Age 38; Russia, Moscow.

On October 26th, 2002, the life of this 38-year-old, intelligent, beautiful, and amiable woman was senselessly ended.  She spent her last days at the theatrical complex on Melnikov Street in Moscow, among the hostages seized by terrorists on October 23rd.

Svetlana Hasenovna Apsheva had only just started to work at the Russian Red Cross as head accountant.  A person with such a soft, warm character and such a wide range of professional knowledge, and with such a strong work ethic, does not require long to have a great effect on her new collective, and to occupy an honored place in it.

Svetlana Hasenovna was born into a military family in Nalchik, and graduated from the KBGU (Kabardino-Balkarsk state university) with honors in accounting.  She later attended a different college at this same university and received a doctorate in law.

Seventeen years ago she moved to Moscow and worked as a senior accountant in the central department of the ‘Knowledge’ society, then later as financial director and legal economist in a number of commercial establishments.  While working she raised a daughter, Zhantina, who was born in 1986.

Our deepest sympathies go out to her daughter, parents, and all the relatives and loved ones of our coworker, who so tragically lost her life.

Written by her colleagues at the Russian Red Cross,

in the Russian Red Cross magazine ROKK #6, 2002.

Svetlana Apsheva graduated from the college of economics and jurisprudence at KBGU.  She worked for several Moscow firms, but in her last years she was chief accountant for the Russian Committee of the Red Cross.

Svetlana’s daughter, a student in a Moscow university, was supposed to go to the musical ‘Nord-Ost’ on October 23rd.  On that evening, however, the girl had to be at the institute, and so her mother and her mother’s friend Fatima Shakova went instead.

At about 11 p.m. Zhantina received a call from the Red Cross and was told that her mother was among the hostages.  Svetlana later called her daughter several times, asking her not to worry and not to say anything about what was happening to her grandparents, who lived in Nalchik.

Svetlana Apsheva for several years worked for a Russian-German firm that employed many former residents of Chechnya.  They contacted the most famous representatives of the Chechen Diaspora living in Moscow, but the hostage-takers in the theatrical center would not listen to them.  The terrorists would not communicate with representatives of the Russian Red Cross, either.  Employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Russia made attempts to free Svetlana, but these were also unsuccessful.

Zhantina received the last phone call from ‘Nord-Ost’ in her apartment on the night of October 25th.  At first she heard the voice of one of the terrorists.  Svetlana later came on the line and asked her daughter, once again, not to worry.  “I love you, and I’m proud of your!”  These were her last words.

According to Zhantina, she searched for Svetlana, along with her father and workers from the Red Cross, in every hospital, and called everywhere: “I got a call from our acquaintance, a colonel in the interior ministry, and he said that there was one more number where I could out find something.  It was hard getting through, and later they asked me to describe what Mama was wearing.  I told them.  A little later they told us that a woman matching her description was in Morgue #11 and that we could come identify her.  Papa and Mama’s girlfriend went to the morgue.  On the death certificate that they gave them at the morgue, in the block for cause of death it stated: ‘cause to be determined’.”

On the evening of October 28th, the body of Svetlana Apsheva was brought to Nalchik by airplane.  On the 29th she was buried in the new Moslem cemetery at Strelka.

Comments (3)

3. Фонд С. Апшевой Written by Светлана Алхасова , on 17-03-2011 19:41 Создан благотворительный фонд памяти Светланы Апшевой, погибшей 26 октября 2002 года во время штурма театрального центра в Москве на Дубровке, захваченного террористами. Светлана была сотрудником Российского комитета Красного Креста. Цель фонда — помощь людям с ограниченными физическими и умственными способностями. В планах — проведение спортивных соревнований, концертов с участием звезд кабардино-балкарского музыкального искусства и других акций, которые могут приносить средства, необходимые для осуществления благотворительных целей Report

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