Translated material
Crime scene - Dubrovka
No one answered for the death of 125 hostages
"Vladimir Putin comes to Dubrovka as a crime scene." Ten years ago, on October 23, 2002, one of the most high-profile terrorist acts occurred, which went down in history called Nord-Ost. The terrorists captured the theater center at the Dubrovka metro station right during the performance-the musical Nord-Ost based on the Kaverin’s novel Two Captains. 912 people - spectators and troupe were hostage. The tragedy that happened eight kilometers from the Kremlin lasted 57 hours - the terrorists demanded that the president withdraw troops from Chechnya and stop the war. At dawn on October 26, the Federal Headquarters ordered to start a gas attack. A year ago, the European Court of Human Rights recognized what the surviving hostages and relatives of the victims talked about all these years: during the assault, the power was used by poisoning gas. Terrorists were shot during and after a gas attack. During the assault, 67 hostages were killed, another 58 died in buses and hospitals. One of the reasons - the gas was classified, and the doctors were not ready to provide effective medical care (p. 20). Relatives of the dead say that they will never recognize the truth about the death of their loved ones. The New Times tried with them to restore the events of these ten post -Shopostov years (p. 15). Those who were hostage tried to survive differently after the hell from which they managed to escape. What remained in memory and in the soul - ten years later The New Times asked Sasha Rozovskaya, who played Tatarova in that ill -fated performance (p. 22). The only Chechen Zaurbek Talkhigov, who had served for the Nord-Ost, was recognized as an accomplice of terrorists for the call of Aslanbek Aslakhanov negotiated with them, trying to save women and children. A year ago, he was released and would be ready to come to the theater center again to prove that not all Chechens are terrorists (p. 25). There were no trials of terrorists - they were all destroyed during a special operation 
"We will never recognize the terrible truth." Relatives of the dead hostages for ten years have been seeking a fair investigation. Unsuccessfully
“I would have destroyed the month of October so that it would not be on the calendar at all. When October comes, a constant struggle with myself begins: I acted correctly or wrong, why couldn't do anything, why did not save my daughter? ” - says Vladimir Kurbatov. He is now 53 years old, he works in a commercial organization in Moscow. In the theater center on Dubrovka, Vladimir Kristina died at Vladimir. She played in the musical Nord-Ost, but on that ill-fated evening on October 23 did not participate in the performance. She rehearsed with brand new actors. That evening, the mother was about to take Christina early, but the girl did not want to, she persuaded her parents to come for her after the performance. Those went to dinner and again ended up on Dubrovka at half a night in the evening, when the terrorists already captured the hostages.
Christina
In a telephone conversation with The New Times correspondent, Vladimir said that nothing has really changed over these ten years, but he did not refuse the meeting. And so we are sitting in a cafe, he does not order anything and recalls. It is clear that he needs to speak out, and it is clear that he has already told this story many times. “At half past five, we were on Dubrovka. The traffic cop stopped us: it’s impossible there, they shoot there. We thought: maybe the fingertips between the bandits? While the traffic cop distracted, I drove. We were stopped again: "Where are you?" We say: "We have a daughter there." And they: "You can’t go there, there is a hostage capture." 
From half past six in the evening on October 23 to half past ninth in the morning on October 26, Kristina Kurbatova’s parents were very close to her, but they could not help. “All this time, together with the relatives of other hostages, we sat in the PTU gym on Melnikov Street, waiting for our children to save,” Vladimir recalls. -On the first day it was still incomprehensible, the second was the hope that there would be some negotiations with the terrorists, that they would at least let the children let go. When the doctor Leonid Roshal went to the terrorists, he returned and said that there are a lot of children in the hall and there are patients among them. It was a kind of signal of power: take measures, save them! But the authorities did not take any action. After Putin said that there would be no negotiations, the second Budennovsk, we realized - they would not do anything. The image of power is more important. ”
Vladimir tells how terrorists were transferred through the hostages who communicated with the press, in particular with the Ren TV channel by phone *** in detail about work in those days of the independent Ren TV channel Dmitry and Irene Lesnevsky The New Times wrote in No. 37 of October 22, 2007, so that relatives collected a rally on Red Square and demanded the termination of the war in Chechnya, promising that they will let the children.
“People came out,” Vladimir recalls, “but we were not allowed to go to Red Square.”
And at 5 a.m. on October 26, an assault began on Dubrovka.
Find out the truth
Tatyana Ivanovna Karpova sits on the couch in her room. Opposite it - two chairs for journalists. “In October, closer to the anniversary,” she says, “journalists are especially activated: no one remembers for a year, and when it approaches October 24, there are a lot of people who want to take an interview.” She is not offended: she accepts everyone and tells, only the trouble is - two years ago her legs refused, and now she cannot walk. Karpova is the co-chair of the regional public organization of assistance to the protection of the Nord-Ost terrorist acts, which unites the relatives of those who died during the capture of hostages on Dubrovka and the former hostages themselves.
The son of Tatyana Karpova, a famous bard and musician, would now be 41 years old if he had not gone to the musical Nord-Ost that evening. Tatyana Karpova explains: “Sasha simply wanted to compare this production and production of the Chicago musical, the translation of which he had just finished then. He had to go to the performance with friends, but they did not have enough tickets, and he went with his wife. She survived, and Sasha died. "
All these ten years Tatyana Karpova, like other relatives of the hostages who died during the assault on the theater center, was looking for an answer to a single question: how and why their children died during the exemption operation.
The victims of Nord-Ost united in October 2002 and immediately began to demand from the authorities to conduct an investigation to find out the causes of the death of their loved ones. They demanded the initiation of a criminal case against employees of special services and medical workers for a failure rescue operation, which ended with 130 corpses and 69 orphans left without parental care. They were ignored. They appealed the inaction of the investigation in the courts. Reactions - zero.
On October 16, 2003, an investigator of the Office for the investigation of banditry and murders of the Moscow prosecutor's office Vladimir Kalchuk, who headed the investigative brigade in the Nord-Ost case, issued a decree on the termination of criminal prosecution against all terrorists and organizers of the assault. Quote from the resolution: “... objective reasons to believe that only the use of a gaseous substance (substances) could lead to death ... as a result of a correctly made decision by the competent authorities, the criminal activity of the terrorists was discontinued and prevented much more harm, which could lead to mass deaths of people (912 people) and the undermining of the authority of the Russian Federation ...”
“We have achieved the right to familiarize yourself with the materials of the criminal case,” says Tatyana Karpova. - I managed to take a picture of the registration maps of ambulance vehicles for the carriage of corpses. You remember that the assault on the theater center ended at the beginning of the sixth in the morning. And already at six in the morning, all the hostages made from the hall were laid with stacks on the steps. ” Tatyana Karpova shows a document where it is noted that the ambulance arrived at 12.30. “That is, at least six hours have passed, the doctors arrived behind his son. Look, here is a checkmark, from which bus they took my son’s body. Two buses stood in the courtyard opposite the theater center. The corpses were folded into these buses. That is, my son was taken from the bus and transferred to an ambulance at 12.30, when he was already dead. This document says: “The place of death is the machine“ 03 ”. So, his son was still alive when he was thrown on the bus, where the corpses were lying, he was in six hours without medical care, until this transportation came behind him, in which he died. How can I live, knowing that my son died such a terrible death? Why could not doctors distinguish a living person from the deceased? I am sure that we will never recognize this terrible truth. ”
True Strasbourg
Vladimir Kurbatov does not know exactly how his daughter Kristina died. He found her in the morgue of St. Vladimir's Hospital in Sokolniki. But the father could not find any documents about how and when she entered the hospital. In a private conversation, one of the investigators told Kurbatov that Kristina was brought to the hospital alive, but could not save, because there were no antidotes from unknown gas, and in order not to “hang” an extra corpse, they chose to destroy the documents.
Kurbatov says that he saw in the materials of the criminal case a forensic medical examination. It wrote that the cause of the death of the hostages was "poisoning by an unknown substance." “This conclusion did not fit the investigation,” Vladimir recalls, “made another expert opinion in which they wrote that the use of unknown gas is not a cause of death.” And on December 20, 2011, a decision was made in Strasbourg on the complaints of the “Finogenes and others against the Russian Federation”, which suffered in Nord-Ost ”*** was recognized that the Russian authorities violated Art. 2 of the European Convention ("Right to Life") against 63 applicants. Monetary compensations were awarded .. At the level of the Strasbourg Court, it was first recognized that the gas that the Russian authorities applied was not harmless.
“There was one investigator in the investigative group who wanted to dug a lot of things,” says Vladimir Kurbatov. - Then he had to quit. Somehow, after investigative actions, we went out into the street, and he told me in the ear: “You yourself understand that people died from gas, but who will write it to you?”
Questions to power
“If we were treated humanly, they would explain that it was possible that most of the applicants would not have gone to the European court. But we are being held by idiots, ”says Dmitry Milovidov, a middle -aged man with a magnificent blond mustache and blue eyes. Milovidov died at the 14-year-old daughter Nina, who came to see the musical with her younger sister-12-year-old Lenochka, whom the terrorists released with other young children. By decision of Strasbourg, Milovodov received compensation - € 26,400. “We did not start all this for the sake of money,” Dmitry explains. - This is actually money from our pocket. The budget pays compensation by the decision of the European Court ... We wanted to force Russian justice to work. Unfortunately, with Russian justice we have to communicate through Strasbourg. ” Ahead - filing a complaint to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation with a request to punish the guilty for the death of children and adults. "
We wanted to force Russian justice to work. Unfortunately, with Russian justice we have to communicate through Strasbourg
“I have a lot of questions to power,” says Dmitry Milovidov, “especially after Putin stated that Gas could not cause deaths. Some victims had a desire to leave Russia,” he continues. “I am not going to emigrate. This is my country, I didn’t rent it to Putin. Putin comes to the Dubrovka at night, but we should answer my children. We could not save our citizens for the state, which is a terrible cockroach from a fairy tale that devours people in exchange for someone’s political ambitions? 
On October 26, the Nordostians will definitely gather in the square near the theater center. To remember ...
Tatyana Karpova will come there in a wheelchair. Two years ago, on the eve of the next meeting, she recalls, representatives of the Moscow City Hall promised some kind of surprise. “I arrived, I saw a memorial, it seemed very solid to me. Someone Tantlevsky, a representative of the Ministry of Culture, told me that the monument was made of bronze and costs one and a half million. I almost cried with joy, said thanks to everyone. Then my son Ivan approached me and offered to knock on the monument. I knocked and saw that it was made of cardboard, from papier-mash. I realized that the Moscow government deceived us. I had to speak, but I could not tell people who came on the anniversary of Nord-Ost to the square that we became victims of deception. And now, because of the stress that has been experienced then, I can’t walk. ”
“Come on October 26,” continues Tatyana Karpova. - This will not be a political rally. People from Beslan, from Volgodonsk, from Volgograd and Sochi will perform. We will definitely run 130 balls into the sky, as we have done it for ten years. ”
Four days in October: Chronicle of events
October 23
21.15. Armed people in camouflage burst into the building of the theater center on Dubrovka (7 Melnikova Street). More than 800 people at this time sit in the hall and watch the musical "Nord-Ost". Terrorists declare them hostages and begin to minute the building. Through windows and spare exits, some actors and employees of the theater center manage to escape from the building.
22.00. Information appears: the building captured a detachment of Chechen militants led by Movsar Baraev. Eyewitnesses claim that these are about 30–40 terrorists, among them there are women. All are hung with explosives, require the cessation of the war in Chechnya. Units of the FSB special forces, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and internal troops arrive at the building of the theater center.
23.00. Terrorists demand from the special services not to storm the building. They threaten to shoot ten hostages for each victim on their part. The militants release 15 children.
October 24
00.15. The State Duma deputy Aslambek Aslakhanov is taking place into the center of the center.
02.20. Terrorists release 17 people without any conditions.
03.00–09.00. Unsuccessful attempts to make contact with the militants. It is reported that the FSB has information: the hostage seizure was planned on the instructions of Aslan Maskhadov and international terrorist organizations.
09.30. Foreign diplomats come to the building of the theater center. Among the hostages are about 70 citizens of foreign states. Negotiations with terrorists break down.
11.30–12.20. The militants require politicians Boris Nemtsov, Irina Khakamad, Grigory Yavlinsky and journalist Anna Politkovskaya for negotiations.
13.00. Joseph Kobzon and the Red Cross doctors take place to the center.
15.35. Joseph Kobzon and Irina Khakamada go to negotiations. In the building of the theater, a representative of terrorists, who called Abu Bakar, communicates with them. He is without a mask. The militants do not fulfill the promise to free 40 hostages. Hakamada and Kobzon take a woman and three children from the building.
16.47. Maria Schoolnikova was released from the theater center with the appeal of hostages to the president: “We ask you to make a reasonable decision, to stop military operations in Chechnya. You resolve these issues upstairs, but we only see. Enough wars, we want peace. Today we got into a situation of life and death, we have parents, brothers, sisters and children. On your conscience of their life. We ask you to solve the issue peacefully or will shed too much blood. ”
17.00. Terrorists kill a woman who tried to go to the building of the theater center. (Subsequently, it was found that this is O.N. Romanova - see on page 27)
18.30. Two women run away from the theater center. The militants shoot at them from a grenade launcher. One special forces employee is wounded. The hostages were not injured.
19.00. The Al-Juzira channel shows the appeal of the militants of Movsar Baraev, recorded a few days before the capture of the theater center. Terrorists declare themselves suicide bombers and demand to withdraw Russian troops from Chechnya.
19.00–00.00. Attempts to persuade the militants to take food and water for hostages do not lead to the result.
According to the FSB, 39 hostages are released over the past day.
October 25
03.00. The militants pass into the building of Leonid Roshal and Anna Politkovskaya. Roshal brings the drugs hostages and provides them with first medical care. Having returned, he reports that there is no panic, but most of the hostages have health problems.
05.30–06.30. Terrorists free seven people.
09.00. Relatives of hostages arrange a rally on Melnikov Street demanding to stop the war in Chechnya. They are trying to break through the police cordon and get into the building.
11.30–12.30. Militants leave eight children without any conditions. Negotiations stop again.
15.00. President Vladimir Putin holds a meeting with the heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB. After that, the head of the FSB Nikolai Patrushev states that the authorities are ready to save life to the terrorists if they free all the hostages.
20.00–21.00. Evgeny Primakov, ex-President of Ingushetia Ruslan Aushev, deputy Aslambek Aslakhanov and singer Alla Pugacheva, are trying to establish contact with the militants, the head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
21.50. Terrorists free three women and a man.
23.55. The sounds of shots are heard from the building of the theater center.
Over the past day, 19 hostages are released.
October 26
05.10. Suddenly spotlights go out on the roof of the institute of a person who illuminated the main entrance to the theater center. Ранее террористы заявляли, что, если перед зданием погасят свет, они решат, что это сигнал к штурму, и начнут расстреливать заложников.
05.30. У здания Театрального центра раздаются три взрыва и несколько автоматных очередей. After that, shooting stops. Спецназ начинает перегруппировку сил вокруг здания. Журналистов оттесняют из зоны прямой видимости, официального подтверждения начала штурма нет. Заложники сообщают: в здание Театрального центра пущен газ.
05.45. Появляется информация о том, что за последние два часа террористы убили двух и ранили еще двух заложников.
06.20. Стрельба возобновляется, раздаются несколько сильных взрывов. Из здания Театрального центра выбегают два заложника. Ранее удалось бежать еще шестерым.
06.30. Театральный центр находится под контролем спецслужб, Мовсар Бараев и большая часть террористов уничтожены, сообщает представитель ФСБ Сергей Игнатченко. О жертвах среди заложников информации нет.
06.30–06.45. Сотрудники Внутренних войск врываются внутрь здания через центральный вход. К зданию Театрального центра подъезжают машины скорой помощи и МЧС, а также автобусы.
06.45–07.00. Спасатели и врачи начинают выносить заложников. Людей кладут на ступени театра, на асфальт рядом со зданием. Количество тел увеличивается, их уже бросают друг на друга.
07.20. От здания театра отъезжает первый автобус с заложниками.
07.25. Помощник президента Сергей Ястржембский заявляет, что операция по освобождению заложников завершена. В здании Театрального центра обезврежена большая часть взрывных устройств. Он сообщает, что спецслужбы ищут террористов, которым удалось скрыться.
08.00. Замглавы МВД Владимир Васильев утверждает, что группа заложников пыталась сбежать, поэтому спецслужбы были вынуждены начать штурм. Он сообщил и о первых результатах операции: 36 террористов уничтожены, в том числе и женщины-смертницы. Более 750 заложников освобождены, погибли 67 человек.
Из постановления прокуратуры города Москвы: «При действиях сотрудников спецслужб в состоянии крайней необходимости кроме пяти застреленных террористами погибли как при освобождении, так и впоследствии в больницах в разное время — 125 человек».
The investigation and the court
В 2007 году расследование дела о теракте было приостановлено, так как не удалось установить местонахождение подозреваемых в его организации. Шамиль Басаев, взявший на себя ответственность за теракт, был ликвидирован спецслужбами в 2006 году. Адвокат Трунов тогда отмечал, что в материалах дела фигурируют 52 боевика, а при штурме было убито 40 террористов. По данным адвоката, расследование было возобновлено только в феврале 2011 года, так как появилась информация о том, что некоторым террористам удалось сбежать во время штурма.
В Тверской суд было подано 83 иска на общую сумму около $60 млн — пострадавшие и родственники погибших требовали выплаты компенсаций. Выиграны 42 дела, но только в части возмещения материального вреда. Некоторым были назначены пенсии в размере 246 рублей в месяц. Сумма самого большого возмещения — 8360 рублей. Такая компенсация была назначена только в двух случаях. В возмещении морального вреда всем истцам было отказано. Десять семей подали жалобу на это решение. Тогда Мосгорсуд увеличил сумму компенсации одной из пострадавших на две копейки, найдя арифметическую ошибку в прежних расчетах. Суммы компенсаций остальным пострадавшим остались без изменений.
В 2003 году вдова и дочь погибшего Тимура Хазиева выиграли иск у московского правительства. Суд обязал мэрию выплатить Татьяне и Софье Хазиевым около $60 тыс. Но затем Мосгорсуд отменил это решение.
Европейский суд по правам человека 20 декабря 2011 года вынес решение по делу «Финогенов и другие против РФ». Теперь российские власти обязаны выплатить 64 потерпевшим компенсацию общей суммой €1,3 млн. По версии ЕСПЧ, российское руководство ненадлежащим образом спланировало и провело спасательную операцию. Страсбургский суд настаивает на том, что необходимо расследовать ход спецоперации. При этом он счел законным решение властей применить газ во время штурма. Решение ЕСПЧ уже вступило в силу. Тем не менее 15 октября 2012 года Следственный комитет России отказал в возбуждении уголовного дела в отношении должностных лиц, отвечавших за проведение спецоперации.