Moscow Theatre Siege 2002 Available online at

W.W.W.W Who? Chechan Militant Islamist Separatists When? October 2002 Where? Dubrovka Theatre Moscow What? Hostage Terrorist Attack

The Siege Hostages were seized during Act II of Nord-Ost at the Dubrovka Theatre after 9pm. The reaction was mixed Performers who were backstage were able to flee from the scene through windows. 90 people managed to escape Hostages were told if they held a foreign passport they would be allowed to leave but Russian government would not allow it.

The Demands The demands of the terrorists were the Russia withdraw its troops from Chechnya within a week or they would start killing hostages. They also stated if the theatre was ambushed they would start killing hostages.

The Terrorists The terrorists were both men and women The women had bombs strapped to their chests while all the terrorists held guns. The terrorists didn’t know this at the time but all of their explosives had been sabotaged and did not actually work.

Inside the Auditorium The hostages were able to contact family members through cell phones, some phoned the police and begged them not to storm the theatre or else the gunmen would start shooting. The hostages used the orchestra pit as a bathroom and the mood within the theatre frequently changed depending on the mood of the gunmen.

First Night Gunmen seemed humane as they released 200 people including pregnant women, children, and people who needed medical attention. A random woman named Olga Romanova entered the theatre at around 1:30am and told the hostages they should stand up for themselves and leave. She was soon shot by the gunmen

Day 2 Russian Government said the gunmen could take leave to any third world country unharmed 39 hostages were set free this day but the attackers were still threatening to shoot the hostages if the police stormed the building. Kidnappers offered to release 50 hostages if Akmad Kadrov came to the theatre to negotiate but he never did.

During the night a hot water pipe burst and flooded the theatre Gunmen thought they were being provoked The pipe was actually being used by Russian Special Forces to listen in.

Day 3 Negotiations continued but no one was satisfied. Doctors were allowed into the theatres to help anyone and the Red Cross was allowed to bring warm food and clothes for the hostages A man named Gennady Vlahk entered the theatred and claimed he was looking for his son. When no son was found the man was shot.

A hostage named Denis Gribkov freaked out and tried to attack one of the female terrorists, he was shot at but stray bullets wounded two other hostages. They were allowed to leave and seek medical attention The attackers were told that a representative for Putin would come and negotiate with them if they could just wait till morning. This never happened.

The Raid Police decided to raid the theatre, using the theatres ventilation system they filled the theatre with a gas they claimed was aerosol anesthetic which would simply put people to sleep. When the gas was first pumped there was a great sense of panic and many hostages thought a fire had broken out. Slowly people started to get effected by the gas and within 30 minutes almost everyone was asleep

Russian troops stormed the building and shot up the terrorists. They then started to evacuate the hostages.

Evacuation Bodies of unconscious hostages were taken out of the theatre and laid on the sidewalk and lobby. There were very few emergency vehicles to transport hostages to hospitals so 2 busses were set up for them. For the gas to be counter-effected a drug would have needed to be administered immediately.

Many hostages ended up dying from the gas, they passed out and never woke up, either from heart attacks, choking on vomit or swallowing their own tongue. By 1pm the death toll of the hostages was 67 who were said to be killed by the terrorists. In the hospitals families were not allowed to see eachother or find out if people were alive or dead

The death toll changed to 90 people then to 118 By October 29th 646 Hostages were still in hospital and 150 in ICU Some Chechan hostages were not treated because of their last name. In the end more hostages died from the gas than the terrorists.

The final death toll was 33 attackers and 129 hostages, all except one hostage died from the gas and 700 were poisoned. The way the hostages were evacuated helped contribute to the death toll.

Aftermath The groups involved were considered dangerous terrorists by the United States Russians were convinced their handling of the attack was brilliant and Putin believed that this attack showed that Russia was unstoppable.