Nordost Theatre Siege

[napalmdeath1.0]

The Moscow theater hostage crisis, also known as the 2002 Nord-Ost siege,was the seizure of a crowded Moscow theater on October 23, 2002 by about 40-50 armed Chechen terrorists 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. The siege was officially led by Movsar Barayev (aged 22).

After a two-and-a-half day siege, Russian Spetsnaz forces pumped an unknown chemical agent into the building's ventilation system and raided it. Officially, 39 of the terrorists were killed by Russian forces, along with at least 129 and possibly many more of the hostages (including nine foreigners). All but one of the hostages who died during the siege were killed by the toxic substance pumped into the theatre to subdue the militants.

[napalmdeath1.0]

1 www.apacheclips.com/media/5545/Nordost_Theatre_siege_1/

2 www.apacheclips.com/media/5547/Nordost_Theatre_Siege_2/

3 www.apacheclips.com/media/5548/Nordost_Theatre_siege_3/

4 www.apacheclips.com/media/5549/Nordost_Theatre_siege_4/

5 www.apacheclips.com/media/5550/Nordost_Theatre_siege_5/

[Woodbutcher824]

This I have never seen before. Very powerful.

[PvtPyle]

The whole incident was a complete and total disaster on the part of the Russians. They made some serious errors in the rescue. First and most importantly they never notified any of the surrounding hospitals that there would be incoming patients that had been exposed to gas. Second, they had lots of heavy equipment that were used as barricades and they failed to use them to evacuate the massive numbers of patients to the hospitals. Even if they had called them after the introduction of the gas the hospitals could have saved many people.

Then there is the way that they drug the hostages out of the theater. Many suffocated while they were being drug out because the weight of their heads cut off their airways.

While the introduction of the gas could be seen as innovative and I for one (as a student of the incident and having read both Western and Russian summaries of the event) think it was the best option at the time, they screwed it up royally. There is so much they could have done to reduce the casualties due to the effects of the gas. I hope they have learned from this and continue to evaluate and change their methods to create a more hostage friendly protocol. Their current mindset is, if the hostages die who cares? As long as we get the terrorists.

[pscholes18]

Obviously they didn't learn anything with the Beslan incident two year later.

[dmaxx3500]

what would have been a better strategy,

1.maybe wait them out?
2.go in shooting?
3.kill the power and use snippers?
4.negotiate?

how would guys have done it,