26 2002
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Presenter: Evgeniya Albats Guests: Dmitry Milovidov, Marat Abdrakhimov, and Konstantin Sirotkin E.ALBATS: Good evening. Itis 7:06 and 35seconds in the evening. Thisis radio station ‘Echo of Moscow’ broadcasting on a frequency of 91.2 FM. Hereat the microphone is Evgeniya Albats. Iwill start our traditional Sunday program dedicated to the key events of the week, events that could have lasting effect and influence policies over the next weeks and months. Today we will talk about an event, a tragedy that affected Russian politics in a most radical fashion. Itis Both of them, thank God, survived. Fromthese transcripts it can be seen how they begged: “do anything, just do not attack.” At the same time the authorities, including Mayor Luzhkov, were arguing that they were unable to establish negotiations with the people inside the theater. OnOctober 26th, at 5:30 am, gas was released (into the theater), a secret military gas. Asa result, the terrorists were eliminated, but the gas killed 125hostages. 67people died during the course of the assault and 58others on buses and in hospitals. Thatis how this tragedy was solved. Thencame the ‘Full Monty’: (to the authorities,) of course, the main culprits were the journalists, and so the media screws were tightened and the struggle against extremism began on television and in the newspapers and magazines. Today we will be discussing the tragedy with those who survived. Inour studio is Marat Chulpanovich Abdrakhimov, an actor from the musical M.ABDRAKHIMOV: Good evening. E.ALBATS: And actor Konstantin Sirotkin, also an actor from the musical K.SIROTKIN: Hello. E.ALBATS: Thank you for coming. Alsoin our studio is Dmitry Eduardovich Milovidov, the father of two hostages. AsI understand it, Dmitry, one of your little girls survived, but the other, unfortunately, did not. Isthis correct? D.MILOVIDOV: Yes. Onewas released before the assault, but the second girl seemed too grown up to the militants, so she was left in the hall, and so and my little girl was tossed into a bus, without medical assistance, a bus going nowhere, in which they dumped corpses, hidden from the eyes of the media and the public. E.ALBATS: How old was she? D.MILOVIDOV: Ninochka was 14. E.ALBATS: Accept once again my deepest condolences, and sympathy to all the survivors of this tragedy, those who lost loved ones there and for whom for 5years, and for 10years, 15, 20, this will always remain an open wound. There are many, by the way, those who wrote on the program’s Internet site. Forexample, Maxim Anokhin from Smolensk, a graduate student, he wrote: “What you went through 5years ago is our common grief. Allow me to salute your courage.” Ithink that many of our listeners share these words. Iremind our listeners that you can send your text messages to M.ABDRAKHIMOV: At the very beginning, it was the pilots, the tap dance number, and very funny. Before the second act During intermission we are backstage when the overture starts, and we are in this condition that is, frankly speaking, a bit depressed. Weoften talked about this. Wewere very reluctant to go on stage. Itis very hard to explain, we just did not want to go on stage. E.ALBATS: Was this just before it all? M.ABDRAKHIMOV: Right before it all, so here is the overture. Thecurtain opens and we begin doing what we did every evening. E.ALBATS: You were in that scene, right? M.ABDRAKHIMOV: Yes, we were all in this scene. E.ALBATS: You, Konstantin, you were in this scene? K.SIROTKIN: Yes, among others. M.ABDRAKHIMOV: There were 10, those who were trapped. Bygood fortune practically none of the girls were in this scene. Thegirls were backstage and managed to escape. Theytook off running, and it turns out that in the dressing rooms, where they were, they were behind these steel doors, so they quickly shut them all. There was another exit they could run to, but the terrorists found out about it. Thegirls got there and waited, and then, towards evening, they knotted some costumes into a rope, climbed through the window, and let themselves down. Wewere on stage, however, and down the aisle came a man in camouflage. Iam quite calm, because prior to this it often happened in other theaters that some people in uniform would come in, stop the show, and say that they had information that there was a bomb or something. Wewould go quietly out into the street, wait a half hour, and then people with dogs would come said say that everything was okay and we could continue. Ican remember that happening about five times. SoI am absolutely calm. Iam thinking: well, here it goes again. Butit was something else entirely. Theman climbs onto the stage and starts shouting: “Stop the music.” E.ALBATS: In Russian? M.ABDRAKHIMOV: Yes. And, of course, it is very difficult to stop something like this. There is a large orchestra is playing, a lot of people, and suddenly a burst of automatic weapons fire into the air. Atthat point we certainly stop abruptly. Wedo not understand what is going on. Everyone in the hall is speaking, and Ileave my canister on the stage. E.ALBATS: What kind of canister? M.ABDRAKHIMOV: It was my prop. Wewere flight mechanics and engineers. E.ALBATS: You were pilots, right? M.ABDRAKHIMOV: Yes, pilots. Flight mechanics. Youknow, a certain type of engineer. E.ALBATS: And you, Konstantin, what were you? K.SIROTKIN: Iwas also a mechanic. M.ABDRAKHIMOV: Kostya and Iwere next to each other. Standing. K.SIROTKIN: We were in one group. Wewere three mechanics, and the rest E.ALBATS: You were dancing and singing? M.ABDRAKHIMOV: We were dancing and singing, like they always do in musicals. Ileft this canister, and it ended up in different places. Later the Chechens took it, then someone else, but it was my canister. Andthat was it, we were herded into the auditorium, of course, and immediately it filled up Inevery aisle these female suicide bombers showed up, dressed in black, with their faces covered and holding assault rifles, pistols, and large and small grenades. Theytell us to sit down, and Iremember the audience’s first question: “Is the play supposed to be like this?” E.ALBATS: That is what audience asked? Theythought that this was in the script? M.ABDRAKHIMOV: Yes, yes. Well, who could think at all? Itell them: “No, Ithink that everything is very serious. Everything.” E.ALBATS: How many hours did this go on for you? M.ABDRAKHIMOV: Do you mean, how long were we there? All57 hours. Theone who got up on stage, he begins with political information on what is going on in Chechnya and so forth, and the demands that they have for our government. Right here the people in the audience start to speak: what do we have to do with it? Ifyou have any problems with the government, you should go see the government, go take it hostage. And, of course, right away the problems started: what to do with children? Itwas good that we had a certain number of children, foreign children, small children, right here next to me where Iwas sitting was one. Wesaid right away: “You cannot be older than 7.” So we managed Right away we called his father, and he drove to the theater and got the child and so forth. Soit was that the children who were sitting next to me, we got them out of there quickly. Well, there were long hours of waiting and so forth, and negotiations. E.ALBATS: We will return to that. Konstantin, you also went into the hall, right? Wereyou seated next to Marat? K.SIROTKIN: No, it turned out that Isat in the front row. E.ALBATS: Right next to the orchestra pit? K.SIROTKIN: By the orchestra pit. Andright there on a seat they put a shrapnel bomb, like they had on their belts, it was pointed right at me. Marat was sitting on two or three rows back. M.ABDRAKHIMOV: All the other guys, who were playing pilots, they were sitting in a completely different sector, and, as it turned out, unfortunately for them. Themechanics went in one direction, while the pilots in another. Iwas cussing at myself, and Ithought: “Well, why the hell am Isitting in the front row? Ishould be as far away as possible from this bomb.” Although, frankly, as soon as they were afraid of anything, right next to me there was always some woman with a suicide belt standing there, always next to me. Ourfatigue uniforms infuriated them, especially because we had these caps with stars on them. Wehad on stylized prewar Soviet uniforms, and the stars, apparently, annoyed them a lot. E.ALBATS: Thank you. NowI have a question for Dmitry Milovidov. Where were your girls sitting? D.MILOVIDOV: At first my girls sat in the 10th row. E.ALBATS: How many rows were there in the theater? D.MILOVIDOV: If Iam not mistaken on the main gallery, the stalls, there are 22, while in the dress circle there are 6rows, and about 12rows in the amphitheater. E.ALBATS: They were sitting in the 10th row in the main gallery? D.MILOVIDOV: In the 10th row. Later there was a big bomb set up here. Later, when terrorists invited the young children to come up on stage, the eldest, Nina, took her sister by the hand and up onto the stage. E.ALBATS: And how old was her little sister? D.MILOVIDOV: She was 12. There are frames taken from video that was running the whole time in the auditorium. There you can see how my two girls go up onto the stage. Onegets to leave, and stay alive, while the older one is sent back in the hall. Sheseemed very mature. Imanaged to find a woman who was sitting right next to my daughter. Shehad horrific after effects. Thiswas a journalist from Kaliningrad, and she lost her memory, and had paralysis of the extremities. Shedoes not remember what happened in there, not even if she was sitting next to her slain husband or anything that happened. Onthe last anniversary (of E.ALBATS: Did she get any? D.MILOVIDOV: Yes, everything was brought in. Thanks, in particular, to Anna Politkovskaya, may she rest in peace. Onecan also remember Dr. Roshal here with some kind words, at least in this case. Andit was this woman who got this done, but she does not remember that she was sitting next to my daughter. Hereare some of the after effects of that gas. E.ALBATS: Your younger daughter was taken out through a different exit, the one that Marat talked about? D.MILOVIDOV: If Iam not mistaken, it was the exit on the left, as you look at the stage. Theyled out the foreign children, and in that group there were even children that were as old as 17. E.ALBATS: This was on the first night, or the next day? D.MILOVIDOV: This was the first hour after the capture. M.ABDRAKHIMOV: There in the confusion a lot of children managed to get released. D.MILOVIDOV: At the time there was this bizarre and incomprehensible information, that about a hundred hostages were released, and on the list of hostages were the names Yura Mazikhin and Pyotr Markin. E.ALBATS: Who are they? K.SIROTKIN: Those are actors who got out on their own, by going through the third floor. Thatis, they did not go out on stage. E.ALBATS: So they tied costumes into a rope and climbed down, right? K.SIROTKIN: In every dressing room there was a loud speaker that played what was happening on stage, because the dressing rooms are rather far from the stage. So, in order to hear and not be late making your entrance, we always had the speaker on. Whenthey heard gunshots, the guys figured out what was going on. D.MILOVIDOV: But the fact remains, at the beginning of the capture some of the children were released. E.ALBATS: Did Nina have a mobile phone? D.MILOVIDOV: Unfortunately, that evening she did not have her cell phone with her, and we did not know anything right up until October 28th, when we finally found her in the morgue, only on the 28th. Inhis first statement, E.ALBATS: Do you mean on October 26th? D.MILOVIDOV: Imean the 26th, after the assault. 111children ended up stuck there during the assault. Thisis according to materials from the prosecutor’s office. WhatRoshal counted there, sorry, Icannot answer this. According to materials from the prosecutor’s office there were E.ALBATS: How many survived? D.MILOVIDOV: Ten children died. Someof the children were released. Someduring the first hours, and some Three came out with Kobzon, and another eight were released together with Lyubov Kornilova, and some got away with the actors. Thestatistics are still not clear, of course. E.ALBATS: Isee. Thank you. Konstantin Sirotkin, tell me, do you remember the assault? K.SIROTKIN: Part of it, basically. E.ALBATS: The part of it before the gas was released? K.SIROTKIN: Before Ilost consciousness, right up until that moment. E.ALBATS: You were still sitting in the front row? K.SIROTKIN: We were not allowed to move about the hall very much. Inextreme cases, if we had to go into the orchestra pit, pardon me. E.ALBATS: That was the toilet. K.SIROTKIN: Yes, the toilet. Andonly back from there to your seat, in principle. Theywatched us very closely. During the first moments (of the assault) there was a Chechen woman standing right in front of the stage. Sheshot at me. Youprobably did not know about that, or did you? D.MILOVIDOV: Idid not hear about this. K.SIROTKIN: Well, apparently Iwas taking too long to get seated. Iheard a bullet whistle past my temple. Nowit sounds funny, but back then, it was like: “Oh, Imust quickly get seated.” Iremember that the light was gradually fading and some white cloud was dropping down from above. Onthe advice of my neighbor next to me, Olya, she says: “Cover your mouth and nose quickly, everything, do not breathe.” So Icover up a little, but apparently not enough. E.ALBATS: Where did you wake up? K.SIROTKIN: When Iwas already in the 13th hospital, in a ward with all the others who were injured there. E.ALBATS: So, were there a lot of you at the 13th? K.SIROTKIN: Many. Basically, right away they vacated one or two floors. Thatis, all the nearby hospitals were ready to receive hostages, but apparently many were not taken to the hospital quickly enough. Partof them, Ifound out later, died. M.ABDRAKHIMOV: First of all, they did not know how to treat us. K.SIROTKIN: Yes, it was not clear. M.ABDRAKHIMOV: They did not know what to do. Theyexpected gunshot wounds, lacerations, and injuries like that. Theyneeded artificial respiration, they needed an antidote, but no one had anything, it was secret. Ileft the auditorium on my own two feet. E.ALBATS: You left on your own two feet? K.SIROTKIN: Yes, Marat was the only one walked out of there. M.ABDRAKHIMOV: Yes, but Inever saw anyone getting any antidote at all. Cyanotic people were lying on the cold concrete floor, and of course it was the month of October. There was rain and sleet and all the windows were smashed. People are in what they wore to the theater, without an outer garment, which they left at the coat check. Theyare lying there out in the fresh air, as they say, with a bluish color. Iam in shock. Isay: “What happened? Didthey all die?” The man who is leading me out of there, he says: “Yes!” So Iwalk through the small passage, there is a narrow lane, which is just filled with people lying there, and the hair on my head is standing up on end. Iam in shock. Well, it is good that they managed to do CPR on most of them, but it was actually an awful scene. E.ALBATS: Were there a lot of people like you, who could walk? M.ABDRAKHIMOV: Not really, not many. Itjust turned out that Ihad not slept this whole time, Icannot sleep sitting up. Itjust does not work, and yet, obviously Iwas in a state of shock. Ifelt neither hunger nor thirst, nothing. Icould feel that my tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth, so Ithink: “Not enough water. Ineed to take a sip of water.” Naturally, Idid not sleep or anything. Justbefore the assault, at 3am, when everyone was waiting for Kazantsev, the Chechens started to relax. Thiswas obvious, since finally were smiling and talking, and they left their weapons leaning against the wall. E.ALBATS: You mean General Kazantsev? M.ABDRAKHIMOV: Yes. Before that they did not allow us to go under the seats, under the chairs, but now they did not care, so Igot down on the floor under the seats and made my bed there on a newspaper, and shut down for three hours. Atthis point, the gas attack took place. Thegas missed me. Iwas lying face down and apparently this saved me. Ido not breath heavily. Iwake up and Irealize that the assault has begun, so Igo and sit in a chair, leaning my head down against the seat in front of me. Apparently Ialmost passed out. Thensomeone is shaking me and asking: “Can you walk?” Isay: “Yes, Ican.” They say: “Get out of here.” Ilook around me, and there is almost no one, just my neighbor, this guy Andrei Voronevsky, who, unfortunately, as it turned out, died, and next to him is his stepfather. Healso died, but his mother survived, we talked with her later. Iget up, and Iam thinking: “What time is it?” Ishake Andrei and ask him: “Andrei, what time is it?” He does not answer. SoI think: “Why am Ibothering the fellow? Wehave not slept in three days. Lethim sleep.” And Idid not wake him up. Perhaps Ishould have. Then, after they had already led me out of there, when Iwas sitting on the bus, Iam still thinking: “If everything goes okay, Marat, you do not look like a Russian, what will happen?” Iam thinking: “What can Isay? ThatI am wearing a costume, and on the neckband is my name and that Iam an actor and that Iam wearing military boots with tap dance heels. Somehow Ihave to explain that Iam an actor.” But of course, no one asks me anything. Theyjust lead me out of there and drive me somewhere. Iask: “Where are we going?” They say: “To sort things out.” Iam put up against a wall, and they say: “Face against the wall, put your hands up, feet apart, do not move.” Isay: “You know what? Ican’t even raise my arms.” Idid not know that there was gas yet, and Icannot understand why Iam dizzy, why Iam sick. Icannot understand what happened. Alight operator walks up and he says: “That’s one of ours. He’s an actor.” They say: “We will get to the bottom of it.” The producer, the man responsible for the costumes, he says: “That’s one of ours.” It does not matter. Nobody listens. ThenI start to puke, sorry. Ihad to vomit. Ihad nausea and a very bad headache. Allof us did. Onesuspect was just a boy, and very hairy. Hewas also taken for a Chechen. Theguy was from Riga, but Iforget his name. K.SIROTKIN: Zaltserman. M.ABDRAKHIMOV: Yes, but he had some East in him, and he was all overgrown with hair, of course, and right away he is suspicious. Weare taken to a nearby school, where there is a field office of the prosecutors, apparently. Theybring me in and begin to interrogate me in earnest: “Where do you live? Where are you registered?” Icould not remember my own phone number. Theyask me: “Have you any friends?” Isay: “I do.” They say: “Their address?” Isay: “I could be mistaken, please give me some water, my tongue is sticky, everything is dried out.” They say: “Tell us and we will give you some.” Ihad the feeling that Iwas in some kind of Nazi prison camp. MyGod! Inthe end, Igave them my correct phone number, but they do not call it. Theycall up the police in my precinct, and ask if there is such a house in his area. Thenthey say: “There is no such house. Youare lying. Youare lying about everything. There is no such address.” Somehow this comrade, the precinct officer, immediately he calls up my friend and says: “You know what? Hehas already been shot as a terrorist.” Where did this information come from? Myfriend there just went crazy, you can just imagine. Itis good that he had enough presence of mind not to tell my parents any of this. Theywere in Ufa, worried sick about me. E.ALBATS: Marat, I’m sorry to interrupt you, but now it is time for the news on ‘Echo’. Wewill be back on the air in two minutes. NEWS - E.ALBATS: Once again, good evening, it is 7:35 pm on radio station ‘Echo of Moscow’, and we are broadcasting on a frequency of 91.2 FM. Hereat the microphone is Evgeniya Albats, and we are here with actors Marat Abdrakhimov and Konstantin Sirotkin. Wealso have Dmitry Milovidov, the father of two hostages. Nina, his little girl, was slain. Weare remembering what happened 5years ago. Tomorrow it will be 5years, when, on October 23rd, 2002, terrorists seized the theater on Dubrovka where the musical D.MILOVIDOV: A good question. Theydid not even open a criminal investigation into the peoples’ deaths. Aswe found out over the course of a long stretch of work at the prosecutor’s office, while trying to get documents from them, they opened a kidnapping case, but the killings were not investigated. Iwould like to argue with your previous statement, that it is all the fault of the Ministry of Health, and the Moscow health department. E.ALBATS: No, Idid not say that. Isaid that doctors did not get their hands on any antidote, but a simple thing that they teach during Civil Defense lessons, deploying a field hospital right where the tragedy has happened in order to quickly provide assistance to affected people, even something this elementary was not done. D.MILOVIDOV: Naturally. Butthey did not decide everything. Inan article by Andrei Soldatov, titled: ‘He whose name cannot be said’, he describes the situation very accurately. Nodoctor decides when there are enough stretchers. Nocommando decides when he should grab his rifle and shoot it. Theheadquarters decides everything. According to the law on combating terrorism, there is an appointed leader of the headquarters who decides at the end of the counter-terrorist operation that doctors can begin their duties. Inthis case Seltsovsky, the head of the Moscow health department, reportedly he learned about the use of gas just three minutes before they started carrying out the first hostages. Mr. Shevchenko, E.ALBATS: Where did you file your lawsuits, and what are they? D.MILOVIDOV: We served them as private persons, because trying to bring such a claim on behalf of the E.ALBATS: So, they will hear this case in Strasbourg? D.MILOVIDOV: In Strasbourg they will examine the second application of the E.ALBATS: But do you know what this gas was? Itis secret. Iunderstand that almost everything about the D.MILOVIDOV: Ihave on hand a letter from the Federal Security Service. Itnotes that the compound that was used is based on derivatives of fentanyl. Inan interview, Mr. Shevchenko made some doubletalk, that the drug is supposedly used in medicine, that they use fentanyl. There were no substances or derivatives of fentanyl in the 2002, 2003, or 2004registers of pharmacological compounds. Suddenly, in 2005, among the familiar pages there was a new one: remifentanyl, with enormous constraints on its use and a warning about a lack of research, and with such restrictions as: “not to be used on patients weighing less than 50kg. Notto be used on women of childbearing age” E.ALBATS: So, in advance of children? D.MILOVIDOV: “Not to be used on dehydrated patients.” K.SIROTKIN: That is what we all were. D.MILOVIDOV: Ten children paid for that phrase with their lives. E.ALBATS: And there were really no antidotes? D.MILOVIDOV: Not invented. Whatthe doctors were forced to use as an antidote was a respiratory analeptic called naloxone. Itis a narcotic substance that is similar in structure to morphine. Dueto the greater reactivity of the molecule, it knocks fentanyl and its derivatives from the body’s receptors, but they do not decompose. Theyremain in the body, and if the doctor does not closely monitor the victim for some time after the naloxone wears off, if it was used, there is a second blow from the immobilizing compound that causes paralysis of the respiratory center. Theheadquarters leadership, perhaps out of stupidity or something else, did not realize that two minutes without breathing is equivalent to a shot in the head. Thatis why people died. According to materials from the prosecutor’s office, 112hostages died on the scene before receiving medical assistance, before the doctors got there. E.ALBATS: So, (they needed help) right away, after they released the gas? D.MILOVIDOV: Right. Webelieve that this whole mess with this number of E.ALBATS: The 58who died on the buses, what is this? D.MILOVIDOV: This is a mess with numbers. TheFSB tried to toss the blame for the corpses onto the doctors. Itshould be noted that, even after the ruling on a lack of criminal activity in the actions of the rescuers, the actions of the doctors, the prosecutors continued to question the doctors, trying to get testimony that they provided assistance to these hostages (on the buses). Thefigure that we came up with as a result of studying the medical reports was 72. 72people did not receive any medical care whatsoever. Think about it, out of the 125hostages. E.ALBATS: Dead. D.MILOVIDOV: Dead. 72did not receive any medical assistance. Weexcluded from this list those who had at least some signs of assistance, some traces of injections, we did not focus on whether they received these shots while still alive or not. E.ALBATS: Did they somehow help your Nina? Didthey try? D.MILOVIDOV: A phrase from the autopsy report: “At 1310forensics specialists arrived at route bus #12, license number R-980-TO. Itis clearly seen in photographs taken by reporters on the square. Removed bus corpse 11.” There they were numbered ‘bus corpse 1’, ‘bus corpse 2’, and so on. ‘Bus corpse 10’ was Marina Starkova’s husband, who was wounded in the abdomen. 35corpses. Allof them were hidden from cameras, from the media, and only when the area was clear did they start to load them. Onthe federal TV channel there was commentary that they were unloading the terrorists’ corpses. Thebody temperatures of the corpses on the bus were suspiciously high. Using temperature data that is E.ALBATS: Thank you, Dmitry. Sorry that Iwas asking you about such things, but in front of me Ihave a monitor and text messages are coming in. Theywrite various things there. Sometimes Ithink that people have had compassion completely knocked out of them. There is something else, however. Toyou, Marat, Marina from St. Petersburg writes: “I sit here and scream. Marat, forgive all of us who weren’t there.” So how did your story end? Howlong did they hold you until it turned out that your weren’t of that nationality? M.ABDRAKHIMOV: Right now Iwill tell you. Ileft at 6o’clock in the morning. E.ALBATS: And they took you to the hospital? M.ABDRAKHIMOV: No, what do you think? There was no hospital at all. None. Iwas just taken to the school where the prosecutor’s office had set up. E.ALBATS: The FSB guys were located there, not the prosecutors. M.ABDRAKHIMOV: We were told that it was the prosecutor’s office, and later, Mr. Chaika Whenmy friend came and just started demanding his rights, he says: “Why do you give out such misinformation? People are all on edge, and here they say he has been shot.” Mr. Chaika apologized. Isaw that, and he apologized, though already it was a bit late to apologize, after the sparrow had already flown. Butokay, in response to Marina from St. Petersburg who is crying. There is no need to cry. Apparently Ineeded a lesson in life, a hard one. E.ALBATS: Why is that? M.ABDRAKHIMOV: Ineeded one. Later, you know, Ithought about it all for a very long time. Onecannot live in fear. Onecannot live with the notion of, “why did it happen? Whydid children die?” Iasked myself this for a long time, for all 5years. Iwent my own way, a hard way, and Ilearned a lot about life. Youknow, probably Iam really not afraid of anyone, and Ido not count on anyone. Icount on myself and Ihave no fear. Youknow, when there is no fear inside a man, he is free. E.ALBATS: Thank you. Konstantin, did you file any suits against our country connected with K.SIROTKIN: You know, from the State, and, probably, from the Moscow city government, we all got 50thousand rubles, plus 25thousand more from some kind of a bank. D.MILOVIDOV: The Volsky Foundation. E.ALBATS: The late Volsky. M.ABDRAKHIMOV: For medical treatment. K.SIROTKIN: In the hospital each of us was approached by, apparently, an investigator. Heasked what the terrorists looked like. Heasked all sorts of questions, but Inever even thought that all of this was so serious that they would give some sort of compensation, or lawsuits against the State, or some kind of claims. Marat and Isurvived, thank God. M.ABDRAKHIMOV: Thank God. Weneed nothing else. Stayaway from us. K.SIROTKIN: We still see this world, and thank God that we started to breathe, as it turns out that people choked to death because they did not have any first aid. Thatis it, and there cannot be any talk about any lawsuit. E.ALBATS: Dmitry Milovidov? D.MILOVIDOV: Iwould like to emphasize that Marat gives an example that discredits the myths about this miracle gas. Notonly did Marat not fall asleep, the terrorists did not fall asleep, either. Materials from the investigation indicate that they opened fire for twenty minutes with 13assault rifles and 8pistols. Thegas was visible, according to the investigation. Ithad a smell and did not act instantaneously. Infact, it could have provoked the terrorists to a lethal response. Fortunately, this did not happen. Itis a highly toxic substance without any antidote, as we have emphasized. Itpoisoned the commandos. Ibow to these men, who did everything they could. Theycarried out their military orders, to destroy the terrorists, and then, in violation of military regulations that forbid them from approaching the hostages, they returned to the hall and carried our loved ones out of there. Video footage shows that they carried them correctly. Theguys are well trained. E.ALBATS: The Special Forces? M.ABDRAKHIMOV: Yes, the Special Forces. D.MILOVIDOV: They were also poisoned at the same time. Inthe materials it is stated that 9ambulance crews were involved in the evacuation of poisoned Special Forces commandos. Fortunately, they were taken to poison control centers. Whythis was not done with the hostages E.ALBATS: Imust say that it was the ‘Alpha’ and ‘Pennant’ units. D.MILOVIDOV: And not just them, there was ‘Lynx’ and GRU and others. M.ABDRAKHIMOV: Yes, a big thanks to them. K.SIROTKIN: A low bow. Thanks, boys. E.ALBATS: Only two of them received the ‘Hero of Russia’ stars. Five‘Hero of Russia’ stars were given out for D.MILOVIDOV: And, in addition, four hostages received ‘Orders of Courage’, three of them posthumously, but this feat of civil achievement was not covered by the authorities. E.ALBATS: Why not? D.MILOVIDOV: Our leaders made such a mess of K.SIROTKIN: This is the first that Ihave heard about it. D.MILOVIDOV: It is better to be silent. Unfortunately, Itoo must apologize to the families of the slain, for Ionly learned about this when we started writing the ‘Book of Memory’ about the E.ALBATS: To whom did they give the ‘Order of Courage’? D.MILOVIDOV: To Doctor Oleg Magerlamov, who died at E.ALBATS: So, they knew what was going on there? D.MILOVIDOV: They knew. Inaddition, the auditorium was packed full of audio control systems and other things, complicated, you understand, the headquarters was close, and the special purpose vehicle was right next to the hall, despite the supposed danger of an explosion. Oneshould discuss the explosion separately: the headquarters was only 35meters from the auditorium. Inthe headquarters were foreign ambassadors, whose citizens were held hostage, and E.ALBATS: There are several questions by text message, they ask you: “What do you think? Wasit was possible to do without the assault?” D.MILOVIDOV: Let us recall the situation in 1996, the seizure of the Japanese embassy in Peru. Thanks to the professionalism of the security services and the talent of the negotiators, and the existence of a professional negotiator institute, and the will of the Peruvian Government, over the course of a month they managed to get 90% of the hostages released. Thismade the work of special units very effective during the assault: only one hostage died, of a heart attack. Nowthis here is an example of an operation. Irecall that the Peruvian leadership talked with U.S. experts on E.ALBATS: Isee. Thank you very much. Thatwas Dmitry Milovidov, the father of two hostages. HisNinochka did not survive, while his youngest daughter Iseverything okay with your youngest? D.MILOVIDOV: Yes, the girl is growing up. Shewas admitted to veterinary school. Ofcourse, she needed help from psychologists to get over the crisis of her older sister’s death, and the several days of uncertainty. Thefuneral was very difficult, and the whole family was literally pulled from another world. Backthen we were expecting another child and my wife could not take any medication, so the psychologists were a great help. Wewere side by side with them in Beslan. E.ALBATS: Unfortunately, our broadcast has come to an end. Wewere discussing K.SIROTKIN: Do we have a minute? E.ALBATS: Unfortunately, no. Wewill hear you next week. Onceagain, let us remember those who died. Goodbye.  Add as favourites (99) | Views: 1416|
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