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| Men Take Moscow Audience Hostage |
| 2002-10-23 |
| Armed men entered a crowded Moscow theater Wednesday and took the audience hostage, the Federal Security Service said. The rare takeover in the Russian capital put police and security forces on high alert. The Interfax news agency said one of its reporters was inside the theater at the time of the raid. She told them by telephone that the armed men fired into the air and would not let the audience leave. Interfax said its reporter believed there were about 20 men in the group. Interfax said some children had been allowed to leave the theater. Russia media reported about 700 people were inside the theater. The report could not be immediately confirmed. An AP reporter saw two ambulances, but it was unclear what connection they had with events in the theater. Maybe anticipation? Maybe prudence? Maybe expecting something terrible to happen even while they're hoping it doesn't? It doesn't take much sense to be an AP reporter, does it? Police units and an Alpha special forces unit went to the scene and sealed off the area in the freezing, wet weather. The Federal Security Service, the successor to the Soviet KGB, and the Interior Ministry put plan "Thunderstorm" into effect, which required all officers to report to their units. Russian President Vladimir Putin was immediately told of the hostage taking, Interfax reported. Mosow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov went to the theater. If it's Chechens â or some other flavor of al-Qaeda â they might very well plan on killing everyone in sight. That'd be the Russian equivalent of the Bali bombing. FOLLOWUP: Reuters adds the kicker: Muslim members of the audience attending the production of "North-East" were also allowed to leave, Interfax said. Police said they had as yet received no demands from the gunmen.More from Gazeta.ru: The Kavkaz.org web â an official information body of Chechen insurgents reported that the hostage taking was conducted by a group of 40 Chechen rebels, headed by certain Movsar Barayev. The web site said that the team of hostage takers includes 40 Chechen fightersâ widows. All hostage takers wear bombs on their bodies and their commander Barayev has announced that they were suicides. They forwarded a demand to stop the war in Chechnya and to immediately start withdrawal of Russian troops from the country. Barayev claimed that Chechen fighters had come to Moscow ânot to survive, but to die.âIf you don't believe this is coordinated as part of a world-wide series of attacks, maybe you can loan me a few bucks? I'll pay you back next time the Tooth Fairy comes to visit me... And more, from the Guardian: A woman who made her way out of the theater said in an interview on Russia's NTV television that men wearing camouflage went on stage, fired in the air and said: ``Don't you understand what's going on? We are Chechens. We are not hiding it.''Laying mines... Doesn't sound like they expect to get out. I don't think they intend for the hostages to get out, either. 700 deaders isn't WTC size, but it outdoes the Bali bombers in sheer numbers. Wonder if Russia's reconsidered its opposition to the wording of the Iraq resolution yet? Followup 11 p.m. The Russian authorities have begun negotiations with Chechen rebels who have seized a Moscow theatre and are holding hundreds of people hostage. Heavily-armed Russian elite troops are surrounding the building, but the security forces have said they will not attempt to intervene for now. Chechen spokesman has issued a pious denunciation of taking civilians hostage. He hasn't told the Bad Guys to come out with their hands up... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #10 This wouldn't be the first time that the Chechens have taken hundreds upon hundreds of hostages only to use them as human shields to get throught the incompentant Russian security soldiers and get back to Chechnya, although being in Moscow that would be one hell of a long trip. Going on past instances of Chechen mass hostage taking, the people inside might have a chance to get through this alive, but I have a feeling that this might not end well if the Russians make a rescue attempt, which usually consists of kicking down the door and running in guns blazing. |
| Posted by: Paul 2002-10-24 00:44:20 |
| #9 .....coming soon to a theater near you..... Anyone out there still not think we ( the global royal "we") are not at war right now? Get out and vote this november like your life depends on it, because it probably does this time. |
| Posted by: Frank Martin 2002-10-23 20:18:53 |
| #8 Let them go? After taking hostages in Moscow? Not a chance. They're dead men (and women) walking - only question is how many innocents they'll take down with them. |
| Posted by: Tripartite 2002-10-23 19:19:20 |
| #7 Fred, you spotted the hitch in the plan.I'm afraid that President Putin's first priority is to avoid the kind of humiliation that happened when Chechen terrorists took over that hospital in Southern Russia.I don't think they will let the hijackers get away this time. |
| Posted by: El Id 2002-10-23 16:24:01 |
| #6 Fred, I've been blogging on this since the news broke--glad to see you're on the case,too! Please say a prayer or send some VERY positive thoughts that my good friend J.B. who *just* moved to Moscow to work at our Embassy is not in there, and for the innocent Russian hostages inside and for Putin and Russian SpetzNatz (Special Ops) that they will know what to do! I think these IslamoFascist bastards are going to kill all these people...all 500-1,000 persons inside! But I hope I'm wrong! |
| Posted by: Jennie Taliaferro 2002-10-23 16:16:34 |
| #5 I'm just sorry there aren't enough Russians in the habit of carrying sidearms that the audience couldn't stage a counter-attack of their own. The Chechen bomb belts and mines are a big concern, but it doesn't sound like the Islamaniacs plan to let their remaining hostages leave alive anyway. I'd think Russians would rather go down fighting than to die like sheep. 700 people vs. 40 people aren't bad odds. |
| Posted by: Aracona 2002-10-23 16:16:08 |
| #4 The whole situation is not likely to last too long. As soon as it becomes common knowledge that the kidnappers are Chechen suicide operatives, the pressure on the government to act will be extreme. I think the government will write off those inside (unless they include influential people), and attempt to storm the theater. Chechnya is going to get royally reamed after this one way or the other, though. Don't know what this'll do to their position on Iraq - self interest is strong, but so is habit. Hell, I was born in USSR, and the results of this are very much obscured. The situation, as they say, is fluid. |
| Posted by: Tripartite 2002-10-23 16:03:25 |
| #3 So far, this is a hostage situation, not a general massacre. That's a sign that the civilians inside may actually have a chance to get out alive. Recently, hostages have not been an interesting option for Islamic terrorists. |
| Posted by: Patrick Phillips 2002-10-23 15:02:10 |
| #2 Yeah. But will the hostages? |
| Posted by: Fred 2002-10-23 14:54:56 |
| #1 The Russians have their own way of dealing with situations like these.The 'nappers won't be coming out alive, that's for sure. |
| Posted by: El Id 2002-10-23 14:51:57 |