref name="Rferl Dunlop 15_01_04">{{cite web|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1342330.html|title=Corruption Watch|date=15 January 2004|website=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty|access-date=21 September 2017|archive-date=21 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921095903/https://www.rferl.org/a/1342330.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Apart from two suicide belts, which were more of a danger to the wearers, the bombs placed in the theater (and elsewhere in Moscow prior to the siege) lacked essential elements like batteries; this provided the required conditions for the successful storming of the theater.<ref name="Rferl Dunlop"/>

===Moscow lawsuit and the European Court complaint===
After the siege, 61 former hostages sought [[Damages|compensation]] for physical and emotional suffering totaling almost US$60 million from Moscow city authorities. According to Russia's then-new anti-terrorism law, the region where an act of terror occurs should pay compensation for moral and material damages.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/lawsuits-begin-into-deadly-moscow-hostage-taking-1.383429|title=Lawsuits begin into deadly Moscow hostage-taking|publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]]|date=16 January 2003|access-date=14 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201002190036/https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/lawsuits-begin-into-deadly-moscow-hostage-taking-1.383429|archive-date=2 October 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0122/p07s01-woeu.html|title=In Moscow, a test case for government accountability|first=Fred|last=Weir|date=22 January 2003|journal=The Christian Science Monitor|access-date=30 May 2008|archive-date=24 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524122756/http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0122/p07s01-woeu.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0122/p07s01-woeu.html |title=In Moscow, a test case for government accountability |work=The Christian Science Monitor |date=22 January 2003 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=24 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524122756/http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0122/p07s01-woeu.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov's office denounced the suits, saying it could not be held responsible as "the Chechen issue and its consequences are not within the jurisdiction of the Moscow authorities in any way."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2537301.stm |title=Moscow hostages bring lawsuit |work=BBC News |date=3 December 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=13 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813034733/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2537301.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> The Moscow administration earlier agreed to pay 50,000 roubles ($1,570) in compensation to each former hostage and 100,000 roubles ($3,140) to relatives of those killed.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2512793.stm |title=Hostages sue Moscow for millions |work=BBC News |date=25 November 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=13 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813050129/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2512793.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> In all but one of the cases, Moscow city courts rejected the compensation claims.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2688419.stm |title=Moscow theatre siege claims rejected |work=BBC News |date=23 January 2003 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=13 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813053241/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2688419.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

In July 2003, 80 plaintiffs from Russia, Ukraine, the Netherlands, and Kazakhstan turned to the European Court for Human Rights, claiming that their right to life had been violated by Russian authorities' handling of the standoff.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3104467.stm |title=Moscow terror victims fight ruling |work=BBC News |date=28 July 2003 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=13 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813053239/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3104467.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> In April 2007, Igor Trunov, the claimants' advocate, reported that the ECHR had finally begun hearings into a complaint filed in 2003 by the victims against the Russian government. Trunov added that not only Russian citizens, but also those from Ukraine, the Netherlands, and Kazakhstan, filed complaints in the [[Strasbourg]] Court.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://eng.kavkaz.memo.ru/newstext/engnews/id/1183981.html |title=European Court accepts applications of Dubrovka terror act victims |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926232924/http://eng.kavkaz.memo.ru/newstext/engnews/id/1183981.html |archive-date=26 September 2007 |work=[[Memorial (society)|Memorial]] |date=13 April 2007 }}</ref> The plaintiffs demand €50,000 each in compensation for the violation of their human rights.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} The case was accepted by the court in December 2007.

On 8 July 2008, ''[[The Moscow Times]]'' reported<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/1010/42/368750.htm |title= Dubrovka Proceedings Will Be Closed |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080814165006/http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/1010/42/368750.htm |archive-date=14 August 2008 |work=The Moscow Times |date=7 July 2008 }}</ref> that the hearings at the European Court of Human Rights will be closed to the public at the request of Russian authorities as, according to Igor Trunov, they "have promised full disclosure on how they handled the crisis", including "the makeup of the knockout gas used in the storming of the theater by commandos."{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}

On 20 December 2011, the European Court of Human Rights published its judgement in the case, ordering Russia to pay the 64 applicants a total of 1.3 million euros in compensation. The court also found that Russia had violated Article 2 of the [[European Convention on Human Rights]] when handling the hostage crisis, "with inadequate planning and conduct of the rescue operation", and with the "authorities' failure to conduct an effective investigation into the rescue operation", although the Court found that there had been "no violation of Article 2 of the Convention on account of the decision by the authorities to resolve the hostage crisis by force and to use the gas."<ref>{{cite report |url=https://www.globalhealthrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Finogenov-v.-Russia.pdf |title=Case of Finogenov and Others v. Russia |work=[[European Court of Human Rights]] |date=20 December 2011 |access-date=14 September 2019 |archive-date=12 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312112512/https://www.globalhealthrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Finogenov-v.-Russia.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Chemical agent mystery and subsequent identification===
{{Main|Moscow hostage crisis chemical agent}}
It was reported that efforts to treat victims were complicated because the Russian government refused to inform doctors what type of gas had been used. In the records of the official investigation, the agent is referred to as a "gaseous substance". In other cases, it is referred to as an "unidentified chemical substance".<ref>Conclusions of forensic examination commission. Volumes 30–33 of the criminal case.</ref>

The Russian Federation, as a member-state of the [[Chemical Weapons Convention]], undertook "never and under no circumstances to carry out any activities prohibited to member-states of this Convention to develop, to accumulate, to stockpile and to use chemical weapons that can cause death, temporary incapacitation, or permanent harm to humans or animals."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2368077.stm |title=Was the gas legal? |work=BBC News |date=28 October 2002 |access-date=30 May 2008 |archive-date=13 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813065329/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2368077.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> The Convention obliges the states to fulfill the conditions of toxic chemicals' use that allow to exclude or considerably reduce the degree of injury and gravity of consequences. (The Convention allows the use of some chemical agents like [[tear gas]] for "law enforcement including domestic [[riot control]]", but requires that "riot control agents" have effects that "disappear within a short time following termination of exposure."<ref name="aftermath"/>)

Analysis of drug residue from the clothing of two British hostages and the urine of a third British hostage, by a team of researchers at the British chemical and biological defense laboratories at [[Porton Down]], [[Wiltshire]], [[England]], indicated that two fentanyl derivatives had been used. Neither of those two were [[fentanyl]] or [[3-methylfentanyl]] (the Russian Minister of Health earlier said that fentanyl or one of its derivatives had been used, but did not specify which derivatives).{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

The Porton Down analysis by James R. Riches and his colleagues showed that while fentanyl or 3-methylfentanyl were absent from the urine of one survivor and residues of the agent in the clothing of two other British survivors, the veterinary large animal sedative drug [[carfentanil]] and anesthetic agent [[remifentanil]] were identified by liquid chromatographic [[tandem mass spectrometry]] in one hostage's urine and on the clothing of three hostages who had returned to Britain after the hostage rescue. The authors concluded that carfentanil and remifentanil were used as a mixture in the chemical agent employed by Russian troops to subdue the Chechen terrorists and hostages at the Barricade Theater, perhaps suspended in the anesthetic agent [[halothane]].<ref name="Riches et al"/>

==International reaction==

*{{flagicon|UN}} [[United Nations]]{{snd}}In unanimously adopting [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1440|Resolution 1440]] (2002), the [[United Nations Security Council]] condemned the attack and demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. The council also expressed their sympathies and condolences to the victims, Russian people, and government of Russia, and urged all states to cooperate with Russian authorities in bringing those responsible to justice.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/sc7545.doc.htm|title=SECURITY COUNCIL CONDEMNS 'HEINOUS' MOSCOW HOSTAGE-TAKING, DEMANDS IMMEDIATE, UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE – Meetings Coverage and Press Releases|publisher=[[United Nations]]|access-date=29 June 2017|archive-date=21 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021202545/http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/sc7545.doc.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
*{{flagcountry|Ba'athist Iraq}}{{snd}}Iraqi President [[Saddam Hussein]] condemned the attack in a television broadcast, arguing it would ultimately benefit the United States and [[Israel]] in undermining [[Islam]]: "It's not wise for the Chechens to lose the sympathy of Russia and the Russian people. The [[tyrant]] of our era is [[Zionism]] and America, and not Russia, [[China]] or [[India]]."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://en.people.cn/200210/26/eng20021026_105686.shtml |title=Saddam Says Moscow Hostage-taking Undermines Islam |work=[[People's Daily]] |date=26 October 2002 |access-date=14 September 2019 |archive-date=9 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309145728/http://en.people.cn/200210/26/eng20021026_105686.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>

==In popular culture==
In 2003, HBO broadcast ''Terror in Moscow'', a documentary directed by Dan Reed. Interviews with hostages and footage taken inside and outside the theater during the crisis are shown.<ref>{{cite news|title=Terror in Moscow: Transcript |url=http://www.onthemedia.org/2003/oct/24/terror-in-moscow/transcript/ |access-date=30 December 2012 |newspaper=On the Media |date=24 October 2003 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130317054635/http://www.onthemedia.org/2003/oct/24/terror-in-moscow/transcript/ |archive-date=17 March 2013 }}</ref>

In 2004 a documentary by the [[BBC Horizon|BBC's ''Horizon'']] investigated the gas that was pumped into the theater.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2004/moscowtheatre.shtml |title=The Moscow Theatre Siege |work=[[BBC]] |date=23 December 2008 |access-date=24 December 2008 |archive-date=2 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090402195155/http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2004/moscowtheatre.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>

A Russian DLC released in 2005 for ''[[Postal 2]]'' known as "Штопор ЖжОт" (''Corkscrew Rules'') contains a reference to the attack, in a mission where the protagonist must defend himself from terrorists and police during an attack in a theater.

The 2006 play ''In Your Hands'' is based on the events of the Moscow theater siege, written by [[Natalia Pelevine]], opened in London at the [[New End Theatre]]. In April 2008, Pelevine said that Russian authorities had banned the play following its Russian debut in the city of [[Makhachkala]], the capital of [[Dagestan]] near Chechnya.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/play-about-chechen-hostage-takers-shut-down-1.699950 |title=Russian officials shut down play about Chechen hostage-takers |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080519154402/http://www.cbc.ca/arts/theatre/story/2008/04/12/chechen-play-banned.html |archive-date=19 May 2008 |work=CBC News |url-status=live |date=12 April 2008 }}</ref>

The play ''We Declare You a Terrorist'', by Tim J. Lord and based upon the attack, premiered at the 2009 [[Summer Play Festival]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spfnyc.com/festival/show.cfm?id=83 |title=SPF/NYC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090629214339/http://www.spfnyc.com/festival/show.cfm?id=83 |archive-date=29 June 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://newplayexchange.org/users/1636/tim-j-lord|title=Tim J. Lord &#124; New Play Exchange|access-date=2 September 2020|archive-date=29 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029080615/https://newplayexchange.org/users/1636/tim-j-lord|url-status=live}}</ref>

The 2015 first-person shooter game ''[[Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege]]'' cites the crisis and FSB response as an inspiration for their hostage rescue game mode.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Campbell |first1=Colin |title=How Rainbow Six: Siege takes inspiration from real life hostage rescues |url=https://www.polygon.com/2014/10/21/7033719/how-rainbow-six-siege-takes-inspiration-from-real-life-hostage-rescues |website=Polygon |date=21 October 2014 |access-date=6 January 2022 |archive-date=9 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171209100008/https://www.polygon.com/2014/10/21/7033719/how-rainbow-six-siege-takes-inspiration-from-real-life-hostage-rescues |url-status=live }}</ref>

Part III Episode 6 of the [[Netflix]] Spanish drama series ''[[Money Heist]]'' (''La Casa de Papel'') contains spoken references to the theater crisis and the use of halothane gas, with critique of Putin's indifference to the fates of the hostages and hostage-takers. In the series, Spanish authorities eventually use halothane gas to assault a bank during a hostage crisis.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

In Season 1 Episode 9 of ''[[FBI: International]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16265948/?ref_=tt_eps_top |title="FBI:International" One Kind of Madman(aired Jan 4, 2022) |website=[[IMDb]] |access-date=21 January 2022 |archive-date=21 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121033839/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16265948/?ref_=tt_eps_top |url-status=live }}</ref> Bulgarian authorities nearly use poison gas to resolve a terrorist hostage-taking in a theater in [[Sofia]], which the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], sent to assist Bulgarian authorities, strongly objects to. The standoff is ultimately resolved without the gas being deployed.

The 2020 film ''Conference (Конференция'') follows theater crisis survivor Natasha (Natalya Pavlenko) who returns to the theater to hold a memorial, finally able to confront her survivor's guilt and her estranged daughter and husband. The film is by Russian writer and director Igor I. Tverdovskiy.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 14, 2022 |title=Conference |url=http://vegafilm.ru/conference |access-date=September 14, 2022 |website=Vega |archive-date=14 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914190926/http://vegafilm.ru/conference |url-status=live }}</ref>

Christopher Nolan's movie ''[[Tenet (film)|Tenet]]'', released in August 2020, opens with a prologue that fans and critics have speculated is based on the attack.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rumor: Christopher Nolan's Tenet Inspired By The 2002 Moscow Hostage Crisis?|url=http://www.appocalypse.co/entertainment/nolan-tenet-2002-moscow-hostage-crisis-rumor/|access-date=2020-09-02|website=Appocalypse|language=en-US|archive-date=10 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810105148/http://www.appocalypse.co/entertainment/nolan-tenet-2002-moscow-hostage-crisis-rumor/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-05-23|title='Tenet' Trailer Explained: What Is Time Inversion?|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/tenet-trailer-explained-what-is-time-inversion-1295736|access-date=2020-09-02|website=www.hollywoodreporter.com|language=en|archive-date=23 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923173033/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/heat-vision/tenet-trailer-explained-what-is-time-inversion-1295736|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=How 'Tenet' Prologue Sets Up a Time-Bending Story {{!}} Hollywood Reporter|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/tenet-imax-prologue-shows-a-time-bending-mission-1264421|access-date=2020-09-02|website=www.hollywoodreporter.com|date=20 December 2019|archive-date=24 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200824091557/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/tenet-imax-prologue-shows-a-time-bending-mission-1264421|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=My Thoughts on the IMAX Prologue of Christoper Nolan's Tenet|url=https://www.outoflives.net/2019/12/23/my-thoughts-on-the-imax-prologue-of-christoper-nolans-tenet/|access-date=2020-09-02|website=Out Of Lives|date=23 December 2019|language=en-GB|archive-date=27 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027122357/https://www.outoflives.net/2019/12/23/my-thoughts-on-the-imax-prologue-of-christoper-nolans-tenet/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tiltmagazine.net/film/tenet-lands-not-with-a-bang-but-a-whimper/|access-date=2020-09-02|website=tiltmagazine.net|title=Tenet Lands Not with a Bang but a Whimper|date=26 August 2020|archive-date=28 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200828022259/https://tiltmagazine.net/film/tenet-lands-not-with-a-bang-but-a-whimper/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Russia}}
*[[List of hostage crises]]
*[[Crocus City Hall attack]]
{{Clear}}

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L8jpAQAACAAJ |title=The 2002 Dubrovka and 2004 Beslan Hostage Crises: A Critique of Russian Counter-Terrorism |author=John B. Dunlop |isbn=3-89821-608-X|year=1984 }}
*[http://www.pravdabeslana.ru/nordost/dokleng.htm Report on the crisis and legal proceedings]. Published 26 April 2006 ([http://www.pravdabeslana.ru/nordost/nordost.htm with appendices in Russian]). {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027055225/http://geocities.com/svetlana.gubareva/appendix/ |date=27 October 2009 |title=Appendices translation }}
*{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2357109.stm |title=Chechen rebels' hostage history |work=BBC News |date=1 September 2004 }}
*[http://www.nord-ost.org/index.php?lang=en Nord-Ost. Memorial Book of Lost Hostages. Above site in English, winner of 2007 'Golden Site' award.]
*{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2358667.stm |title=In quotes: Moscow hostage crisis |work=BBC News |date=25 October 2002 }}}
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2363507.stm Moscow hostage crisis: timeline]. BBC News. 26 October 2002.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080814164946/http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/850/49/242572.htm The Hostage Crisis From Start to Finish]. ''[[The Moscow Times]]''. 28 October 2002.
*{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/28/chechnya.russia6 |title=Moscow theatre siege |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=28 October 2002 }}
*{{cite news |url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2056184,00.html |title=Theater of War |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=28 October 2002 }}
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2362609.stm Moscow theatre siege]. BBC News. 4 November 2002.
*[https://www.rferl.org/a/1342392.html The October 2002 Moscow Hostage-Taking Incident]. [[Radio Free Europe]]. 18 December 2003 (Parts [http://www.rferl.org/reports/corruptionwatch/2004/01/1-080104.asp 2] and [http://www.rferl.org/reports/corruptionwatch/2004/01/2-150104.asp 3]).

==External links==
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2004/moscowtheatretrans.shtml The Moscow Theatre Siege&nbsp;– transcript]. BBC. 15 January 2004.

{{Chechen wars}}
{{Islamic terrorism in Europe}}

[[Category:Moscow theater hostage crisis| ]]
[[Category:2002 in Moscow]]
[[Category:2002 in theatre]]
[[Category:21st-century mass murder in Russia]]
[[Category:Attacks on theatres]]
[[Category:Chemical weapons attacks]]
[[Category:Events in Moscow]]
[[Category:Hostage rescue operations]]
[[Category:Hostage taking in Russia]]
[[Category:Islamic terrorism in Russia]]
[[Category:Islamic terrorist incidents in 2002]]
[[Category:Massacres committed by Russia]]
[[Category:Massacres in 2002]]
[[Category:Massacres in the Chechen–Russian conflict]]
[[Category:Murder in Moscow]]
[[Category:October 2002 in Russia]]
[[Category:Russian special forces operations]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Moscow]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Russia in 2002]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents of the Second Chechen War]]