Militants no longer saw Azerbaijan as a staging area, but in general, terrorism was still strong. Suicide attackers of Brigade 29 have freed 15 hostages. They're still in critical condition, and nobody knew how it would all end.
Aleksandra Rudakova was 15 when she was a hostage in the theatrical center on Dubrovka.
Aleksandra Rudakova, terrorist hostage in October 2002: "My Mom and I went to see the famous usical, Nord-Ost. We just finished watching the first act, when a man in BDU ran onstage. He fired his machine gun towards the ceiling, it all happened very fast. That's when the terrorists announced that we were taken hostage".
The terrorists killed a few people, planted bombs all over the place, and put female suicide bombers everywhere. Then they announce their demands: to withdraw the troops from Chechnya.
Aleksandra Rudakova: "Even then, as a 15-year-old child, I knew that those demands couldn't be fulfilled. I knew that storm was the only possible way to resolve this".
- Those were hard times, but it must have been probably even harder to hear that if you'd just given the terrorists some time, they would've let everyone go. Did the terrorists plan to set their hostages free back then?
Vladimir Putin: No.
- What did they plan to do?
Vladimir Putin: They planned to drive a bus with hostages to the Red Square, and shoot them right there, throwing the bodies out on the street. This way, they wanted to influence the authorities and the intelligence services. Of course, we couldn't let that happen.
Nikolai Patrushev: "They'd planted a lot of explosives all over the building. They did a smart job, they probably had had someone to advise them. An explosion of one of these devices could've led to the detonation of others".
Vladimir Putin: "Those who sat with the hostages were holding the detonators. They just had to press a button, which made it dangerous to just go in. There were 2,000 people in that audience hall".
Aleksandra Rudakova: "The landmine that was in the middle, the female suicide bombers. They were sitting along the perimeter. We sat in the 3rd row, that's me, there's my mom. Then we moved to the 7th row, closer to the exit. We hoped to make it, to escape somehow".
The special forces took control over all terrorist contacts. They listened in on their phone conversations, directing microphones to the audience through the roof. It was important not to make any mistakes during the next steps. The FSC had put together a meeting with reps of the Western special services. At that time, they were all openly present in Russia. They asked their Western colleagues for advice, but the latter only reported back West and didn't advise anything. It became clear at that point that Russia was one-on-one with terrorism.
- We were looking for ways to handle this without any casualties. We thought we'd found such a way because we were working with the scientists day and night. We tried to define our possibilities.
- Gas experiments?
- Yes, they experimented, we relied on the results they got. We knew we couldn't wait. We had to choose the right time for our actions.
Aleksandra Rudakova: "By day 3, the terrorists started shooting at the ceiling, because it was clear someone was running there. We suspected that those were our special services working on making their way into the building. There was some tension in the air before the storm. There even was a moment when I told my mom to put her boots on, because we were barefoot since we might have to run".
Nikolai Patrushev, FSC director (1999 — 2008): "We managed to find an identical cultural center in Moscow. We started studying it so we could free the people. At the same time, we kept working in the Dubrovka cultural center. Moreover, we were receiving information that time was passing by, and the militants were acting nervous, ready to kill the hostages".
Exhausting training took place in an identical Moscow theatrical center. The elite forces were honing their storming skills. Here, they found a way to get inside Dubrovka, implant video cameras, and how to use the thin walls of the nonbearing structures.
Vladimir Putin: "We started controlling visually everything that was happening inside, and then cutting out where needed with lock saws, making as little noise as possible".
Nikolai Patrushev: "While doing that, it was important that terrorists didn't hear anything, didn't suspect anything".
- That someone was sawing something.
Nikolai Patrushev: "It was a unique job, and they did it without arousing any suspicions of the terrorists. And thank God it was like that".
There was a clear plan at hand just a few hours before the storm. A gas whose components are used for anesthesia around the world was to be let in through the ventilation system. As soon as it started working, they were to push the sawed wall on the stage. The snipers only had 2 seconds to neutralize the terrorists who could activate the landmines.
Vladimir Putin: "That night, I got a call from the Head of the FSB when it was already time to attack. He reported that the gas had been let in, but it didn’t work".
- You mean the elite forces found it out.
Vladimir Putin: "They saw it. When I asked them why it wasn't working, they said they didn't know. Maybe there was a draft somewhere, it was unclear. The tragic killing the hostages on the Red Square was supposed to take place the next morning. Waiting wasn't an option. I asked the FSB Director if the group was ready. He said they were. I asked if they were willing to go without the gas".
- Even though the gas wasn't working.
- Yes. He said they were. He said they would go if I ordered. And I told him to start.
- The people were ready to face certain death?.
Nikolai Patrushev: "They were ready, even though they were very well aware of the consequences. That being said, I want to add that the President had accepted full responsibility for implementing this operation".
- It must be tough to decide whether to go through with the storm. How hard was it for you? Was it your decision?
Vladimir Putin: "There was obviously no other option. No one but me could've made this decision".
After telling us about this moment, Vladimir Putin stayed quiet for a long time. When the interview was over, with no microphones he shared some memories that he probably wouldn't have told on camera. We don't know how discreet it is, but we'll tell you about it. After having given the order to start attack though the gas didn't work, the President left his office and went to another room in the Kremlin's 1st building. Back in the day, it was remodeled into a chapel. There, for the first time in his life, Vladimir Putin kneeled before the holy images. After a while, Nikolai Patrushev reported the gas had started working and the assault had begun.
Vladimir Putin: "The gas had worked, and the terrorists that were inside at the time were in a condition that made the work of the special services and the snipers more effective".
The elite forces had preassigned to each other all the terrorists who had detonators and death belts. The snipers were able to fire before the dust from the fallen wall had risen up. All the bullets made it to their targets. The storm groups broke in right away.
Alexandra Rudakova: "Even though we were half-conscious since the gas had already worked, I remember the rumble, grenade noise, there were dazzle grenades, as far as I know. There was a lot of running around. At some point I came to, I nudged my Mom, she also woke up, then our special services came in and told us not to worry, for they had come to rescue us. They asked us to wait for 5 minutes. During those 5 minutes, they were making security shots, because they knew someone could wake up and detonate the bombs".
Nikolai Patrushev: "The military operation was extremely successful. Not a single hostage was hurt. I had reported to the President that the operation was completed, that we had nobody hurt, but eventually, we learned that there were some casualties".
Vladimir Putin: "Unfortunately, many people were killed there. They didn't die because of the shooting, or because of the gas, they died because they didn't know how to act in these circumstances, because there was enough antidote, they just needed to get a shot. Some got 2-3 shots, some got none. Of course, we had a thorough investigation. It's hard to punish someone in this case, people were going to face certain death".
Nikolai Patrushev: "There were great amounts of explosives all over the place. Apparently, it put a lot of pressure on those who performed the rescue mission. Some people came to it without the antidote. This confirms that this substance was absolutely harmless. We didn't advertise it, but it's been used later, and there were no victims".
Vladimir Putin: "I repeat it's hard to blame anyone, since the whole place was tripwired and mined. In those conditions, people had to be evacuated quickly. This was a dangerous and hard work for everyone who was there. But I want to make it clear people didn't go easy on themselves. When the group went in for the storm, everyone had prepared for the worst outcome for themselves. Basically, they were risking their lives to save over 1,000 hostages. However, what's done is done. I'm sure that if we hadn't done anything, there would've been a lot more victims".
Alexandra Rudakova: "I'm eternally grateful to the special services, Alpha and Vympel, as far as I know. I'm grateful to our nation's leader for making this decision, for it's the reason I'm still alive, and I'll be grateful for the rest of my life".
Vladimir Putin visited the injured in the hospital almost immediately after the storm. People shared what they had to go through. Soon, the entire country heard the President's speech:
"We failed to save everyone. Please forgive us. This enemy is strong and dangerous, ruthless and cruel. It is international terrorism. They have no future. And we do".
Surprised by the fact that in this extremely large-scale terrorist attack the amount of victims among hostages didn't exceed 15%, Western special services asked the FSB for unique gas mix recipe. But the West immediately started criticizing the security chiefs' operation. Europe thought that such terrorist attacks could never happen to them.
- Back then, you were among the first ones who supported Putin. What did the entire world learn from this story?
Gerhard Schröder, German Chancellor (1998 — 2005): "Many things, to be honest, since many people didn't have sympathy for the victims, for Russia, for the situation. That's when I realized we had to respond radically to what was happening in Chechnya, for example. That's what I told Putin back then".
Sergey Ivanov, RF Minister of Defense (2001 — 2007): "When things got ugly for other planet's regions, when terrorist attacks started happening all over the world, things started changing, but there were still double standards, that are still present".
In November 2015, there was a series of terrorist attacks in Paris. Stade de France, several restaurants, and the Bataclan concert hall. Out of 100 hostages, 90 people had died during the storm.
