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| Grishin, Alexey |
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Ïàìÿòè Àëåêñåÿ Äìèòðèåâè÷à Ãðèøèíà Ñâåòëàÿ ïàìÿòü ïðåêðàñíîìó ÷åëîâåêó! Ìû ðàáîòàëè â ÃÌÏÑ, òîãäà îí áûë ìîëîäûì íà÷àëüíèêîì îòäåëà ìåòàëëîâ, ïîäàþùèì áîëü... |
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| Panteleev, Denis |
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| Bochkov, Alexei |
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Òåððàêò â Ïàëåñòèíå, Ñåêòîð Ãàçà Ñåãîäíÿ â ãðàæäàíñêóþ áîëüíèöó Ïàëåñòèíû ïðèëåòåëà ðàêåòà, ïîãèáëè äî 1000 ÷åëîâåê, âåñü ìèð âçáóäîðàæåí. È ÿ îêàçàëñÿ í... |
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| author Àíäðåé |
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| 04/09/23 22:05 more... |
| author Åëåíà |
| Hostage Georgi Vasilyev tells his story |
| Written by Âàëåðèé Êè÷èí | |
| Ñðåäà, 30 Îêòÿáðü 2002 | |
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There is more of October 30th, 2002. Georgiy Vasilev in an exclusive interview with ‘Rossiyskaya Gazeta’ tells how it was The tragedy that unfolded at Dubrovka over the course of three days has already been described many times, but we have always watched the events through the eyes of those outside the building. Now it is possible to see it all through the eyes of the man who spent those days among the hostages, the man who tried to change their fate. This exclusive interview given by Georgiy Vasilyev, one of the writers and producers of - Where were you when you were caught by the invasion of the terrorists, and what was your first reaction? Alexei Ivashchenko and I were working in the recording studio on the third floor, when our manager rushed from the stage and said that there was shooting going on in the auditorium. My first reaction, naturally, was to rush back there and see what was going on, to do something to help, because how can there be shooting in the theater? I ran to the first floor and found our fireman shouting at some unknown people, who were dressed in black: “Stop trying to frighten us! I can see that those are blanks, I known the smell!” But when the first bullets started hitting things, we knew that it was a serious thing and so I rushed into the auditorium. — Could you have run outside and saved yourself? I did save myself. As a matter of fact, I made it onto the last train car. Had I hesitated even a little, I would never have gotten into the hall. Every second counted, and fortunately I succeeded. Had I not been able to, I would have been shot or forced out of the building. I had to run somewhere: either into the hall, or out of the building. So I ran into the hall. — Okay. What was going on in the hall? By this time everyone was already sitting very still in there, because a cordon of people dressed in black surrounded the audience. They were mostly women, with guns and grenades in their hands, and they had packages of explosives attached to their belts. I had no choice but to sit on the outer edge (of the crowd) and try to inject myself into the situation and to get in contact with the terrorists. This turned out to be rather simple, because very quickly they needed me. After all, the theater building is a complex structure and has many dangers for those unfamiliar with theatrical equipment and who do not know how to work with it. Naturally, the problems began almost immediately. For example, they suddenly found that one of the big heavy pieces of equipment that they used to barricade the stage doors had thick smoke coming out, and they did not know what it was. It was a machine for generating smoke on stage. The terrorists were forced to appeal to the auditorium: “Anyone here know what to do with this thing?” — In principle, you found yourself in the role of the captain of a hijacked vessel. In principle, yes, and it is fortunate that I was able to spend all those difficult hours together with the people whom I lured, so to speak, into the hall, who had gathered for the play. So, I was supposed to be with these people, and with our actors and orchestra members. — Did you try to negotiate with the captors? I was the only person in the hall who had an opportunity to speak to them, for the simple reason that they needed me all the time. I tried all the time to increase my sphere of influence, and already the next episode showed that one could get some concessions out of them. It was when the lighting filters started to smoke and burn. The computer for lighting was put into standby mode, and the filters were not designed for such a long exposure to the powerful lamps. There was a burning smell, and people got scared. The terrorists at first acted tough, but I described to them how awful it would be if the theater caught fire, and how they would not even have time to put forward their political demands — everyone instead would die senselessly in a matter of minutes. Using this pressure I managed to get from them a — Were your artists in the hall with everyone? Yes. Fortunately, our girls managed to escape from the building. They were really helped by Alexei Ivashchenko. He barricaded the door to the dressing room and most artists not involved early in the second act managed to climb down from the windows on costumes they tied together. — Did the terrorists listen to you? Were you able to influence them? Yes. Not right away, of course. I was always testing to what extent was possible: could we make another small step, and then another? They were grabbing me literally every forty minutes. They always had some problem. At one point they wanted to know what was behind this big door on the stage. This was the entrance to the — Did you manage to get something done? A lot. I managed, for example, to completely get rid of the fire hazard. After all, there was a moment when the hall caught fire. — From the lighting? No, there is a story that goes with this. Our biggest problem was with the toilets. There were not enough terrorists to monitor all the entrances and exits to the building, and so they tried to stay inside the hall, or as close to it as they could. In the hall they had weapons of influence: a powerful bomb in the middle of the main seating that they were going to detonate if anything happened. In essence, this bomb was their only serious defense. They knew very little about the building. They did not know all the exits, or about the set up in the basements, ceilings, catwalks, and galleries. Therefore they tried to keep everyone inside the hall. There were 200 or 250 people on the balcony and 600 in the main seating. The people on the balcony had it easier: there were toilets nearby. But the people in the main seating were categorically denied access to these. I soon found out that the terrorists were using the premises as a toilet. It was clear that for the people in the main seating this would soon be an intractable problem. I suggested that they use for this purpose an inside service stairway, but the terrorists once again refused, citing a shortage of manpower and the inability to control it all, since the access to the stairs was too far away from the hall. So they insisted on using the orchestra pit as a toilet. For me the very thought was unbearable. I do not even know how to explain it. — That is understandable. I suggested another option: take a piece of the scenery from the stage and make two stalls, for male and female toilets. There on stage were hatches that sewage could drain three meters down, but they refused, again pointing out difficulty in controlling the stage. So all the men and women had to use the orchestra pit, and you can just imagine how this turned out. Within a few hours it was truly ungodly, and it was an incredible mental and physical torment, because the terrorists did not allow everyone to use it all the time. There was one heartbreaking scene where this little girl was sitting there and looking at the stinking pit with imploring eyes, then looked askance at this relentless Chechen woman, who said: “Sit and be patient, like I’m sitting!” But the little girl begged: “I’ve not been to the bathroom for two days, please let me.” It was all torture. The pit very quickly turned into a horrible cesspool, with blood mixed with feces. God help anyone who had to suffer this. Then, on the second day, it caught fire. The fact is, we could not completely turn off the lights in the pit, because it would have been too dark, so for lighting we used the orchestra console lights. An extension cord shorted out on one of the music stands and the fire spread to the wiring and from the wiring to sheets of music. Thank God we had the chief of the lighting shop, Sasha Fedyakin. He shut down the power to the pit and brought a fire extinguisher so the fire could be extinguished. There were a lot of situations like this. — How did people behave? Some stoically endured everything, and I would say, heroically, while others panicked. Many were crying all the time. — Did they help each other? There were absolutely amazing moments of self-sacrifice. Next to me were sitting two of the musicians from our orchestra: Sasha and her husband Zhenya. He has a Ukrainian passport, and she is Russian. Ukrainians were considered foreigners, and they promised to release them, and Sasha kept pushing her husband to show his passport and kept trying to say: “He’s a foreigner!” But he would not budge: “Shut up, I’m not going anywhere without you.” I recall with horror the drama that unfolded right next to me, because Zhenya eventually died. — What happened up on the balcony? They had it a little easier on the one hand, because they were still allowed to use the restrooms, but on the other hand there were less of them and our child actors were sitting up there, 11 of them, and we had no communication with them up there. Though it is true that our teachers were up there, supporting them, and a huge thanks to them. In the main seating our actors kept a stiff upper lip and tried to reassure the audience: “Make sure you don’t lose you tickets when we get out of here. We’ll certainly finish the play for you!” They told their neighbors how further events in the play would unfold, and supported others as best they could. — There was a problem with water, but since the theater snack bars had food and beverages, did the terrorists try to feed people? It was like giving out a few teacakes. From time to time out walks a Chechen and he tosses some chocolate or gum or hands out a couple of 200-ml bottles of Pepsi — and that was it for almost a thousand people in the hall! We can assume that for three days people hardly ate or drink, and this dehydration increased the effect of the gas. — They tried to help from the outside. Did any of this assistance get to you? I still cannot understand why help took so long, came so late, and why they did not bring what we asked for. On the very first day I managed to send a long list of what we needed. We primarily needed hygienic towels and disinfectants for the orchestra pit. We needed water, just plain ordinary water. I did not even ask for food. I asked for that, which was most urgently needed: stomach and heart medication. Unfortunately, we did not get any of this, and what we did get was not quite right. The impression we got, of course, was that the people making the decisions were not concerned primarily with the fate of the hostages. — Were you able to communicate with those who came in from outside? With Professor Roshal? No, he worked up on the balcony, while I was in the main seating and no one came down there. We carried out the wounded, and I was only able to contact those who took the wounded, representatives of the Red Cross, and Politkovskaya. But what sort of contact can there be, when you are being poked in the back with a rifle butt and they are saying: “Go, go, quickly, quickly, stop looking around!” I only managed to whisper that we needed this or that and I was told that they knew nothing about it. But how could they not know, when I was calling up every headquarters number and dictating a long list? — After your release, did you ask why? No, and I do not want any explanations! I think that it was just our usual bureaucracy, but I am sure that because of this we lost a lot of lives, because if he they had not allowed such severe depletion (of energy) and, most importantly, dehydration, many would have remained alive. — It is known that the terrorists simply did not allow in food and water. Every channel showed how these were carried to the theater building. But they let in the Red Cross! And medicine, and water, and juice. It is just that they did not send what was needed. After all, they could have brought in what we asked for and what we really needed! Do you know what kind of painkillers they sent us? Analgin in ampoules! Not even pills. What could we do with this? I will tell you a very important thing: there was an invisible struggle going on, a tug of war between the hostages and their friends and relatives on the one hand and, say, powerful people who set policy and influenced what information went out through the media. When it was a question about how to resolve the conflict, to storm or not to storm (the theater), and when to do it and by what means, there was a great deal of weight on both sides of the scales. You could choose different options. Some would infringe on our Russian national pride, but they would preserve lives. Some suggested lengthy negotiations, while others were more decisive and willing to take risks. It is clear that it was a difficult decision, but the fate of the theater hostages was in the balance. And the question was: what was the weight of these lives in a political solution, versus a military one? If the media is silent and the public is silent, then these lives bear little weight and can be ignored. So they made a decision that was more politically advantageous. The hostages understood. They also understood that no one but themselves could help them — their relatives and friends who were outside at liberty could not. So they were yelling at their cell phones, appealing to friends, relatives, journalists, and politicians they knew. They asked them to please pay attention and go demonstrate, they begged that there be no assault under any circumstances. They asked them to make concessions and save lives, attempted to draw attention to the fact that there was more than 800 people in the process of drowning. All the time the media underreported the number of hostages: some channels in spite of the obvious insisted that the hall only had a capacity of 300! Finally they launched a vile innuendo that the hostages had fallen victim to ‘Stockholm syndrome’ and had “fallen in love with their tormentors” and so they were carrying out all (the terrorists') instructions. — What outcome would you consider to be correct? I know that professionals would ridicule any scenario that I can describe. They can easily explain why something cannot be done. But, given the number of deaths that we received as a result, given the enormous risk that actually existed, and I was on the inside and I was able to assess this risk, we probably should have found another way. After all, every fourth person was killed. Of the — But the withdrawal of forces is not a million dollars that can be brought over in an hour. It requires many days! But we did not ask them to release us immediately, or at any price. We could have sat a week or two, if it were to save lives. — But they began to shoot the hostages! No, it was not like that. — But all channels broadcast a recording of their conversation: “At 6 am we’ll start shooting, and we’ll start with the ‘juiciest’ ones.” On the eve of the assault no one got shot. They would start shooting only if their conditions were not been met. But what would have prevented us from starting to meet them, at least partially? I heard the official theory about how only after the first shooting and a real threat to the hostages they decided to carry out an operation. I, however, was on the inside: it was the usual gloomy morning. — How could you sit there for another week, if you were not given water? I repeat: a Red Cross delivery was made, so this means that ultimately they would have let in water and everything needed. Understand, everything was terrible, but everyone was ready to undergo new trials if only to reduce the number of deaths. This was the only thing we asked when we called up friends, acquaintances, and journalists, and a huge thank you to everyone who came out on the picket lines and tried to help us and to bring the problem of the attention of the public. Unfortunately, things turned out differently. — How would you rate the assault? It was probably done super-professionally, and I probably I have no right judging the decision of the commanders about what dose of gas to use in the hall. Honor and praise to those who were able to determine how much was needed to put the terrorists to sleep. But I personally know a few people in the hall who were unaffected by the gas, and I can give their names. They remained fully conscious and left the building under their own power. Do you know what that means? Had the terrorists at least one such person, and the probability was high, everything could have ended a lot more deplorably. — The press reported that some of the hostages somehow were able to learn of the impending assault. Were you among those who knew? These warnings, I believe, did us a disservice. It means they did not feel the atmosphere reigning in the hall. More than anything else, people feared an assault! They understood that it was a huge risk. Perhaps they did not realize that anyone would survive, because they thought that any attack would lead to the explosions of the huge bombs and everyone would perish, so for them an attack meant death. Spreading rumors that after the third night they would start shoot hostages and an assault would begin only brought panic, and to spread such rumors is a crime. There could been mass psychosis, hysteria, and who knows how it all would have ended? As for me, the preparations for an assault were quite obvious, from the tone of the media and the politicians who spoke. — You were able to follow all of this? Yes, some had radios, and gossip went from row to row. Secondly, I know the building very well, from the basement to the roof, and I know of a lot of holes that remained open, and through which it would have been possible to attack the terrorists. One could get in through the basement and the ventilation system, and the terrorists could not control the catwalk and galleries. There was a catwalk above a suspended ceiling that could have accommodated at least a company of sharpshooters. The terrorists had no idea what was behind any of the many doors. Their bombs were their only protection, and they threatened to blow them up. It was absolutely clear to me, however, that in this situation no commando could resist the temptation to start an assault. From the media I knew that after the third night there would be shooting, and so I quietly prepared for the assault. When the gas came, I even told people sitting next to me: “Relax, and fall asleep.” And then I passed out. — How did the gas affect you? Bad, because I was sitting right under the air conditioner and got a large dose, but thank God I have strong health and bear stress well. After 10 hours I was resuscitated and came to. It also helped that I was lying by the edge (of the crowd) and was quickly taken outside into the (fresh) air. — How are the children feeling? To what extent has the incident affected their psyche? Unfortunately, I have not yet seen a single child. I think that they are sitting at home and their relatives and friends are fussing over them, and rejoicing in their salvation. It is very difficult for me to talk about it: there were children among the dead, including children from — What do you think, why was I asked this question of the terrorists, and they said: “You’re a Russian musical. More foreigners would go to see ‘Chicago’, but we’re not interested in them. We’re interested in Russian citizens.” Also, our performance was the same every day, so it was easy to watch and learn everything you needed. — I understand that it is too soon to say, but a question of concern to everyone: Honestly, I do not know. I have neither the strength nor the means, and I cannot do anything by myself. There was too much damage. We do not even have the money to pay our employees. Now, as a result of the terrorist attack, we are forced to dismiss the whole Of course, if the city really shows us its support, we can try to restore everything, but for now it is a cursed place, and it will be hard to walk out onto that stage or and get into that orchestra pit, and it will be hard to get spectators to enter the hall. It could probably be overcome by replacing the seating and the banner that was on television the whole time, but it might be better to make But these are all projections, and I gave you just one example. We must support the cast and workers of the show who have been thrown out into the streets. Even here we cannot find understanding. Thus the frontline (of the Chechen War) has passed through the most vital genre of the musical arts — through the first Russian musical. A musical that the people loved because its performances once again restored faith in our country and the greatness of its history. Therefore, |
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