UN · BARBOUILLEUR

The Moscow theater hostage crisis was the seizure of a crowded Moscow theatre on October 23, 2002 by about 40 armed Chechen Special Purpose Islamic Regiment (SPIR) militants who claimed allegiance to the separatist movement in Chechnya. They took 850 hostages and demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya and an end to the Second Chechen War.

After a two-and-a-half day siege, Russian OSNAZ forces pumped unknown gas into the building's ventilation system and raided it. Officially, 39 of the terrorists were killed by Russian forces, along with at least 129 of the hostages (nine of them foreigners). Some estimates have put the civilian death toll at more than 200,[1] with 204 names on one list.[2]

A similar hostage-taking by Chechen extremists occurred in September 2004, during the Beslan school hostage crisis, resulting in the death of more than 300 people.



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find here articles about ANNA POLITKOVSKAYA(russian journalist and human rights activist well known for her opposition to the Chechen conflict and Russian president Putin. )



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