On the night of October 23, 2002, during the second act of the popular musical Nord Ost a group of approximately 50 armed people in masks captured the building of the Theater center. At that moment over 800 spectators, not counting the actors, were in the building. The terrorists fired in the air and, after having announced that there were explosives in the building, started to plant bombs in the audience hall.
At first the attackers didn't make any demands, however they made it clear to the hostages that their action is aimed to stop the war in Chechnya and to liberate from prisons all those who fought against the Federal forces in the North Caucasus.
The militants permitted hostages to make a single call from their mobile phones and then confiscated them.
Aleksei Ivaschenko, a bard and one of the musical authors, and four more actors managed to escape from the make-up room, where the terrorists locked them.
The information concerning the seizure of the Theater center was received by law enforcers and a special plan Groza (Thunder) was announced in Moscow.
The police, interior forces, armored vehicles and soldiers from the special forces detachment Alfa immediately came to the site.
Local citizens, relatives of the hostages and sympathizing people gathered at the Theatre center. Many of them were outraged with the incident and directly spoke for the elimination of all, who seized the building. However, representatives of law-enforcement bodies declared that they would act "professionally, calmly and deliberately."
In connection with the hostage taking all medical establishments in Moscow were put on a high alert, in case of an emergency situation extra places were created in hospitals and leading medical specialists were called to their works.
The information that the terrorists keep foreign hostages from Australia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Germany, Georgia, Canada, Latvia, Moldova, the Netherlands, USA, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Switzerland and Yugoslavia came on October 24.
Spokespeople for the law-enforcement bodies reported that the operation on the hostage taking of the musical was personally worked out by Aslan Maskhadov. A number of telephone conversations between terrorists and their contacts in Chechnya, Turkey and some Arabian countries were intercepted by means of special equipment.
All through the Friday evening unsuccessful negotiations were held with the terrorists. The militants stated that they would start killing hostages in the morning. Following midnight extra police and military forces and more armored vehicles arrived at the scene. At approximately 1:15 A.M. three explosives and several gunshots were heard in the building. At 5:40 A.M. three more powerful explosives went off in the theater. Immediately after the explosions more special forces arrived at the place. As it was later acknowledged by Russian Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Vasilyev, "the operation went in accordance with the situation, instead of with the plan."
At 7:14 A.M. an official spokesman for the operational headquarters told reporters that the whole building of the Theater center on Dubrovka was taken under control and all hostages were freed. Leader of the terrorists Movsar Barayev and most of the terrorists were eliminated, some were detained and the building was being cleared of explosives.
As a result of the Theater center seizure 912 people were taken hostage, five out of them were shot by the terrorists. In all, 130 people died. Forty terrorists (21 male and 19 female) were eliminated.
Sappers neutralized in the building 30 explosive devices, 16 F-1 grenades and89 self-made hand grenades. The total TNT equivalent of the explosives amounted to 110-120 kg.
The Moscow Prosecutor's office was charged with the investigation of the criminal case concerning the terrorist attack on the Theater center. Within the frames of the investigation the charges were set against terrorists Basayev, Yandarbiyev, Dudayev and Zakayev. The investigation concerning the seizure of the Theater center still continues.
Last year a monument dedicated to the victims of the terrorist act was opened at the Theater center. The monument is a seven-meter Stella of white granite and was made by sculptor Alexander Belashov and architect Ilya Bylinkin. The column is crowned by three flying cranes. "In remembrance of the terrorism victims" the inscription on the monument reads.
