SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #816 (81), Tuesday, October 29, 2002
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TITLE: 117 Hostages Die in Theater Attack
AUTHOR: By Torrey Clark, Oksana Yablokova and Andrei Zolotov Jr.
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - In a pre-dawn showdown to the three-day hostage standoff, special forces gassed and stormed the theater where hundreds of people were being held hostage Saturday.
The official death toll among hostages rose from 67 at noon Saturday to 117 Sunday night; all but one died from gas poisoning. The death toll remained at 117 late Monday. The number of hostage takers killed in the raid also rose, from 34 at noon Saturday to 50 later in the day. Thirty-two of them were men and 18 were women. Four suspected rebels were detained, one in the hospital on Sunday.
"We found ourselves having to choose between a horrible tragedy, in which all the hostages would die, and a horrible disgrace [in which Putin would have to give in to the rebels]," Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov said Sunday on Channel One television. "The special-forces' operation allowed us to prevent the disgrace and avoid the horrible tragedy. A tragedy did take place, but it wasn't what it could have been."
Government spokespeople said Saturday the rebels provoked the attack by shooting two hostages before their 6 a.m. deadline for federal forces to start pulling out of Chechnya. However, evidence suggests the special forces planned the operation as early as Friday night.
Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Vasilyev said Friday night that the area surrounding the police cordons would be cleared of the crowd of onlookers. Foreign diplomats were warned Friday of an upcoming strike, the Observer newspaper reported Sunday. The government also clamped down on media reports from the site.
President Vladimir Putin on Friday designated his envoy to the Southern Federal District, Viktor Kazantsev, to negotiate with the hostage takers on his behalf. But the rebels refused to meet with him, Interfax said.
Lawmaker Boris Nemtsov, who met with the hostage takers Thursday, said by Friday night they were no longer willing to release any more people without political concessions from the Kremlin.
Nemtsov said Saturday that he believed the hostage takers were following orders from outside the theater. "I think this was the moment of truth, and it is of utter importance that President Putin did not succumb and did not begin to talk with them," he said. "This was the moment we preserved Russia as a state."
According to the hostages, a man in bloodied clothing came into the theater's main hall at about midnight Friday, saying he had burst through police cordons to find his son, Roman. When the boy was not found in the hall, the hostage takers dragged the man into the lobby and apparently killed him.
The Chechens suspected him of being a Federal Security Service agent. One of the hostages, who did not want to be named, said Sunday that FSB officers confirmed to him in private conversations in the hospital that the man was a secret service agent.
When Vasilyev told reporters Saturday that 67 hostages had died, he also said: "There are victims on our side too, but we won't talk about it now."
FSB officers said on television Sunday that several officers were wounded, but did not mention any deaths.
Observer reporter Nick Paton Walsh, who stood several meters from the theater's main entrance as lifeless bodies were being carried out, said Sunday that he heard an FSB officer anxiously shouting: "Where is our guy?"
The FSB said Saturday that two men were killed and two people wounded - a man in his head and a woman in her chest - before the storming began.
At 3:25 a.m., reporters near the theater heard an explosion followed by gunshots. At 5:30 a.m., special forces started pumping gas into the theater and gunshots were heard.
Officers from the FSB's elite Alpha and Vympel units entered the building in two groups - one through the front door, the other from the basement, FSB commandos said on television Sunday. Interior Ministry troops also took part.
The two groups encountered some resistance, and the troops lobbed hand grenades in the lobby and side rooms. Most of the shooting took place on the stage, where the rebels were not entirely incapacitated by gas.
"The gunmen on the stage started firing on us, and we hit them," an FSB officer said on television. "There was a woman dressed in black with a pistol and a grenade sitting on the right side of the hall. She fired several shots at us, and we killed her. There was a grenade in her hands, and one of our officers removed it. ... Then we started to deploy across the hall. There were more gunmen firing submachine guns at us from the right side of the hall, but we hit again."
FSB video footage of the theater after the raid suggested that gun battles had taken place in the lobby and onstage. Female rebels in the back of the hall appear to have been killed while asleep or unconscious. In an apparent attempt to smear the Chechens' leader, an uncorked bottle of cognac stood near the bloody, prostrate body of Movsar Barayev.
By 7 a.m., the operation was over.
Additional reporting by Staff Writers Valeria Korchagina and Simon Saradzhyan.
TITLE: Muscovites Gather To Mourn Siege Victims
AUTHOR: By Yevgenia Borisova and Natalia Yefimova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - In a bittersweet swirl of emotion, thousands of mourners gathered Monday to commemorate the hostages who died, while a growing number of relatives sighed with relief as they were reunited with loved ones who had survived.
The stream of visitors to the theater on Ulitsa Melnikova swelled throughout the day and into the night, leaving the driveway near the building awash with flowers and lighted candles in memory of the 117 captives who died, almost all of them from the gas used in the rescue effort.
"We brought 117 flowers," said a dark-haired young woman, who spent a long time with her friend arranging two giant bunches of reddish mums.
Like most of those who dropped by throughout the day, she had not known any of the hostages personally.
"No, we didn't have relatives here. But it is our tragedy too," she said.
Traffic outside the theater slowed down as visitors popped out of their cars, laid flowers and drove off. Others lingered, kneeling near the heaps of bouquets, reading from prayer books or silently crying.
"My daughter was there and she, fortunately, is alive," said one man, choking back tears. "But her friend died. I am sorry, I just can't talk now."
Dozens of Muscovites also lined up outside Hospital No. 15 to donate blood. By mid-afternoon, hospital staff said they could not handle the flood of donors and asked those still waiting to give blood to go home.
Meanwhile, some of the relatives who had been waiting for two days at nearby hospitals were finally allowed inside, and scores of freed hostages who had been receiving treatment were discharged.
As of Monday morning, 239 of the former captives had been released, while 405 remained hospitalized, Alexander Yermolov, head of the Sklifosovsky emergency care hospital, told reporters. According to figures given by Leonid Aronov, the chief doctor at Hospital No. 13, which accepted the highest number of victims, the total number of freed captives still hospitalized was 407.
Moscow prosecutor Mikhail Avdyukov said that, of the 117 hostages who died, 108 had been identified, Interfax reported. But he added that the casualty count could grow, as 45 patients remained in critical condition.
President Vladimir Putin, who declared Monday a day of mourning, promised that the government would help those hit by the hostage seige and pledged to ratchet up the fight against terrorism.
Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Matviyenko said that families who lost relatives would receive 100,000 rubles ($3,155) per casualty and an additional 14,200 rubles ($448) for each funeral, Interfax reported. Hostages would receive 50,000 rubles ($1,578) each, along with any special rehabilitation they may need, Matviyenko said. Funerals were set to begin Tuesday.
At a cabinet meeting on Monday afternoon, Putin insisted that Russia would not bow its head to terrorism.
"Russia will not make deals with terrorists and will not give in to blackmail," a pale and tired-looking Putin said in televised remarks. "International terrorism is getting bolder and behaving with ever greater cruelty."
The president also said the country would have to crack down on security threats and hinted that the Kremlin would not soften its policies in Chechnya.
"The tragic events are over, but a great deal of problems remain," he said. "We are paying a heavy price both for the weakness of the state and for inconsistency in [its] actions."
Many unanswered questions remain about the hostage-taking and the way it was handled.
The liberal Union of Right Forces party called on Monday for a parliamentary inquiry to determine how a convoy of armed Chechen rebels with piles of explosives was able to travel freely through Moscow and why medical experts had been so poorly prepared to treat the freed hostages after special forces raided the theater, the party's leader, Boris Nemtsov, said on national television.
Nemtsov said the inquiry should also focus on the extreme secrecy and security measures applied to hospitalized victims, many of whom still have not been allowed to see relatives.
Even mourners who came to the theater on Monday were not allowed past the heavily guarded gate unless they had flowers. Anyone wishing to pay respects without an offering was told to stand outside the gate.
Dozens of people - including some of those laying flowers at the theater - have not yet found their friends and relatives.
Andrei, a teacher from the Zolotoye Secheniye private school, whose students were watching the musical "Nord -Ost" when the theater was seized last Wednesday, said that one of the three teachers who had accompanied the group was still missing.
Slava, a 16-year-old culinary student from the vocational school near the theater that has served as an ad-hoc crisis center, said he has not yet found four of his friends who attended the show.
"I have already searched all the hospitals in Moscow for my friends. I will look for them until I find them," he said, his face red and his eyes wet with tears.
"I am sure that the government should allocate much more money to improve security forces so that they are really properly equipped to fight terrorism," said Slava, who lost acquaintances in the 1999 apartment bombing on Kashirskoye Shosse, not far from the theater. "How long will we not be able to sleep peacefully in our homes?"
Most of those at the theater believed that the raid - which helped rescue 646 of nearly 800 hostages - had been justified. But there was no consensus in the crowd on how the protracted war in Chechnya should be handled.
"Tougher measures must be taken in Chechnya to stop terrorism," Andrei Selyutin, a Moscow businessperson, said. "Our president already seems to be very tough, but I think more should be done. And, also, these pseudo-human-rights organizations should be listened to less. Ours and Europeans too. ... They simply haven't got a clue."
"I am sure the raid was the right thing to do. But it is obvious that terrorism will continue to spread," Lyudmila Zavyalova, 48, said. "I don't know what should be done in Chechnya. I am a nurse, so I cannot say like some do that Chechens should be exterminated. I wish all people happiness. But I cannot think of any solution."
Staff Writer Oksana Yablokova contributed to this report.
TITLE: Investigation Begins, Police Hunt Suspects
AUTHOR: By Nabi Abdullaev
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - As investigators tried to piece together how the theater was seized, the police were combing Moscow on Monday for accomplices thought to have provided the hostage takers with shelter, cars and guns.
"We have grounds to believe that a terrorist network exists in the Moscow area, and our main task is to neutralize it," the Interior Ministry said in a statement after the standoff ended Saturday.
Federal Security Service chief Nikolai Patrushev warned Saturday that accomplices in Moscow were preparing for new attacks.
Later that day, Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Vasiliyev said that more than 30 suspected accomplices had been detained. That number shrunk to two on Monday afternoon, said a spokesperson for the Moscow prosecutor's office.
However, the citywide search continued, with officials taking a close look at foreign embassies that might have aided the hostage takers, said Sergei Yastrzhembsky, the Kremlin's spokesperson on Chechnya. He said the attackers made telephone calls to embassies in Moscow during the siege and that the calls had been intercepted.
"These conversations will be thoroughly analyzed," he said Monday, according to Interfax. He did not elaborate.
News agencies, citing the FSB, reported earlier that the separatists also placed calls to foreign countries.
In an admission that they had found shelter in the city, the hostage takers told NTV television on Friday that they had been watching the theater in preparation for the attack for two months.
Television footage after Saturday's raid showed that the separatists had an impressive arsenal of guns and explosives. Law-enforcement officials said the Chechens probably secured much of the stockpile in Moscow and stored it before the siege in a cafe adjacent to the theater that was undergoing reconstruction.
"What is certain is that the perpetrators of the hostage-taking in Moscow used a dormant network in the Russian capital," Roland Jacquard, the head of the Paris-based International Observatory on Terrorism, told Agence France Presse on Monday. "It is an operation that had been prepared in advance."
Oleg Nechiporenko, a former KGB general and the head of the nongovernmental National Anti-Criminal and Anti-Terrorist Foundation, said the hostage takers had been well-trained before the attack.
"One could see that the terrorists demonstrated a multidisciplinary training, including such sophisticated psychological techniques as how to incite the Stockholm syndrome with hostages," he said.
Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov on Saturday ordered an investigation of how the separatists got into Moscow and a search for accomplices who provided transportation, housing and arms- storage facilities.
Three hostage takers seized in the theater Saturday - two women and a man - were being questioned Monday, as was a fourth suspected hostage taker detained Sunday in a hospital, according to media reports.
The suspect, a woman, was knocked out by the gas in the theater and was delivered with the hostages to Hospital No. 13. She behaved oddly after regaining consciousness and was taken away by investigators, according to the reports.
"Investigators are continuing to check the hostages in the hospitals because terrorists could be hiding among them," the prosecutor's office spokesperson said.
She would not comment about the woman nor about reports Monday that 10 to 15 hostage takers were being sought after managing to flee the theater. The police and Federal Security Service also refused to comment on the reports.
The reports said the police knew the identities of the missing hostage takers.
A spokesperson at one Moscow police station said her precinct has not been sent the names or descriptions of any missing hostage takers.
However, the pro-Moscow police force in Chechnya said they had received the information.
"We received the paperwork from our Moscow colleagues and, together with our best specialists, are poring over them," Chechnya's police chief, Said-Selim Peshkhoyev, told Interfax on Sunday.
He said his police force would try to establish who helped the Chechens prepare for the attack and where the group trained and assembled the explosive devices before going to Moscow.
The investigation into the theater siege and the prevention of further attacks will depend heavily on the work of informers, said Sergei Goncharov, a member of the Moscow City Duma and a former commander in the elite KGB Alpha forces.
"To find the accomplices of the terrorists, we need agents, agents and once again agents, especially among Chechen rebels," he said by telephone Monday.
He said it is difficult to recruit Chechen informers because of their close-knit relations.
"But, like everybody, they respect force and love money," he said.
Investigators detained three informers working for the hostage takers in the crowd of onlookers that gathered around the theater during the crisis, Moskovsky Komsomolets said Monday, citing an unnamed FSB officer who participated in the operation.
A police officer has been detained on suspicion of updating the hostage takers on developments outside the theater by cellphone, Izvestia reported Monday.
Prosecutors denied the report.
TITLE: Barayev: Orders Came From Basayev
AUTHOR: By Nabi Abdullaev
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - In his last interview, some 24 hours before he was killed, Movsar Barayev sat slumped in a chair, peering at the camera with weary and dazed eyes.
"Our group is called Islam's suicide brigade," said Barayev, who led the hostage operation. "Our goal - and we have repeatedly declared it - is to stop the war and remove [Russian] troops [from Chechnya]."
Barayev, a nephew of dead guerrilla leader Arbi Barayev, said the hostage taking was ordered by Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev.
"We act on the order of our superior military emir ... Shamil Basayev," a stumbling Barayev told NTV at about 4 a.m. Friday, more than 30 hours after seizing the theater. "You all know him well."
The aim of the siege was to force Moscow to start peace talks with Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov, he said.
"Maskhadov is our president ... . We submit to him ... and regard him well," he said. "Resuming negotiations with Maskhadov is, perhaps, our reason to come here."
Maskhadov condemned the hostage taking in a statement published Saturday on the official rebel Web site, Chechenpress.com, and denied having anything to do with the attack.
However, Sunday Times reporter Mark Franchetti, who interviewed Barayev late Thursday, said Barayev told him the attack had been a joint operation with Basayev and Maskhadov.
Barayev was the only hostage taker in the NTV interview without a mask. He was clad in fatigues, as was the man sitting next to him, who wore a black balaclava. To their right were pistol-brandishing women dressed in black from head to toe and carrying what appeared to be explosives around their waists.
"We prepared ourselves," said the unidentified man to Barayev's right. "For two months we were coming [to the theater], watching the shows, looking at what and how."
He said the group had planned other attacks in Moscow but had failed.
"Our dream is to become shakhidy - martyrs of Allah," Barayev told Franchetti. "The ball is in [President Vladimir] Putin's court now. It's up to him if he wants to have the lives of all these people on his conscience.
"We are more than determined to die here. Allah has already fulfilled our dreams just by allowing us to come to Moscow and mount this operation successfully. The war in Chechnya must stop. If Putin doesn't act, we will go all the way."
In a transcript of the NTV interview, posted on Chechen.org/kavkaz but not aired on television, Barayev said he would only release non-Russian hostages if officials from their home countries came to get them because Russians could not be trusted. "They may kill [the hostages] and blame us for the murders," he was quoted as saying.
He also denied a suggestion by Putin that the attack was planned abroad.
Law enforcement officials who viewed the corpses of the hostage-takers said several Arabs and Afghans were among them. Fifty hostage-takers were killed, 18 of whom were women, the FSB said. Three were detained.
Among the women, according to pro-Moscow Chechen police cited by Izvestia, were the widows of rebel warlords Arbi Barayev and the Akhmadov brothers, Zelimkhan and Rezvan.
TITLE: Foreigner Death Toll Rising
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW - Eight of the 75 or so foreigners held hostage in the theater were confirmed dead Monday, while embassies continued to search hospitals and morgues for dozens still missing.
The government initially said no foreigners were among the dead.
The foreign victims are three Ukrainians and citizens of the Netherlands, Austria, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Belarus, according to their respective embassies and news reports.
Twenty-eight other foreigners have been found and accounted for since the Saturday raid.
Dutch citizen Natalja Zjyrov, 39, died Saturday. Her son, Dmitry, 14, is still in the hospital being treated for post-traumatic shock, the Dutch Embassy said.
Austrian Ambassador Franz Cede said Sunday that an Austrian woman, Emilia Predova-Uzunova, a 43-year-old Bulgarian-born mother of two, had died, Reuters reported, citing the Austrian Press Agency. Cede was quoted as saying the embassy had been continuously told that the woman was fine and her life was not in danger.
One U.S. citizen, Natalya Aleshnya, 64, has been located and is recovering in the hospital. The embassy is still looking for another citizen, Sandy Booker, 49.
Booker was at the theater was with his fiancee, Svetlana Gubareva, and her daughter, Alexandra Lityaga, 13, according to media reports. Both are Kazakh citizens. Gubareva is in the hospital, but Lityaga died after the rescue, Interfax reported.
Two German citizens, a man and a woman were flown out of Moscow early Sunday morning and have been hospitalized in Munich, their embassy said. One remains in intensive care.
Two British hostages, Richard Low and his mother Sidica, escaped unharmed and were to leave for London late Monday, their embassy said. The hostage-takers released Richard's father, Peter Low, on Thursday because of heart problems.
TITLE: St. Petersburg Reacts to Moscow's Crisis
TEXT: President Vladimir Putin declared Monday a day of national mourning for the victims of the hostage crisis in Moscow. Memorial services were held in a number of St. Petersburg churches and cathedrals, while schoolchildren started their day with a moment of silence for those who died during the rescue attempt. As people gathered outside Kazan Cathedral on Nevsky Prospect to lay flowers and light candles for the dead, Staff Writer Galina Stolyarova took to the streets to ask St. Petersburg citizens their feelings about the way the government handled the Moscow hostage crisis. Photos by Alexander Belenky.
Irina, 18, student
I followed the events very closely on television, and I supported all of the measures taken by the Russian government. I think that it was the right decision to storm the theater on Saturday: The terrorists' patience had obviously been exhausted, they started killing hostages, so there wasn't any reason to wait.
I don't think that the storming of the building could have been bloodless. Given the enormous number of hostages, the losses could have been much, much higher.
Yekaterina, 18, student
When I heard about the Russian military storming the theater, my first thought was they should have waited. I think that the move was premature. The situation wasn't that hopeless.
The terrorists could have released more children. They had already released some people after earlier negotiations, so they could have released more, especially the youngest.
I think the military should only have stormed the theater after all the children were out of the building.
I knew that people would die. It was inevitable, as it is with almost every similar military operation. But I also think that the cost of the victory was a bit too high. Far too many people died.
Zinaida, 65, teacher
It was extremely painful to hear about so many victims, but the situation in itself was nearly hopeless from the start. Furthermore, it is a miracle that it has been resolved with so many people surviving. I just don't see how more people could have been rescued.
Our authorities had to deal with senseless people. This is what made their task particularly difficult. Unlike many other terrorists, Barayev and his people were ready to die. They were not about money, they were about fanatical ideas.
Lidiya, 60, geologist
The most alarming thing here is the question of how this hostage taking could happen in the first place? It is a perfect illustration of how poorly our security forces and police function. It was easy enough for some fifty-odd bandits to capture an entire theater in Moscow!
It makes me feel like we are all extremely unprotected and exposed to such dangerous incidents, which can happen anywhere, anytime.
I worry about my children and grandchildren very much.
Alexander, 22, student
I think that it was a triumph for our security forces. We have shown that terrorists can't bring Russia to its knees.
If the president had started negotiating with the terrorists, it would have given them legitimacy, the feeling that they are being treated with respect.
Now, they are losers - they failed. This is a strong signal to other terrorists who may be planning similar actions.
I came to Kazan Cathedral today to light a candle in memory of all the victims. I did it because I wanted to show that we are one country, we are united against this evil and, therefore, we are stronger.
Nikolai, 65, retired lieutenant colonel
I am a retired officer and, had I been there, I would have made exactly the same decision. The storming of the theater was a necessary and very timely step. Russian security forces had no other choice at the time: The terrorists began shooting people.
If the military hadn't stormed the theater, the situation would have gotten completely out of control. The terrorists would have been killing people by dozens. There would be panic and the entire building would have gone up in flames.
Anatoly, 56, neuropathologist
This is shameful for our government! The Russian authorities can't even provide sufficient security measures in the country's capital to prevent terrorist attacks. They can't organize a civilized rescue operation either. Most hostages who died during and after the storm weren't gunned down by terrorists - they were poisoned with gas used by the police and the security forces!
I am a doctor myself, and I know how careful one has to be with sedatives. There is such a sublime difference between a therapeutic dose and overdose.
Further, there is no such thing as a proper average drug dose - it is always different for every patient. What is good for a big, strong man could kill a slight, young woman. Didn't the people behind the whole operation realize that? The officials have refused to name the gas - even to the doctors trying to treat the critically ill!
I understand that Russia's future was at stake, but the rescue operation looked far too spontaneous, hurried and chaotic to me. I think it should have been planned and carried out more carefully.
Yevgeny, 21, student
I agree entirely with what was done. The terrorists were obviously reckless and ready to die, so the real question was - although it sounds brutal - just how many people were going to die.
The thing is that, in such circumstances, someone was bound to die. And I think that the Russian authorities minimized the loss of life. Everything was done properly.
Nina, 44, cleaner
To be honest, I expected the siege to result in a much higher number of deaths. But, even with the vast majority of people surviving, the loss of human life remains enormous.
I think that killing the terrorists was the top priority, instead of rescuing the hostages.
It is scary to watch the news and hear of more and more people dying of gas overdoses. I sympathize very deeply with everyone who has been through that nightmare.
TITLE: Russia Critical of Denmark
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Chechen rebel envoy Akhmed Zakayev on Monday expressed willingness to start unconditional peace talks with the Russian government over ending the war in Chechnya as a conference opened that has sparked a diplomatic spat between Russia and Denmark.
"We urge and we are asking [President Vladimir] Putin, and we declare our readiness, to talk peace talks without any preliminary terms," said Zakayev, a representative of separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov.
Russia has sharply criticized Denmark for allowing the two-day World Chechen Congress after the hostage crisis in Moscow.
The Danish government announced late Sunday that a Nov. 11 European Union-Russia summit would be held in Brussels, Belgium, instead of Copenhagen and Nov. 12 bilateral meetings would be canceled after Putin threatened not to attend because of the Chechen Congress.
Denmark, which holds the EU's rotating presidency through December, refused to ban the meetings, citing its constitutional right of freedom of speech and assembly.
The Chechen separatists at the congress distanced themselves from the hostage crisis.
"We have no relations with terrorists," said Osman Ferzaouli, a Copenhagen-based Maskhadov representative.
Flemming Larsen, chairperson of a Danish support committee for Chechnya, which is hosting the congress, dismissed claims by Moscow that the congress aimed to raise funds for rebels fighting federal forces in Chechnya as "quite ridiculous."
"Most of the people who are here are actually living and working in the Russian Federation," he said. "They are here on fully legal papers."
About 100 Chechens, human-rights activists and lawmakers from Russia and other European countries gathered at a downtown Copenhagen hotel to discuss ways to end the fighting between Russian troops and separatist rebels.
Delegates, including former Russian parliament speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov, who is an ethnic Chechen, and former Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis, called for dialogue with Moscow that eventually could lead to independence for the Caucasus republic.
(AP, Reuters)
TITLE: TIMELINE
TEXT: A chronology of the hostage drama starting from the moment the theater was seized by Chechen gunmen late Wednesday to the first official estimate of the number of casualties on Saturday afternoon.
WEDNESDAY 9:10 p.m. - A group of men and women armed with guns, grenades and explosives seize the theater.
9:35 p.m. - Police and rescue services inundated with calls for help.
10:00 p.m. - Police, fire fighters and FSB agents begin arriving on the scene.
10:30 p.m. - Putin and key cabinet members informed that up to 700 people are being held hostage.
11:10 p.m. - About 20 children released from the building; one reveals rebels want Russia out of Chechnya.
11:30 p.m. - Movsar Barayev, the nephew of late Chechen warlord Arbi Barayev, said leading the operation.
11:55 p.m. - Freed hostages put number of hostage-takers at 20 to 30.
THURSDAY 12:12 a.m. - Captors threaten to kill 10 people for each of them shot in any attempted raid.
12:30 a.m. - More than 10 children freed.
1:00 a.m. - More children and a few women are released.
1:28 a.m. - Shooting heard in the theater.
1:35 a.m. - Another woman freed.
1:59 a.m. - Two pregnant women let go.
3:43 a.m. - Putin cancels trip to Germany and Portugal.
3:50 a.m. - Rebels kill Moscow resident Olga Romanova, 26, who had somehow entered the theater.
11:53 a.m. - Hostage and Interfax reporter Maria Shkolnikova says 67 hostages are foreigners.
12:11 p.m. - Two hostages freed.
12:25 p.m. - A young man escapes.
12:46 p.m. - 15-year old boy let go.
1:02 p.m. - Captors threaten to shoot 10 people an hour if demands not met.
1:15 p.m. - Duma Deputy Iosif Kobzon enters building, later emerges with five hostages.
1:35 p.m. - FSB spokesperson Sergei Ignatchenko says 25 male and 25 female rebels inside theater.
3:28 p.m. - Putin tells country Russia "will not yield."
5:14 p.m. - Shkolnikova freed.
5:31 p.m. - Two teenage women escape through third-floor bathroom window; rebels launch grenades as they flee, wounding a commando.
5:55 p.m. - Al-Jazeera airs interview of captors saying they are ready to die and take the lives of "infidel" hostages.
6:57 p.m. - Two Red Cross doctors from Jordan enter theater, bring out dead woman.
11:38 p.m. - One of the doctors puts the number of hostages at 800, says medicine, food and water badly needed.
FRIDAY 5:30 a.m. - One hostage released
6:30 a.m. - Six hostages released.
12.00 p.m. - Negotiators say gunmen threaten to start shooting hostages by 10 p.m. if demands aren't met. The deadline later moved to 6.00 a.m.
12:27 p.m. - Eight children let go.
4:45 p.m. - Patrushev tells guerrillas their lives will be spared if all hostages freed.
8 p.m. - Putin addresses country, says ready to talk but reiterates tough stance on Chechnya.
10:35 p.m. - Four hostages reported freed.
11:58 p.m. - A man manages to enter theater. He is later reported to be an FSB agent.
SATURDAY 12:00 a.m. - Journalist-negotiator Anna Politkovskaya details rebels' demands for first time; says "serious action" likely if no plan for military exit from Chechnya offered.
12:00-1:00 a.m. - Rebels shoot alleged FSB agent and a male hostage, wound female hostage.
2:30 a.m. - Medics remove a man and a woman who were both shot.
3:25 a.m. - Captors fire on commandos advancing on the building.
5:30 a.m. - A female hostage tells Ekho Moskvy in live interview that gas is being pumped into the main hall.
5:30 a.m. - Rounds of gunfire and a series of explosions are heard outside. Troops move on the building.
6:30 a.m. - Special forces pour into the building. More gunfire, explosions heard. Five female hostages flee the building with faces covered.
7:10 a.m. - Rescue vehicles arrive as scores of hostages either walk or carried out of theater; dozens appear to be dead.
7:20 a.m. - Crisis center says theater secured and Barayev dead.
7:45 a.m. - Ignatchenko says operation launched after rebels began killing hostages and then attempted to escape.
12:50 p.m. - Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Vasilyev gives the first official death estimate - 67 hostages and 34 hostage-takers.
(Compiled from various reports.)
TITLE: APEC Leaders Send Anti-Terror Message
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: LOS CABOS, Mexico - Leaders of rich and poor Pacific Rim countries united behind a breakthrough deal on Saturday to stifle fund flows to terrorists, tighten security at airports and protect people and trade from fresh attacks.
More than 13 months after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, the battle against extremist violence topped the agenda for the second year at the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, summit.
At a retreat to discuss how to nurture business without giving in to terror, impeding trade or hurting the poor, APEC leaders reached a landmark deal to enforce ways to curb financing of groups such as Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida.
The dangers of terrorism were underscored by President Vladimir Putin's decision to stay home to deal with a hostage-taking by Chechen militants in a Moscow theater.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the siege was a reason why terrorism was a key topic again this year at APEC. "There's no country that is immune, there is no country that is not a potential victim of terrorism. And that's why it has to be an international crusade of the kind that President Bush launched after Sept. 11 and is now leading," he said.
Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, attending in place of Putin, said that world events compelled "the countries that were to some extent reluctant to join in this coalition, to participate more actively in combatting all signs of terrorism."
Dominating the talks was U.S. President George W. Bush's declared war on terror and on al-Qaida, suspect No. 1 in the Sept. 11 strikes and this month's bombings in Bali.
"Terrorism is a direct challenge to APEC's goals of free, open and prosperous economies," the group said in a statement. "We are united in our determination to end the threat that terrorism poses to our shared goals."
The decision to monitor alternative remittance systems such as the ancient, Middle Eastern, honor-based hawala, believed to have been used by the Sept. 11 hijackers, and halt misuse of charities was the first by a multilateral group.
The deal also envisions plans to strengthen security procedures for air travel and shipping. The plan would require the 21 APEC member countries to send passenger lists to one another ahead of the arrivals of aircraft and ships.
It would also oblige them to inspect shipping containers before they leave for other APEC members' ports, tighten baggage screening at airports and reinforce cockpits. All are steps the United States is starting to take at home.
The issue of trade, the moving force behind the launch of APEC in 1989, inched back toward center stage as members from as far apart as Peru and Papua New Guinea agreed that security was an essential ingredient of prosperity.
Indonesia's Megawati Sukarnoputri called for countries to stand firm against terror attacks and to lift travel bans imposed on her country after the devastating bombing that killed 183 people on the island of Bali on Oct. 12.
"We must fight terrorism that might take place wherever, whenever and by whomever," she said, urging every effort to avoid policies that would harm the livelihood of the 210 million people in the world's most populous Muslim country.
(Reuters, LAT, NYT)
TITLE: Gref Threatens To Take Back Funding
AUTHOR: By Claire Bigg
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Part of the 12.2 billion rubles ($386 million) that were allocated by the federal government for preparations for St. Petersburg's 300th anniversary next year could be taken back, Interfax reported Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref as saying on Saturday.
"If the federal funds allocated to finance the reconstruction and restoration projects for St. Petersburg's 300th anniversary are not used this year, we will have to confiscate them," Gref was reported as saying at a Saturday press conference in St. Petersburg.
According to Gref, 118 projects were designated in the 2002 federal budget to receive the funds.
While Gref said that 70 percent of the sum had already been handed over to the city, he told journalists that he "did not have the impression that the work is being carried out very actively."
On a number of the projects, work is running behind and there has been a failure to meet certain deadlines for the submission of documentation, he said.
Gref highlighted a number of projects where contractors were confirmed only in September and October, even though the budget-financing details were known as early as last autumn.
Gref said that, on Friday, he had issued instructions forbidding the granting of contracts to construction companies unless a tender for the project was held, but said that this should not create serious difficulties in the future.
"Carrying out a tender takes a maximum of 45 days," Interfax reported him as saying.
Officials at the City Construction Committee, when contacted on Monday, said that, although they had originally been one of the city governmental bodies charged with working on the projects, all supervision of the spending of federal-budget funds for the anniversary preparations was transferred to the Northwest Department of Gosstroi, the state construction agency, in April.
Gosstroi declined to comment on Gref's statements on Monday.
Alexander Afanasyev, a spokesperson for Governor Vladimir Yakovlev, while agreeing that the money that hasn't been spent on the anniversary preparations should not be given to the city as "a present," said that the work should not stop at the end of 2002.
"Projects such as the renovation of the Hermitage or the construction of the flood-protection barrier will continue next year," he said.
"I think Gref is getting things confused here. The question is not whether work is going on actively or not," Afanasyev said. "Work cannot be carried out without funds. The question is when and how the funds are transferred."
TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: New Air Links
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Taiwan and Russia have agreed on a pact to inaugurate aviation links, wrapping up nearly 10 years of negotiations, newspapers reported Sunday.
China Airlines, Taiwan's largest air carrier, struck a deal with Russia's Transaero airline in Moscow last week and both planned to begin once or twice-weekly flights between Taipei and Moscow by April next year, the reports said.
United Daily News quoted Taiwan's Transport Minister Lin Ling-san as saying Taiwan and Russia are expected to sign the pact by the end of the year.
Another newspaper, Liberty Times, quoted China Airlines President Philip Wei as saying the deal was struck after Taiwan dropped requests that the two sides grant each other tax-free status and extend the air route from Moscow to other European cities.
The two partners will continue negotiating those points after the pact is signed, Wei was quoted saying.
Taiwanese and Russian officials were not immediately available for comment.
Taiwan and Russia have no diplomatic relations, and Russia has refused to grant the Taiwanese airline tax-free status to avoid provoking China, an ally that considers Taiwan as part of its territory.
As an anti-communist bastion, Taiwan had for decades barred any contact with the former Soviet Union.
Hostilities eased with the end of the Cold War, and the two sides have established trade and other unofficial contacts.
Launch Date Set
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A manned Soyuz rocket will blast off from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome on Oct. 30 to the International Space Station, after Russia delayed the launch due to a fatal cargo rocket blast, officials said on Monday.
The Soyuz booster, due to have taken off on Monday, is a modified version of the rocket that exploded on Oct. 15 shortly after liftoff from Russia's Arctic Plesetsk cosmodrome, killing a soldier on the ground.
Interfax news agency said a foreign object in the rocket's engine caused the crash. The accident added to concerns that Russia may be unable to keep its commitments to the $90 billion ISS.
RIA news agency quoted Russia's space agency Rosaviakosmos as saying the launch would take place at 6:11 a.m. local time.
The three-man crew is due to replace a rescue capsule at the ISS, currently operated by two Russians and an American.
The Soyuz booster is routinely used to send cosmonauts into space and is one of the world's most reliable space vehicles, tracing its origins to the rocket which put the first human being, the Soviet Union's Yury Gagarin, into orbit in 1961.
TITLE: APEC Discusses Open-Border Dilemma
AUTHOR: By Niko Price
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico - United in a common mission, leaders of states and corporations tackled an urgent global dilemma Thursday: How to open borders to trade while closing them to terrorists. Violence kept President Vladimir Putin away, as his Pacific Rim counterparts streamed in for a weekend summit.
The parallel gatherings of ministers from four continents and executives from 400 companies - as well as the violence that has hit nations of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum - left no doubt that the realms of finance and diplomacy have merged. In the post-Sept. 11 world, terrorism sends markets plunging, and the global economic slump forces politicians to rethink priorities.
"Terrorism, in all its forms, is a threat to economic stability in APEC, as well as a threat to regional peace and security, and a direct challenge to APEC's vision of free, open and prosperous economies," APEC foreign and economy ministers said in a joint declaration.
Just down the road, sipping drinks in plush hotel lobbies, business leaders discussed the same challenges - and came to many of the same conclusions.
"You can't trade in an insecure world," said Nelson Cunningham, managing director of the Washington consulting firm Kissinger McLarty Associates. "APEC has been hijacked by the terrorists."
Heads of state began arriving for the culmination of the conference, a weekend summit where war in Iraq, nuclear weapons in North Korea and guerrillas in Russia will be as frequent topics of conversation as free trade and economic recovery.
Putin canceled his visit - and his meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush - after Chechen separatists took hundreds of hostages less than 5 kilometers from the Kremlin. Bush had hoped to use the meeting to win Putin's support for threats of force against Iraq.
Violence plagues APEC countries on both sides of the Pacific: Indonesia is grappling with a nightclub bombing that killed more than 200 people, the Philippines is searching for Muslim militants responsible for at least three recent explosions and U.S. authorities arrested two men Thursday in a series of sniper attacks that has terrorized its people.
But, despite U.S. preparations for a possible war with Iraq, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said that leaders should focus on raising living standards to reduce violence.
"True success, true wealth, does not come out of the barrel of a gun," he said.
Powell said APEC members would soon launch "a package of bold joint actions to make the flow of trade, finance and communication more secure." He said that richer countries would help poorer ones with the resources they need to implement the measures.
"To drive growth and generate prosperity," Powell said, APEC countries need to tighten security, "particularly our security from global terrorism."
TITLE: Terrorism Insurance Not Yet On Offer
AUTHOR: By Alla Startseva
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Neither "Nord-Ost" nor the theater at the center of Moscow's hostage crisis is insured, Interfax reported Friday.
Ivan Davydov, general director of Russian Insurance Traditions, said that his company insured "Nord-Ost" and its crew of 70 for a brief period last year.
The producers of the musical, which premiered in October last year, took out accident coverage for a trial period of three months. During that period, there were only two mishaps, including a broken leg, and "Nord-Ost" producers decided that there was no reason to extend the policy, Davydov said.
Alexei Ivashenko, one of the musical's producers, refused to comment on the matter Friday.
But, while the sort of accident coverage "Nord-Ost" had last year is a fairly straightforward affair, insurance against terrorism is a different matter.
"After the terrorist attacks in Russia in 1999 and in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, there was no noticeable growth of interest in insurance against terrorist actions," Davydov said. "But [that's also partly] because Russians generally just don't insure a lot."
After a spate of apartment-block bombings in 1999, insurance companies began adding terrorism coverage without increasing premiums. They then reinsured the additional risk with syndicates in the West. After the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, however, reinsurance has become unavailable or extremely expensive.
"Of all the Russian financial institutions, the insurance industry is the smallest. No Russian [insurance] company is able to cover risks such as a terrorist attack," said Anzhela Dolgopolova, an expert with the Interfax Center for Economic Analysis.
There are 1,147 insurance companies in Russia, with a combined charter capital of 41 billion rubles ($1.3 billion), according to Finance Ministry figures. No. 1 insurer Ingosstrakh had equity of only 1.24 billion rubles last year, and another market leader, Alfa Insurance, has a charter capital of 1 billion rubles, she said.
In February, Russia's six leading insurance companies gathered together and formed the Terrorism Risk Insurance Pool. Six others soon joined and the 12 companies contributed $18 million to the pool, which is still too small for them to reinsure risks domestically.
Staff Writer Oksana Yablokova contributed to this report.
TITLE: Theater Crisis Takes Minds Off Business
AUTHOR: By Victoria Lavrentieva
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - News conferences were canceled, board meetings rescheduled and dormancy dominated the stock market as a mesmerized country asked itself: When and how will it end?
Like everyone else in the country, the hostage drama transfixed Moscow's business community on Friday, as companies and investors tried to assess the long-term fallout of the most recent and horrific event in an unprecedented string of violent acts that has included the kidnapping of a top executive of the country's largest oil company and the assassination in broad daylight of a regional governor.
All of a sudden, the war in Chechnya, long ignored by many in the West, is now flashing red on everyone's radar screens - and the ramifications could prove costly to the government's drive to lure much-needed foreign investment and push through its reform agenda.
"The conflict in Chechnya has not been a major area of concern for most foreign businesses for the last couple of years, because it has been largely contained and has not spilled over into major urban centers or threatened economic activity," said Philip Poole, an emerging-market specialist at ING Barings in London.
But, the hostage crisis has clearly heightened international awareness of this ongoing problem and the need to find a solution, Poole said. "The longer-term impact on foreign-business sentiment will depend on how the crisis plays out and, more importantly, how the government responds," he said on Friday.
Others say that, while the political and human significance of the siege can be compared to the terror strikes on the United States last year, the economic impact is unlikely to be as severe.
"The Moscow crisis is likely to be much less of a shock for Russian consumers and businesses than Sept. 11 was for America or the Bali blast was for Indonesia," said Morgan Stanley analyst Marcin Wiszniewski.
"Of course, it will affect some people, but it I don't think that it will affect significant investment decisions," agreed Andrew Somers, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia.
For example, Somers said that he had a meeting Thursday evening - less than 24 hours after the hostage-takers struck - with several American executives looking at investing in Russia and the first topic of conversation was the crisis. "But then we turned back to business issues and for two hours discussed what is the best form of starting up a business here," he said.
Irene Commeau, managing director of the European Business Club, said that European investors were not panicking. "A lot of people in Europe are used to such incidents," she said. "For many of us it has become a part of normal life."
Lehman Brothers Eurasia Group, which compiles studies on the political and economic stability of emerging-market countries, said that one of the major reasons direct investment in Russia remains low is because foreign investors still consider the country "an inherently risky place to do business."
"Until now, those risks tended to be associated with corruption and the malfunctioning rule of law," Leslie Powell, a senior associate of the group, said by telephone from New York. "But because of the hostage situation, foreign investors will add a new risk premium to their thinking, they will just consider it a dangerous place to do business," she said.
As a result, Commeau of the EBC said it is becoming harder, not easier, to convince foreigners that Russia is a safe place to do business.
"Over the last few years, we were trying to live a normal life in Moscow and convince foreigners that this is a safe place to come to. But now the risks might increase again," she said.
TITLE: U.K. Gets Tough on Bribes Paid By Britons
AUTHOR: By Victoria Lavrentieva
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Britain is making life a little bit harder for its companies operating abroad.
In a move to bring its legislation in line with European Union guidelines, London enacted a new bribery and corruption act earlier this year that could have serious consequences for the thousands of Britons and British firms doing business in Russia, a country where greasing palms is considered an art form.
While the new law came into force in February, most companies operating here only found out about it last week, when the British Foreign Office sent the head of its economic-crime department, Ian Richards, to Moscow to warn members of the British Business Club that they need to be more vigilant in their business dealings.
"Legally, things will change for U.K. businesses, because now it is considered a crime to indulge in bribery overseas," Richards told The St. Petersburg Times in a recent interview.
Richards said that there is a wide definition of bribery in the new act that includes, for example, so-called facilitation payments, which could include payments or gifts to officials.
In Russia, it is commonplace for companies to send gifts to officials on holidays and birthdays or pay small "fees" to fire or sanitary inspectors to avoid inspections or onerous paperwork. And while Western countries have long considered such transactions a criminal offense abroad, Britain didn't - until now.
British businesspeople surveyed Monday said that the new law could prove burdensome.
"We are very well aware that part of business culture is to be friendly and open with people you work with, in Russia too," said Don Scott, the co-chairperson of the British Business Club and the head of the Russian telecom company Avantgard. "If we will be prosecuted for such relations, it makes it difficult to imagine our future business."
According to a recent study by corruption watchdog Transparency International, bribery is an $11-billion a year business in Russia - $7.5 billion of which works its way around Moscow alone.
"Honestly, I am sure that bribery in some form has taken place here and I don't want to criticize companies for that," Richards said. "I accept that it has been a part of how they do business here."
Scott agreed that solving business problems in Russia requires "creativity," but the topic of bribery is rarely mentioned in negotiations.
"I have no problem working with people, and I also am ready to show my appreciation," he said.
If Russia's business culture is going to change, however, it will have to start from within, Scott said.
"The Russian government has to do a great deal more to stop this practice before anyone else will take major steps forward," he said.
As for the new law, Scott said: "It just means that we need to be a little more vigilant and make sure that we are seen to be doing the right thing."
According to the British Embassy, U.K. exports to Russia grew 30 percent to $1 billion in the January-September period, while imports from Russia dropped slightly to $2 billion.
TITLE: Telecoms Obstruct Accession
AUTHOR: By Angelina Davydova
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Russian proposals concerning restrictions on the local telecoms market are believed to be one of the main obstacles to Russian accession to the World Trade Organization, according to participants in the eighth Adam Smith Institute Conference held in St. Petersburg last week.
Among factors that could have a negative effect on the local telecoms sector, participants listed Rostelecom's monopoly on international traffic and limitations on the activities of foreign communications companies in Russia.
Stability, transparency and the independence of operators are the key factors that will attract investors to the telecom sector, according to Goran Olson, the head of the branch office of Telenor Russia, a Norwegian company with investments in the Russian telecom market.
Russia's proposals for WTO accession, however, include a six-year extension on Rostelecom's monopoly on international traffic. In addition, proposed restrictions on the activities of foreign companies include only Russia-based subsidaries being given the right to operate in the country, foreign companies being prevented from owning more than 49 percent of any local telecom company, and a minimum of 51 percent of the board of directors being Russian citizens.
At present, only the first condition - Rostelecom's monopoly on international traffic - is in existence. Olson said that, if the monopoly is to be extended on accession to the WTO, there is a high chance that prices will rise as a result.
Currently, there are about ten major telecommunications companies with foreign shareholders owning more than 50 percent, including Vimpelcom, Megafon, Combellga, Golden Telecom, Global One and Peterstar.
According to statistics from the Communications Ministry, foreign companies invested $501 million in the Russian telecommunications sector in 2001, $179 million less than in 2000.
TITLE: Tourism Industry Faced With Cancellations
AUTHOR: By Lyuba Pronina
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Just a week ago, 25 American tourist agency executives were treated to a night out at what City Hall had designated as being one of Moscow's top attractions - the musical "Nord-Ost."
"They were delighted with the show," said Irina Volkova, head of international marketing for tourism agency Akadem-Servis, which sponsored the evening.
Like other agencies, Akadem-Servis had aggressively marketed the show abroad, a job made easier by a special resolution issued by the Moscow city government declaring the debut of the musical to be a bold new development in Russian culture that has the official patronage of Mayor Yury Luzhkov.
But now, the impact of the hostage crisis on the city's tourism industry is already being felt, and market players are bracing for further fallout.
Irina Tyurina, a spokesperson for the Russian Association of Tourism Agencies, or RATA, said that, while no sweeping cancellations by foreign vacationers have yet been recorded, a trend in that direction appears to be developing.
One agency, Kamos-service, said that its bookings have dropped tenfold since the hostage crisis began late Wednesday and at least three major tour groups have canceled their trips to the capital.
A group of 26 French citizens who had planned a tour of the Golden Ring decided to stay home, as did a group of 26 Chinese, said Kamos deputy director Yelena Chistyakova.
The third to cancel was a group of 44 St. Petersburgers who had planned a weekend trip to take in the musical "Chicago," she said, adding that several entrepreneurs also either canceled or postponed their trips.
Another agency, Tari-Tour, said that three tourists from Israel and America canceled over safety fears.
Ironically, Tari-Tour director Marina Levchenko said that her company was currently hosting a group of 10 travel reporters from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany on behalf of City Hall's tourism committee.
"These are regular trips organized by the committee to promote Moscow as a safe tourist attraction," she said. "In the past, there has been positive reaction from the press about Moscow as a beautiful and civilized capital."
The committee was not available for comment Friday.
The RATA expects a decline in visitors over the next two to three weeks, but is forecasting a recovery by New Year's Day, Tyurina said on Friday.
"If it ends badly, New Year's season, which is becoming more popular with foreigners, could be disrupted."
Moscow's booming hotel industry is also starting to feel the pinch.
According to RATA, the number of hotel cancellations since the siege began is up some 3 percent.
"We have had two foreigners cancel booking because of the hostage-taking," said a manager at Aerostar hotel.
A reservations manager at the Marriott Grand said that some 5 percent to 7 percent of total cancellations at all three of the city's Marriotts have been attributed to the crisis - despite the influx of journalists arriving to cover the event.
TITLE: Norilsk Leads in Gold Production
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW - Metals major Norilsk Nickel announced Thursday that it has acquired 100 percent in Polyus, the country's largest gold producer.
Norilsk Nickel is now the largest gold producer in Russia, with its share of domestic output exceeding 15 percent.
Polyus, which is based in the Krasnoyarsk region, produced 15 tons of gold in 2001, earning revenues of $135 million and net profit of $54 million. The company expects output to reach 25 tons this year.
Norilsk, the world's largest producer of nickel and platinum group metal palladium, produces gold as a byproduct of other metals.
The company announced plans earlier this year to expand its holdings in precious metals to allow for a diversification in its production.
TITLE: Funding Hold ups, Shortages, Corruption Delay Rebuilding
AUTHOR: By Yevgenia Borisova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The reconstruction of Chechnya is moving apace, but the program's successes are shadowed by chronic funding delays, money shortages and corruption, and now, with the latest events in Moscow, a question mark must hang over the prospects for reconstruction. In any event, rebuilding the republic will take far longer than its destruction.
As Madina Muskhadzhiyeva travels to her office through the rubble of Grozny each day, she tries to maintain a sense of detachment to keep her sanity.
Not one of the Chechen capital's 4,664 apartment blocks remains in one piece, following extensive bombing and shelling during the second military campaign that started in the fall of 1999. But, for Muskhadzhiyeva, the rubble is not only a personal burden, it is also her business - she heads the construction department in the Chechen government.
"In five years, we will have restored about 60 percent of housing," she says. But her optimism is tempered by the stark reality of the figures.
Little has been done since the first annual Chechnya Restoration Program was approved in February last year. Money allocated from the federal budget for the restoration of housing was sufficient only for the reconstruction of 10 apartment blocks by September. Another 12 are planned to be finished by the end of this year.
Last year, 1,635 private houses were restored under the program. As of mid-September this year, about 1,000 had been fixed, says Muskhadzhiyeva. The plan to rebuild another 800 houses will be fulfilled by the end of the year, says Usam Astamirov, an engineer with the Federal State Enterprise Management Office for Construction and Restoration Works in Chechnya, or Direktsiya. The special body, created last year by the State Construction Committee, is charged with rebuilding the war-ravaged republic.
Funding vs. Need
Funding for the reconstruction of housing represents only a small fraction of the 14.5 billion rubles ($458 million) allocated by the Chechnya Restoration Program for 2002.
Direktsiya received 2.9 billion rubles ($92 million) of this money, and 11 bodies, including the State Construction Committee, the State Statistics Committee, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Education, Health, Agriculture, Culture, Justice, Sports, Labor, Industry and Science ministries have all commissioned Direktsiya to do work for them.
The money is sufficient to build housing for up to 26,000 people - including 9,000 in Grozny - going by the federal norm of 18 square meters per person, with the average cost of reconstruction at 2,930 rubles ($93) per square meter.
Grozny City Hall has a list of dwellings to be rebuilt. It remains incomplete, as many people are yet to return and register for housing. So far, more than 32,000 private houses are categorized as either badly damaged or ruined, says Mamedova, head of City Hall's construction department.
Hundreds of people who lost their houses are listed for prefabricated wooden homes. But this year, only 250 such homes - each costing about 470,000 rubles ($14,800) - are scheduled to be assembled for war victims throughout the republic.
Muskhadzhiyeva says that, according to her department's calculations, it will take 36.7 billion rubles ($1.16 billion) to rebuild housing in Chechnya.
"We got only 3.7 percent of what we need this year," she says.
Her husband, Anderbek Muskhadzhiyev, who works as deputy head of Direktsiya's Grozny office, said, "The 2.4 billion rubles that Direktsiya has to spend this year is enough for just one construction company [to work with]. Even if we had 10 times as much, it would not have been enough."
The Fight for Funds
Not a single ruble was transferred this year to building projects in Chechnya before the end of May. If nothing else, the situation is at least an improvement on last year, when the cash did not begin to materialize before September.
Mamedova says that, in 2001, 420 million rubles ($14.8 million) were allocated by the program to reconstruct municipal and private housing but, out of 232 houses that were supposed to be restored, just 147 were handed over to their owners.
"This year, we were given 200 million rubles to rebuild private houses, but this cash isn't even enough to finish what we started last year," she says.
In theory, each general contractor that wins a tender organized by Direktsiya to build in Chechnya receives a downpayment of about 30 percent of the estimated cost of what it is supposed to reconstruct, but it is then expected to use its own capital to build further. When construction is completed, a takeover agreement is signed by the owner, subcontractors, general contractor, fire and health inspectorates and, last but not least, administration officials. The documents are then sent to Direktsiya's Moscow office to be checked and, if the expenses match the planned ones, the constructors get reimbursed.
Isa Dombayev, general director with Moscow-based construction firm Diastros - one of 21 general contractors to win the April tender to do work in Chechnya - says that his company "took a risk" and started to build with its own cash.
Diastros has already finished two apartment blocks, and has almost completed another two. It has also rebuilt 84 private houses in the rural districts of Kurchaloi and Shali, and the Oktyabrsky district of Grozny. Dombayev says that 76 private houses are almost finished.
But now, Dombayev says he faces a problem: He has done what he was supposed to, was reimbursed when the federal funds finally turned up in May, and is now running out of work.
"The problem we have is not military activities - we are lucky, nothing of what we built was re-destroyed. The problem is not that we are not getting any downpayments - my company has its own capital," he says. "The problem is that it is not enough work. It looks like we will have to sit idle starting in mid-October."
Not all general contractors have sufficient capital of their own.
"We have a few companies that won a tender and now sit and do nothing but ask for downpayment," says Muskhadzhiyev. "But, when they submitted the documentation for the tender, they showed that they had their own funds."
Waiting Lists
The process of selection of houses and apartment blocks for restoration is not transparent, and it is not Direktsiya that chooses housing for reconstruction, but the administration.
None of the waiting lists - initially composed by district administrations and then put together by City Hall - are available for public scrutiny.
Grozny is full of gossip about kick-backs that some people pay to get on the lists. Some people volunteered to The St. Petersburg Times that they paid up to $1,000 to "some person" in the city administration who compiles the final lists.
"If I pay the bribe, there is a chance that I'll get my house fixed," says one Grozny resident, who declined to be identified. "But if I complain, they will sack the person [who took the bribe], and who knows, perhaps the next one will demand an even bigger bribe."
'They Come And Cry'
Mamedova, together with Grozny Mayor Oleg Zhidkov, is the top Grozny official compiling the lists out of those filed by the district administrations. She finds it difficult to deal with those who walk into her office and blame her for not doing anything.
"They come and cry here. I have to sit with these old or disabled people, and I don't know what I'm supposed to tell them. I explain that we have miserable funding. And they find it hard to understand why Russia, having destroyed their houses, does not restore them and they have to live in barns."
She says that it is not bribes that decide which houses are to be reconstructed. "We can't even rebuild the house of the city's chief architect, because his house is in the wrong area," she says.
There are several criteria for a house to get into the reconstruction plan, says Mamedova. It should not be more than 40-percent destroyed and it must be close to restored infrastructure, including electricity, gas, and sewerage.
"The principle is to rebuild more houses for less money," she says.
The Lucky Ones
Economist Khamzat Terikbayev, resident of one of the apartments in a rebuilt block on Prospekt Pobedy, proudly showed off the three-room apartment where he has lived since it was originally built. It has wallpaper, a new stove, new bath, toilet, water and electricity.
"It is not European standard, of course, but it is very good," he says. "If all the repairs are done like this, everyone will come back immediately ... We are just lucky that our block was chosen."
The elevator is not working in the apartment block. Terikbayev says that it stops many people, especially the aged, from moving into their apartments.
Usman Zakharayev also counts himself fortunate. His house on Pugachyova Ulitsa in the Staropromyslovsky district was recently rebuilt, together with several neighboring houses.
"I am so glad," he says. "My house was half destroyed. The veranda, the courtyard shelter and even the outhouse, everything was destroyed. Now, we've got it all back."
Talking About Theft
Many ordinary Chechens conclude from the sluggish pace of restoration that funding from Russia is being stolen, a belief contributed to by the media.
In an interview with Novaya Gazeta in August, Usman Masayev - deputy to Akhmat Kadyrov, the Kremlin-appointed head of the Chechen administration - who is in charge of finding investment and reviving business in the republic, said that, last year, $500 million allocated to restore Chechnya was stolen. This year, he said, $700 million would be stolen.
"I mean it, nothing has been built here," Masayev says. "The situation is as follows: subcontractors must build everything using their own money, and prove it with documents. Then, they will be reimbursed from the federal budget. But they don't have their own capital. How can they build?"
Direktsiya's deputy head, Mikhail Falileyev, said, "If he meant all the 14.5 billion rubles [roughly $500 million at last year's exchange rate], then we have nothing to do with it. We have only 2.9 billion rubles to spend [and we stole nothing]."
The most popular theories as to how budget money gets stolen involves either the selling of construction materials for a profit or the inflation of material costs and work, with the profits shared between the owner of the house and the builders.
Some construction officials say that general contractors pay up to a quarter of the cost of their contracts to the organizers of the tenders in Moscow, list intact houses as if they were badly damaged, and then claim the money.
Others claim that local administrations, and fire, health and other departments that must sign the takeover documentation for private housing are demanding that contractors pay up to $2,000 each just for their signature.
Audits and Scrutiny
A report issued in September by the Audit Chamber said that a group appointed by it had worked in Chechnya during the spring, randomly checking documentation on the restoration of housing last year. Although the group did confirm in its report that construction figures were being inflated, no precise examples were given.
According to the report, Direktsiya should have built 62 apartment blocks and more than 2,400 private houses. However, Direktsiya received only two-thirds of its allocated funds last year. Only 27 percent of cash allocated for apartment blocks was used; likewise, only 75 percent of that earmarked for private housing. Just 1,635 houses were repaired, and not a single one of the blocks.
The report said that project documents and calculations on the blocks have not been approved, while the documents on most of the houses were absent. Direktsiya head Anatoly Popov blamed the absence of documentation on the failure of the reconstruction program to allocate funding for the preparation of such documentation.
Sergei Chuchenko, the head of the audit team that went to Chechnya in the spring, says that such a scheme is prone to embezzlement. He says that, during the audit, a typical method of cost inflation that was uncovered involved lightly damaged housing being recorded as having been substantially rebuilt. Even some buildings left almost unmarked by the conflict were recorded as having been restored.
The audit report concluded that such violations cost 72.3 million rubles ($2.28 million) - a small fraction of the 711 million rubles ($22.5 million) mentioned in the report as misused in Chechnya last year, out of the 4.5 billion rubles ($142 million) allocated from the federal budget for the program.
Prospects
Some 12 apartment blocks are scheduled for completion by the end of the year, Astamirov said. Direktsiya will finish the reconstruction of about 1,700 private houses by the end of the year, but the republic's reconstruction program will still be lagging far behind its target.
Deputy Economics Minister Mukhammed Tsikanov conceded during the summer that only about 70 percent of the funds approved by the program would be used in 2002 because the funding started late.
Direktsiya's Falileyev affirmed that the volume of budget funding is not matching the demand, adding, "Russia was fighting there for 10 years, which is probably the same time that will be needed to put the republic back in some sort of order. I would say nearer 20 years will be needed."
Denisultanov is more pessimistic.
"The war was aimed at destroying Grozny," he said. "Otherwise, there was no point in damaging the land and destroying housing to such an extent. There was no military need for such destruction. And, from what I see, it is hard to say that there is any serious intention to rebuild it."
TITLE: The Politics of Doing Business in Magadan
AUTHOR: By John Round
TEXT: WITHIN hours of the Oct. 18 assassination of Magadan Governor Valentin Tsvetkov, several competing theories as to the motive had already emerged. The first, suggested by the government, was that the killing was politically motivated and connected to Tsvetkov's attempts to regulate Magadan's lucrative mining, fisheries, and alcohol industries. Others - most notably State Duma Deputy Vladimir Butkeyev, a challenger in Magadan's 2000 gubernatorial elections - argued that the murder resulted from a clash over Tsvetkov's numerous business interests.
To suggest that activities in Magadan's political and business spheres can be easily separated, however, fails to recognize their deep interconnections. Tsvetkov - who rose during the Soviet period to become the manager of one of the region's largest gold mines - and his family and close associates were ideally positioned to gain control of the mine through one of post-Soviet Russia's tainted privatization schemes in the early 1990s. Once, he dominated a large share of the region's gold-extraction industry - which was the only sector of the regional economy to survive the post-Soviet collapse - Tsvetkov was, in turn, ideally positioned to pursue his political ambitions.
Running on populist rhetoric, Tsvetkov won Magadan's elections in 1996. Tsvetkov countered the opposition through a simple but effective campaign strategy: He asked the electorate why, given the region's vast natural-resource wealth, they were among the poorest people in the Russian Federation.
Upon gaining office, Tsvetkov moved quickly to marginalize his opponents. For example, Magadan State University, which supported Mikhailov, soon found itself starved of funding, and Tsvetkov's business associates quickly filled key administrative posts.
Returning to his campaign strategy, Tsvetkov designated the region "our home," and argued that the region's wealth should benefit its people. Because the local population felt so cut off from the rest of the country, this rhetoric resonated strongly. However, it remains highly debatable whether any of the changes ushered in under the guise of "our home" actually benefited the population. Living standards remain painfully low to this day, and economic growth has proven difficult to achieve. Although the mining sector has been able to meet federally set production figures, the region's mines are becoming increasingly inefficient, and investment is desperately needed, as the most easily extracted gold reserves are depleted.
For a time, it seemed that this investment would come, in part, from a Canadian company called Pan American Silver, which paid $35 million in January 1998 for a license to mine in the region. However, it transpired that the license did not include the mines' infrastructure, although the company was assured of success in a closed auction for it. Perhaps unsurprisingly, though, it lost the auction by $1 to a Moscow-based firm later that year. This meant that the company was unable to begin mining before the September 2001 date required by the license. Thus, Pan American Silver has effectively lost its investment. The details of this are not essential, but two clear outcomes seem evident. First, the affair curtailed any interest in the region on the part of foreign investors; and second, it paradoxically cemented Tsvetkov's reputation as a defender of Magadan against outsiders trying to exploit its resources.
Tsvetkov's re-election in November 2000 was - for all intents and purposes - uncontested; he was returned to power with more than 62 percent of the vote. Given the region's extremely narrow political base and the control that Tsvetkov wielded over it, it is understandable why a credible challenger failed to emerge. Several potential candidates privately admitted that the risks inherent in challenging the entrenched incumbent elite made it inadvisable to launch a campaign.
Following his re-election, Tsvetkov presided over reforms that were mainly aimed at increasing state control of the fisheries and gold-mining sectors and the region's port. Contracts were signed with the English company Enothera Ltd. to further the development of Magadan's oil industry. Any of these actions could potentially have created new enemies for Tsvetkov.
With the federal government looking to rein in the regions, it would not be surprising if an outsider is placed in power in Magadan, one with much closer and more direct ties to the Kremlin than Tsvetkov enjoyed. Another open question is whether the Chukotka Autonomous Region will be reincorporated into Magadan's sphere of influence. Chukotka Governor Roman Abramovich, an oligarch who is reportedly close to President Vladimir Putin and who was named to the Presidium of the State Council last month, has indicated that he will step down as governor after just one term in office. Tsvetkov's murder would seem to make a merger more likely.
The region's population would likely not oppose increased central control, despite the lingering allure of the "our home" motif. It should not be difficult for a new administration to convince the public that improving living standards depends on increased investment in the crucial mining and fisheries sectors. Given the present context, it might well be that only some form of informal "central administration" for the region can prevent Tsvetkov's murder from signaling the beginning of a new wave of regional crime and corruption.
John Round is a lecturer in geography at the University of Leicester, U.K. This comment originally appeared in Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty's Newsline.
TITLE: Ilyumzhinov: No Longer The Khan He Used To Be
TEXT: KIRSAN Ilyumzhinov, the incumbent leader of Kalmykia, received 47 percent of the vote in Sunday's presidential election - a solid success for a democratic leader, but an indignity for a popularly elected khan.
Ilyumzhinov's star began to rise in 1992, when, as head of the Steppe Association, he received an 11-billion ruble credit from the federal government to purchase wool for Russian textile mills. The money was transferred to a number of little-known companies and vanished. When the prosecutor's office looked into the case, one of the parties involved died of a ruptured liver. Another died in an automobile accident.
For his part, Ilyumzhinov promised to give every voter in this southern republic $100 and walked away with the presidency of Kalmykia in 1993.
In 1995, Kalmykia was turned into a domestic-offshore zone. All local taxes on companies registered in the republic were replaced by a single $300 payment. These payments didn't flow into the regional budget, however, but into a foundation personally managed by Ilyumzhinov.
In 1999, Kalmyk company Vneshnetorgovaya Firma RD exported filtration equipment worth $250 million, and requested that the government refund the 20-percent value-added tax on the shipments - a cool $50 million. The tax authorities balked, asserting that no such equipment had ever existed, much less been exported, and that the whole affair was a brazen attempt to bilk the budget. The money was refunded on the personal order of then-Tax Minister Alexander Pochinok.
The Tax Police nevertheless pursued the case, and the Kalmyk authorities were forced to comply with a request for relevant documents. They sent the documents off in a Zhiguli automobile, but en route to Moscow the car supposedly crashed into a KamAZ truck and was consumed by flames.
Larisa Yudina, editor of the Sovietskaya Kalmykia newspaper, attempted to write about the affair and was murdered by Ilyumzhinov's aide Sergei Vaskin, who had previously been convicted on various charges. The murderers of a Kalmyk FSB officer who was looking into allegations that Kalmyk Interior Minister Timofei Sasykov controlled the narcotics trade in the region have never been found.
A rather unusual situation has taken shape in Kalmykia. The authorities, lacking any source of legitimate income, have turned to criminal activity - money laundering, illegal black-caviar trade and the like. The Taliban and General Manuel Noriega were involved in similar activities.
In this sense, it would be more than reasonable to launch an operation like the one the Americans carried out in Panama - a special forces raid to extract the Kalmyk Noriega, followed by the filing of formal charges against him.
But Viktor Ivanov, deputy chief of the presidential administration, acting on behalf of the Kremlin's chekist contingent, insisted that Ilyumzhinov be disqualified from running for another term as president. The chekists, however, failed because they lacked sufficient clout within the administration. Their opponents, headed by presidential-administration chief Alexander Voloshin, objected that without Ilyumzhinov, Kalmykia would turn into a second Chechnya.
The results of the election in poor, downtrodden Kalmykia, show that both camps got it wrong. Ilyumzhinov isn't all that popular in Kalmykia after all. And if the "St. Petersburgers" in the Kremlin think Ilyumzhinov is a criminal, they still have no right to deprive the people of the right to choose their leader. They would have their work cut out just enforcing the law and convicting Kalmykia's leaders on all the charges they can actually prove.
Yulia Latynina is host of "Yest Mneniye" ("Some Believe") on TVS.
TITLE: Journalists Join Payroll for Dirty Elections
TEXT: ELECTION season is a jolly old time for the Russian press. In the run-up to election day the press sells its soul to the devil and starts worshipping the golden calf of official-campaign advertising and zakazukha - the lucrative business of printing anything from disguised "advertorials" to smear articles for cash.
And since elections are always going on somewhere, at some level, the media's soul is bought and sold pretty consistently. No sooner had the dust settled in Krasnoyarsk and Nizhny Novgorod, than yet another election-campaign scandal erupted, this time in Kalmykia.
Incumbent Kalmyk President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has never been a favorite of the Moscow-based press, which has portrayed him, for the most part, as the feudal ruler of a lawless kingdom. More recently, however, a wave of articles appeared depicting Ilyumzhinov as a kind, progressive leader. A few newspapers, such as Izvestia, did the honest thing and identified these articles as paid advertising. In Komsomolskaya Pravda, the articles started off as advertising, but toward the end of the campaign they found their way into the news pages. Other newspapers, such as Nezavisimaya Gazeta, were unconcerned with such niceties from the outset.
A well-known journalist, who has conducted her own research into this problem, told me the following story: "I called one of the top people over at Nezavisimaya Gazeta and asked: 'Am I right in assuming that your newspaper endorses Ilyumzhinov?' He seemed stunned by my question. 'Of course not!' he replied. 'So how are readers supposed to understand all the articles supporting him in your paper?' I asked. 'Don't be a child. Everyone knows perfectly well how things work.' Then I called a bigwig at the Prof-Media holding, which publishes Izvestia and Komsomolskaya Pravda. As a citizen, he said, he was deeply troubled by Komsomolskaya Pravda's behavior, but as a company official, he could do nothing to change it. He had no direct influence over the editors, he said. Prof-Media may dream of a time when its publications will run only honest advertisements, but that time is still far off."
It's a sad state of affairs when even those who supposedly outrank editors can do nothing to control their fondness for filthy lucre. But don't lose hope just yet. The European Commission recently gave the Russian Union of Journalists 2 million euros to help it restore order to the mass media over the next two years. The reform campaign includes providing assistance to journalists as they compile a professional code of ethics.
That's pretty rich. About a year ago the "Declaration of Ethical Norms for Journalists During Election Campaigns" was signed with great pomp and ceremony in Krasnoyarsk. The cost of planting articles during the regional parliamentary election that followed went through the roof. The journalists, it seems, sought compensation for the emotional distress associated with violating their own ethical principles. A local observer of the recent gubernatorial election in Krasnoyarsk wrote in Sreda magazine that a significant portion of the Krasnoyarsk mass media openly broke the law in its pursuit of profit, apparently hoping either that law enforcers would take no notice or that the fines levied would be minimal. In some cases, editors summoned before the court to explain their actions readily admitted their guilt, paid the fine and continued to break the law as before.
Those who practice "dirty journalism" and those who battle such practices courtesy of the European taxpayer would do well to chip in and erect a monument to "negative campaigning," inscribed: "To Our Benefactor."
P.S. Word has it that the body of murdered Magadan Governor Valentin Tsetkov wasn't even cold before a flood of political consultants - the media's best friends - was on its way to the city. And it's no wonder: The gold-rich region will soon be electing a new governor.
Alexei Pankin is the editor of Sreda, a magazine for media professionals (www. internews.ru/sreda)
TITLE: The Moscow Crisis: What Did It Show?
TEXT: Editor,
Congratulations to the Russian security forces for liberating the majority of the hostages and liquidating the thugs without damage to the theater. We in India know what it is to face such a crisis, having had more than one such experience.
I happened to read an article on the double standards of the Western media and countries about these terrorists by Dmitry Litvinovich in Pravda. Yes, they are "rebels and dissidents" when they kill Indians or Russians, but "terrorists" when they kill Anglo-Saxons, whether in New York or Bali! They also give gratuitous advice as to how to deal with this sort of thuggery from Chechnya or Pakistan, but have a different set of rules to deal with Palestinians or Iraqis.
Once more, I wish to express my appreciation and happiness at the way the crisis ended in Moscow, a city where I lived for six months back in the sixties.
Narayana Swamy
Chennai, India
Condolences
Editor,
Let me offer my condolences to the families of those who were killed due to the crimes of the Chechen "separatists."
Many international news agencies continue to speak of the Chechens as if they were oppressed people seeking liberation and independence. These people are sadly mistaken. The leadership of Russia has not always handled the situation in Chechnya in the most capable fashion, but that does not change the inherent nature of the Chechen rebels: They are terrorists, criminals and murderers, plain and simple.
I encourage you to continue your efforts to educate the rest of the world as to the true nature of the situation in Chechnya. We in the United States tend to be ignorant of events in Russia, and this is a great tragedy, as both our countries are being victimized by brutal terrorists who will stop at nothing to destroy us.
I hope that all the people of Russia know that we in the United States offer them our deepest sympathy.
Chris L. Winningham
Denver, Colorado
A Tangled Web
Editor,
Our television news reports that 750 people's lives were saved by the Russian special forces' efforts at the theater where they were held hostage by Chechen terrorists. Well done to the special forces.
From one Westerner's perspective, we again see the horrible attitude of religious zealots seeking "freedom" in the name of what would become instantly a religiously repressive Muslim terrorist state, as was the case in Afghanistan.
Both the United States and Russia are plagued of late by like-minded terrorism. We are prayerfully grateful that the U.S.-Muslim terrorist murders are now "out of circulation" in the Washington area. You can expect to learn over time that more than mere sympathy existed between the two murdering Muslim terrorists and their accomplice and radical Muslim terrorists epitomized by al-Qaida and associated groups in the world at large. Al-Qaida fighters are up against your Russian troops today in Chechnya.
There are good Muslims, just as there are good Christians, but the Muslim faith system is suffering from spotlights on the worst of the faith purporting to be the vanguard of a "Muslim Revolution" to free the world from other faiths, including Judaism and Christianity.
Our prayers and wishes for fast healing go out to all those now freed from the Moscow theater hostage/terrorist crisis. The cause of Chechnya as a province of Russia was ill served by this senseless civilian slaughter by Muslim terrorists, who were clearly in league with al-Qaida and related "gangs" of murderers.
My outsider's view is that the radical Chechens need to agree on a new plebiscite to elect members of their legislative body. Secession from Russia is more remote than ever when such acts of violence and murder are used.
Thank the Lord for the Russian special forces and national political leadership who saved many more lives than were lost. Well done.
George Singleton
Birmingham, Alabama
Concerns
Editor,
That my conversation with a taxi driver on my way home on Saturday night should turn to the hostage situation in Moscow and the war in Chechnya was, perhaps, inevitable. Less predictable were the views expressed by the driver - that the war should be stopped and the republic ceded. "Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus: Why not Chechnya?"
It would be foolish to take the view of one taxi driver as representative of public opinion - there are those who favor escalation instead of withdrawal. Despite the desperate, heat-of-the-moment rallies led by hostages' families, widespread sympathy for the Chechen cause is not on the cards. But practical considerations are. In transporting the war momentarily from the virtual to the real plane, this horrific act has undeniably served as a wake-up call to Muscovites, demonstrating that war can strike any time, anywhere, and brought home what a nasty business war is for most parties involved.
Such a wake-up call inevitably results in a change in attitudes. Whichever way the pendulum of public opinion eventually swings in terms of solutions to the problem and, whatever steps the government decides to take, most Muscovites will surely agree on the following: War is no fun. Moscow is within its reach, and young Russians are pointlessly dying in what has always been a no-win situation for Russia, so let's put a stop to it all.
At the time of writing, the death toll of hostages is at 118 and rising. I hope it will not continue to rise. Who knows how many deaths the Chechnya conflicts have claimed altogether? My heart goes out to all the hostages in hospitals and their families, as well as all those who have lost loved ones in the conflict.
Ivan Jankovic
Moscow
Editor,
Have the many people supporting the Russian authorities' actions in the assault asked themselves a simple question: what would their reaction be if it were their daughter, wife or mere acquaintance who was killed as a side effect of the "magnificent saving of so many lives"?
I consider it another demonstration of total disrespect for human life - an intrinsic feature of all Russian authorities. For them, the choice between "horrible tragedy, in which all the hostages would die, and a horrible disgrace," as Moscow Mayor [Yury] Luzhkov had said, is not a choice at all. Horrible disgrace is much worse than 150-plus corpses.
It's quite explainable that some Russians are praising Putin and the FSB for this operation. Russians are used to the concept les rubyat - shchepki letyat, [the equivalent of "you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs"] meaning that there must be some dead bodies on the way to the bright future. What struck me is that there are many foreigners, Westerners included, who seem to be getting used to the same perception as well.
It seems like you have to have been born Russian, learned all this nonsense about Communism in twenty years of school and been protected from yourself by the future President Putin and his colleagues to conclude at last that there is no bright future behind children's dead bodies.
Sergey Ivanov (fortunately not Russia's defense minister)
Trondheim, Norway
Countering Coverage
Editor,
Judging by Winston Churchill's famous phrase describing Russia - "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma" - I figured we Americans might be as hard to understand to you as you are to us. Nothing might have brought out such feelings in our Russian brothers more than had you read the articles published in The New York Times regarding the Chechens' poor behavior at the Nord-Ost production and the Alpha Force's brilliant tactical response to bring about its resolution.
Before I go any further, let me assure the Russian reader that I am a native New Yorker, and my wife and I live for the Sunday edition of the Times. I feel a great deal of civic pride in it, much as I imagine an aging Communist must treat the Sunday edition of Pravda. And, like a Russian reader of Pravda, when one reads The New York Times, it is often necessary to read between the lines to filter out all the hot air.
Once the Alpha Force stormed the building, because they couldn't meet (and shouldn't meet) the thugs demand to halt and reverse an entire military operation in Chechnya (within, oh, how's fifteen minutes sound?) the "excessive" death toll of the hostages seems to be the main topic covered by the Times columnist. You get the distinct feeling that the Times is blaming - get this - not the people who strapped explosives to themselves and started bumping off the theater goers, but Putin and the Alpha Force for the "high" death toll.
This Sunday, Oct. 27, Michael Wines (on the Times' front page) made a point that President Putin deserves "early" praise for the raid that rescued over 750 innocents. According to Wines, President Putin's "iron response" won acclaim, but the apparently excessive (to Wines) civilian casualties could yet "prove dear." Because the very same gas that allowed the authorities to save 750 people, also worked to kill around 100 of the hostages. Wines seems to give short shrift to the fact that, while this is true, the use of the gas was effective in the elimination or capture of every single thug, while saving around 7 out of every 8 hostages.
In order to understand Wines, you must, when reading The New York Times, keep in mind that it is written primarily from the mind-set of the modern "liberal" American. This breed demands a utopian world of flawless results, and believes that violent force is never justified for any reason.
Wines' assertion that "despite government denials, many, if not most, of the dead hostages had died from the knockout gas used in the attack" shows that he, for one, felt that the use of gas was maybe not the best way to go. You Russians are just a mite too trigger-happy for his taste, too. So what was the best way to bring this nasty episode to a better conclusion, at least according to Wines?
To answer, Wines cites Anna Politkovskaya, a war journalist who, when it comes to understanding human nature, displays a mind-boggling lack of common sense. She states that, "there was a real chance to avoid any casualties - through negotiations." Politkovskaya doesn't explain (nor does Wines ask her) how one negotiates with the type of people who believe that taking hundreds of theater goers hostage and butchering them for political ends is a bang-up good idea.
Maybe, in her discussions with the Chechen hostage takers, Politkovskaya sensed that they were having a sudden change of heart about the morality (not to say the political stupidity) of butchering innocent people to make a better world. No surviving hostage (nor Politkovskaya) has made any reference about overhearing the Chechens debating this point, so it's not clear what proof she has to support her otherwise idiotic claim that negotiations could have ended this peaceably before anyone got themselves dead.
The New York Times - politically the descendants of the same mindset that bought you the leaders of the Provisional Government in February 1917 - is incapable of understanding human nature. It lives in a dream world of childish expectation, where, if only everyone would sit down and communicate, violence of the kind that the Chechens visited on innocent theater goers would no longer exist. Evil people do not exist, only "ignorant" people who, if only we could open a "dialogue" with them, will see the light of rational thought. Hence, violence is never necessary.
Therefore, Putin and the security forces are responsible for the deaths, not the animals who stormed the theater. The Alpha Force and Putin did not "negotiate enough" to "avoid casualties" as per Politkovskaya's moronic statement.
Had the likes of Politkovskaya and Wines been running the operation in the place of Putin and the security authorities, you may rest assured that they would have negotiated and negotiated until the theater was a smoking hole in the ground for 850-odd corpses.
Due to the reasons outlined above, Wines gives no accolades to the admirable bravery of the Russian security forces who stormed the building under the full knowledge that the entire place could erupt in their faces at any moment.
No mention is made, either, of the security forces' brilliant tactical moves in the use of gas to knock out the Chechen's manually triggered explosive booby traps and (taking a page from the Battle of Stalingrad) their use of sewers and tunnels to get at enemy troops in fortified buildings.
Unlike the security forces in this battle, no unit of the 62nd Guards Army had to factor in large bodies of civilian hostages when planning to retake the Krasny Oktyabr factory. The security forces are to be highly commended for their level-headed planning and brilliant execution of a rescue mission that saved hundreds of innocent lives.
You just won't read it in The New York Times.
C.J. Maloney
New York
In Answer
In Response to "Hope Against All Hope in the Darkness," an editorial on Oct. 25.
Editor,
Your comments were badly timed and in poor taste. Your editorial was extremely naive and bordered on surreal, given the tragedy that was unfolding in Moscow.
To suggest that it would be a good time to start peace talks at the very moment when criminal terrorists were holding a group of innocent hostages would be to cave into the demands of terrorists. Under no conditions would this be acceptable. The hostage situation showed the opposite: that there can be no peace in Chechnya until all radical elements there have been destroyed or captured. With whom would you negotiate?
You suggest that Maskhadov or "some other rebel leader" could become a Chechen equivalent of the IRA's Gerry Adams. How can you suggest such an idiotic idea when, at the time you published your editorial, a video tape purportedly showing Maskhadov calling for decisive terrorist strikes against Russia was being broadcast around the globe?
It's time The St. Petersburg Times stopped its whining about Chechnya and faced the reality that dangerous cells of internationally supported terrorists are operating there and must be wiped out, like the Taliban was destroyed in Afghanistan. Until that is accomplished, talking about peace in Chechnya would be like discussing Afghanistan's future with former Taliban leader Omar!
How many more heads must be left on the side of the road, how many more hostages must be taken, and how many more terrorist explosions will it take for you all to get this into your thick heads?
Michael S. Mehan
Moscow, Russia
TITLE: So Whither Now?
AUTHOR: By Thomas De Waal
TEXT: PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin may have brought an end to the Moscow hostage crisis, but he now faces the wrath that follows the death of more than 100 citizens, most of whom seem to have died at the hands of their rescuers. This "ending" is but a chapter in a wider crisis for Russia's president, one whose gravity he had tried to ignore. More than three years after he promised to "solve" the Chechnya issue, its dangers and cruelties are only multiplying. Ordinary Russians must now start asking hard questions about where Moscow's Chechnya policy is taking them.
Their first conclusion will be that they are not properly protected. Some ask why Movsar Barayev and his followers chose to embark on a suicide mission now; but the question is better put thus: Why had this not happened before? After all, Chechnya has suffered eight years of perpetual warfare and contains hundreds of men as brutalized and desperate as Barayev. Now, almost anything is possible. Russia is vast, with vulnerable targets and weak policing. As a Chechen moderate who has long called for negotiations told me bitterly: "The Russians should thank God that they just seized a House of Culture and not a nuclear power station."
When it has come to this, a radical reassessment of the Chechen issue is needed. The first point to be made is, initially, rather surprising: This conflict is no longer essentially about Chechen independence or the integrity of the Russian Federation. In the early 1990s, the Kremlin feared a "domino effect" in which other autonomous republics would copy Chechnya's demands. It is clear now that that fear is unfounded. Russia is a much more viable state than it was then, while any other would-be separatist would be crazy to want to copy the Chechen experience. For a variety of reasons, Chechnya was, and is, an exception.
The Chechen separatists' two attempts at independence, from 1991 to 1994 and 1996 to 1999, were disastrous and incompetent, albeit in the hardest of circumstances. Now, three years into another war, Chechnya itself is utterly ruined and centuries away from statehood. The main city, Grozny, now resembles wartime Stalingrad - all infrastructure is wrecked, there is no functioning economy and people care only about their survival. In that context, the argument over independence has become almost theological.
What is at stake in Chechnya now is security in its broadest sense. Ordinary Chechens, the vast majority of whom reject the Islamist radicals, have no security from a Russian military that resembles a marauding criminal gang. In their sweep operations, known as zachistki, masked Russian soldiers rampage through villages, supposedly checking for rebel males, but actually engaged in extortion, rape, abduction and torture. What most Chechens want, therefore, is not so much independence as some international guarantees for their own survival.
Russia's own security fears are now plain for all to see. Moscow does not want to let Chechnya go, not because there is any risk of its independence, but because of the fear that it could turn into a vortex of lawlessness once again, exporting violence outside its own borders. Those fears are justified - although the Kremlin bears by far the largest responsibility for creating them.
Ever since 1999, Putin has adopted the simplest approach in confronting this problem: The only solution in Chechnya is a military one and he will not negotiate with separatists, unless they surrender unconditionally. The authorities will likely use the Moscow siege as further proof of their arguments. In particular, they will repeat ever more loudly that it is not worth negotiating with the moderate Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov. Either Maskhadov approved of the attack, the argument goes, in which case he is a terrorist, or he was unaware of it, in which case he is not in control of militants and not worth talking to anyway.
The evidence of what Maskhadov did or did not know is sketchy. The Russians claim he was behind the attack, although it seems more likely he was simply unaware of it. Certainly, in an interview with the Chechen news agency Chechenpress, published just the day before the crisis began, he denied the accusation that any of his fighters were linked to al-Qaida and stated "no one has carried out or planned acts of terror from the territory of Chechnya."
It may well now be true that Maskhadov is unable to rein in his most radical fighters and negotiations with him will not bear any fruit. Yet it seems criminally irresponsible not to try. Almost 400,000 Chechens voted for him in 1997 in an election recognized by Russia. Moscow will never solve this problem unless it starts listening to ordinary Chechens. In a sense, beginning to talk is the easiest part. Chechnya and the parts of Russia associated with it - the army and security establishment - are so damaged that they cannot heal themselves unaided. The reconstruction work needed to do that can come only from the international community, which has, thus far, wanted to stay as far removed from the tragedy in Chechnya as it possibly can.
Thomas de Waal is the author, with Carlotta Gall, of "Chechnya: Calamity in the Caucasus." He contributed this comment to the Wall Street Journal Europe.
TITLE: Basic Civility Would Be A Good Start
TEXT: WITH the seizure of nearly 800 hostages in Moscow by a band of armed Chechens, the war in the rebellious republic came back to haunt Russia and its government.
Relatives of the hostages and others, who said they had stopped paying attention to a war that seemed so far away, publicly called for an end to the fighting. Some young female hostages said that they came to sympathize with their veiled female captors, who told them how their loved ones had been killed in front of their eyes.
Politicians and pundits who see no military solution to the conflict were suddenly being listened to again. The issue returned to the pages of the country's newspapers.
But, after special forces succeeded in killing most of the hostage takers and decisively putting an end to the standoff, any glimmer of hope that President Vladimir Putin would agree to peace talks with the rebels died a certain death.
It can now be taken for granted that Putin will take an even tougher line in Chechnya, and his troops there will behave even more ruthlessly, with even greater firepower.
But does it have to be this way, even if given the political and practical impossibilities of peace talks?
Liberal politician Boris Nemtsov, who was among those acting as mediator with the hostage takers, said that, while the negotiations were going on, the zachistki, or mopping-up operations, in Chechnya stopped.
Nemtsov, who gave an interview to the newspaper Gazeta, said he proposed a gradual approach to resolve the standoff, in which for every day of peace in Chechnya, without zachistki or bombings, the hostage takers would release some people.
Movsar Barayev, their leader, initially found the idea acceptable, Nemtsov said, and calls to Chechnya confirmed that only one arrest had been made on Saturday. But when they last spoke at about 11 p.m. Saturday, Barayev was agitated and angry, and told him to call separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov for any deal. The raid began six hours later.
But Nemtsov was on to something. If the military and law enforcement were to treat Chechens the same as other citizens of Russia every day, and not just when Chechen gunmen are threatening to blow up a theater filled with hostages, it would go a long way toward easing tensions. It would be a small but decisive step toward peace.
If Putin decides to treat all Chechens as terrorists and inflict even greater pain on their republic, he is playing into the hands of the militants. He is justifying their cause and creating new militants bent on revenge.
Or Putin - and the rest of Russia - can try to break the cycle of violence and start treating Chechens as fellow citizens.
TITLE: Reasons for the Media To Be Cheerful
TEXT: RELATIONS between the authorities and the media during the Nord Ost crisis were distinguished by a spirit of professionalism and cooperation.
You might think such relations normal in this kind of situation, but think back to another national tragedy, the sinking of the Kursk. Throughout the incident, the media treated the government with suspicion and hostility. And the government later took its revenge in full measure.
The cooperation demonstrated in recent days is all the more remarkable because the government bears far more guilt for the Nord Ost hostage crisis than it did for the sinking of the Kursk. At the end of the day, the Kursk sailors perished in the line of duty, while taking part in a training exercise. The president could hardly have been blamed for events taking place below the ocean surface, thousands of kilometers from Moscow.
The Nord Ost attack was the direct result of a war that the governmnet aunched and which it has many times declared to be over. It was the result of the government's negligence during the war, which led to the seizure and death of innocent civilians.
It is tempting to say that the fourth estate was frightened of the first and muzzled its criticism. But that's not the whole story. The government-owned and government-run television stations - ORT, RTR and TV Center - regularly broadcast information that could have made the authorities uncomfortable. The private stations - NTV, TVS and Ren-TV - aired an extremely wide range of opinions, positions, scenarios and prognoses. I didn't get the impression that critical voices were silenced
In my opinion, there are two main reasons. First, spin-doctoring during the Kursk events was inept. The release of information was painfully slow and disorganized. The different agencies involved provided conflicting accounts. The result was an information vacuum. The government dominated the news, but as the object of criticism. It failed to set the tone or shape the content of news coverage.
The second reason is that the leading media outlets - the empires of Boris Berezovsky (ORT) and Vladimir Gusinsky (NTV) - clearly pursued a hidden agenda in their coverage of the Kursk. They were speculating on Vladimir Putin's demise. They had no use for a strong, popular president. The result was that coverage of the tragedy turned into an anti-presidential farce.
During the Nord Ost events, which could have proven far more damaging for the president, the authorities managed to dictate how the events were covered. They released information in a timely fashion, and gave the impression of being open and forthright. The government pushed a number of positive themes that the media couldn't ignore - most importantly, the call to distinguish terrorism and terrorists from ethnicity and religion.
Finally, by the time of the Nord-Ost events there were no significant media outlets left living by the principle: "The worse it is for the president the better for us." In other words, neither the authorities nor media owners prevented journalists from doing their job. And the journalists in turn held in check their own propensity for sensationalism at any cost.
The authorities and the media scored high marks with one another and, I'm certain, with the public as well.
Can they keep it up now that the crisis is over?
Alexei Pankin is a the editor of Sreda, a magazine for media professionals (www.sreda-mag.ru).
TITLE: Global Eye
TEXT: Boot CampStrange as it may seem, your good Global Eye is sometimes berated by angry readers for being "cynical." This feeble solecism is, of course, more to be pitied than rebuked; imagine living with a mind so weak and crabbed that it could somehow confuse the column's impassioned defense of traditional American ideals - democracy, justice, liberty, truth - with "cynicism." Too sad, really.
But if it's cynicism you want - the real deal, the full monty - then look no further than the simian-pated poltroon in the White House. Last week's revelations about North Korea's nuclear-weapons program strips bare the utter cynicism, the absolute moral bankruptcy of the Bush Regime's propaganda drive for an aggressive war on Iraq.
For months, we were told that Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat to the very lifeblood of the United States because he might, at some unspecified point in the future, build a nuclear weapon and then, by some unspecified means, attack America with it, for some unspecified reason. No, wait, there was a reason: because he's "mad," a "monster" who kills gleefully, for the pure evil pleasure of it - in contrast to pious President Sim-Pate, who would only giggle a bit now and then when he ordered his Texas convicts to be strapped to a board and injected with poison.
Anyway, the potential danger from this "monster" - actually the bastard brother of Simmy himself, since both men's careers were nurtured by the same loving parent, George Herbert Walker Bush - was so great, we were told, that the United States must trash its own ideals and launch a murderous campaign of conquest against Iraq. Sim did his best Chicken Little imitation, flitting around the country warning of impending doom from this vaporous threat (while drumming up loot for his wanna-be bootlickers in Congress, of course).
But now we have North Korea - for 50 years an avowed enemy of the United States, a Stalinist tyranny whose forces have slain tens of thousands of Americans and whose internal repression has killed millions of its own people, a regime that constantly threatens its neighbor with invasion - announcing it has a fully operable program to produce nuclear weapons that can easily be fitted on existing missiles within range of American soil. And how does the Bush regime react?
With moderation. With careful statements stressing diplomacy and international cooperation. With measure and reason, mixing dispassionate rebuke with subtle cajolery. Not a hint of military action. No thunderous denunciations of "evil ones" raining death on God-fearing Americans and their blessed SUVs.
This semblance of genuine statecraft in relation to Korea exposes the irrational or - dare we say it? - "mad" approach the Regime has taken toward Iraq. In every respect, the threat from North Korea is greater than any posed by Iraq (although miniscule in either case); in every respect, the Kim regime surpasses Saddam's in quantity and quality of repression and murder. There is no argument that the Bush Regime has used for attacking Iraq that could not be made, with more justification, against North Korea.
So why the different slant? Simple: the Regime sees no personal financial profit or leverage for geopolitical dominion in a war with North Korea - at this time - while it does see these attractions in Iraq. What, then, can we conclude from this strange episode? Only that the entire attack-Iraq propaganda blitz has been a deliberate, cynical sham; and that the "principles" underlying the "Bush Doctrine" are mere rags, cloaking nothing more than naked greed, naked ambition and the moral and intellectual nullity of the Sim-Pate White House.
But the cynicism doesn't stop there. The Regime deceitfully withheld its prior knowledge of Korea's nuclear program from Congress throughout the "debate" on the resolution authorizing war against Iraq. They were afraid that the reality of a true international crisis would expose their fearmongering on Iraq for the absurd - but deadly - cartoon that it is.
There's an even more sinister layer to the deception, however. The Regime lied about Korea because it couldn't risk losing the war-resolution vote. For this measure was not aimed solely at Saddam Hussein - its broader targets were the American people and the U.S. Constitution. The resolution was a major step in the Regime's systematic program to destroy the remaining checks and balances in the American system and institute a new form of presidential dictatorship, with all real power concentrated in the Executive Branch. (Supported, of course, by a compliant federal judiciary filled with like-minded toadies and religious zealots in the Clarence Thomas-Antonin Scalia mode.)
Bush has already claimed the power of an absolute dictator - the right to imprison any American citizen he pleases, indefinitely, without charges, without hearings, with no legal representation and no appeal. The Iraq resolution was another important ratification of unrestricted presidential power - in this case, the power to wage aggressive war at the president's whim.
It was also a public humiliation of the people's representatives in Congress - the only branch of federal government that Americans are allowed to vote for directly. Congress - tainted by the same corruption that permeates the Bush Regime - surrendered its Constitutional responsibilities with questions of war and peace to an unelected tycoon and his rapacious band of looters and half-crazed ideologues. The whole exercise was meant as a demonstration to the American people that there is no alternative to Bush's New Homeland Order. And all this was done in the name of "preserving freedom."
That's "cynicism" in action, in spades - in shiny jackboots.
For annotational references, please see the "Opinion" section at www.sptimesrussia.com
TITLE: Restrictions Force Arafat To Defer Session
AUTHOR: By Hadeel Wahdan
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on Monday postponed a legislative session set to vote on his proposed cabinet, after Israel prevented 13 legislators from traveling to the session for security reasons.
Arafat decided to put off the session, insisting that Israel must allow all 85 members to attend, a Palestinian official said on condition of anonymity.
Arafat's previous cabinet resigned Sept. 11 in the face of threats by the Legislative Council to throw them out with a no-confidence vote. The council has been calling for political reform amid frequent grumbling of corruption.
Arafat has picked a new cabinet, and the Legislative Council was to hold discussions and a vote Monday.
The Palestinians coordinated travel arrangements with the Israelis on Sunday, but Israel "backtracked" from the agreement, said Arafat's spokesperson, Nabil Abu Rdeneh.
Israel prevented 13 Palestinian lawmakers from leaving the Gaza Strip to travel to the West Bank on Monday. In a show of solidarity, Gaza lawmakers who had permission to make the trip said they would not go if their colleagues were also denied permission.
Over the past two years of Mideast fighting, Israel has banned travel between the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Even for senior Palestinian officials, it is extremely difficult to obtain permission.
Israel has imposed the restrictions in an effort to prevent attacks by Palestinian militants.
A senior Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said Israel was preventing the Palestinians from implementing reforms. Israel and the United States have demanded that the Palestinian Authority make major political and economic reforms.
"This is a clear indicator that the Israeli government intends to destroy the Palestinian attempt to build a government," Erekat said outside Arafat's office.
A council meeting could be held in the Gaza Strip in coming days so that most members can attend, a Palestinian official said on condition of anonymity.
Some previous meetings have been held by video conferencing, but Arafat would not accept the procedure for such a serious session, the official said.
Abdel Karim Abu Salah, a council member from the Gaza Strip, said a session might still be held by video conference. Arafat was meeting with officials in Ramallah to make a final decision, his aides said.
Ofir Haham, the spokesperson for the Israeli Army office overseeing activities in the territories, said the legislators would not be allowed to travel to the West Bank for security reasons, but he would not elaborate.
Also Monday, Israeli troops demolished four homes in the West Bank town of Jenin that belonged to Palestinians involved, or suspected of being involved, in violence against Israel, the army and witnesses said.
The army said that it demolished two houses belonging to the families of two suicide bombers who carried out a bombing last week that killed 14 Israelis.
Troops also knocked down the homes of two senior militants in the area who were arrested in April, the army said.
Palestinian witnesses confirmed the house demolitions, saying one structure was a three-story building. At least 50 Palestinians were left homeless by the destruction, local residents said.
Since June, Israel has demolished houses in an effort to deter militants from attacking Israelis. The policy has, in some cases, caused families to hide their relatives' involvement in bombings.
In the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, five Palestinians were injured when Israeli tanks began firing shells as they escorted bulldozers that began demolishing homes, Palestinian witnesses said. Six homes and the electricity, water and phone lines in the area were destroyed, they said. The army said it was checking the report.
In other violence Monday, a 16-year-old Palestinian was shot in the chest and killed when Israeli soldiers began firing at stone throwers in the West Bank town of Tulkarem, Palestinians said. The army did not immediately comment.
Israel did not immediately respond to a suicide bombing Sunday at a West Bank Jewish settlement in which three Israeli soldiers and the suicide bomber were killed. The bomber came from the nearby city of Nablus, where the army has imposed a curfew for months and carried out several operations to crack down on militants.
TITLE: Israel Grants Export License For Research on 'Jesus' Box
AUTHOR: By Karin Laub
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: JERUSALEM - Israel has granted a four-month export license for an ancient burial box that may be the oldest archaeological link to Jesus. The limestone box, or ossuary, bears the inscription "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus" in Aramaic.
The ossuary, whose existence was revealed last week, is in the hands of a private Israeli collector and is expected to be exhibited at a gathering of religious scholars in Toronto this fall.
The export license was granted before Israeli officials understood the nature of the find. To examine it, they will now have to wait until the ossuary returns to Israel by the end of February.
The Israel Antiquities Authority, or IAA, will then examine it for up to 90 days and, if deemed authentic, may try to buy it from the collector, IAA official Uzi Dahari said on Sunday.
Scholars have been divided over the importance of the tool box-sized ossuary. If it indeed refers to Jesus of Nazareth, it would be one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of our time.
The inscription would fit a New Testament account that Jesus had a brother, James, and the tradition that James was the son of Joseph, husband of Jesus' mother, Mary.
However, the names James, Joseph and Jesus were common in the first century, and it is possible the inscription refers to someone other than Jesus of Nazareth.
Until now, the oldest surviving artifact that mentions Jesus is a fragment of chapter 18 in John's Gospel from a manuscript dated around A.D. 125. It was discovered in Egypt in 1920.
The existence of the ossuary was announced last week in the United States by the Biblical Archaeology Review, which presented findings by Andre Lemaire, an expert on ancient inscriptions at France's Practical School of Higher Studies.
The magazine said two scientists from Israel's Geological Survey also examined the ossuary and determined that it was from the first century and that the inscription had not been altered.
However, the ossuary's history remains murky.
Dahari said Sunday that the collector, who does not want to be named, told him he bought the burial box about 30 years ago from a Jerusalem antiquities dealer.
Last week, Biblical Archaeology Review editor Hershel Shanks told a news conference that the collector bought the box about 15 years ago, and that it had been unearthed south of the Mount of Olives. Dahari had no immediate explanation for the different dates on when the collector bought the ossuary.
Shanks said last week that the owner never realized the ossuary's potential importance until Lemaire examined it last spring.
Dahari said the IAA issued the limited export permit three weeks ago, without being aware at the time of what the ossuary might mean for Christians around the world.
Despite a thriving private trade in antiquities in Jerusalem, Dahari said he believed more than half the ossuaries unearthed so far were handled by archaeologists, not grave robbers.
Dahari said Israeli law was not clear-cut on the acquisition of antiquities.
"It is a bit problematic," he said. "All antiquities in Israel are declared a national asset. On the other hand, it is legal to sell antiquities and buy them, and to be a collector."
After the ossuary is examined by IAA experts, "we will return it to [the collector] or will try to buy it in order that it will be in public hands," Dahari said.
TITLE: Grosjean Gets First Title of Year
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: Third-seeded French player Sebastien Grosjean clinched his first title of the year by beating Russia's Mikhail Yuzhny 7-5, 6-4 in the St. Petersburg Open final on Sunday.
Grosjean won a tight opening set when Yuzhny netted a backhand volley on the first break point in the match, which came at 30-40 in the 12th game.
The French player then went ahead 4-2 in the second, breaking Yuzhny at love in the sixth game, but the unseeded Russian fought back by taking his opponent's serve in the next game.
Grosjean, however, earned a decisive break three games later to secure his third career ATP title and take home the $137,000 first prize.
"Yuzhny was a little bit nervous at the end of both sets, probably because he was playing in front of the home crowd and really wanted to win," Grosjean said. "I tried to play all points in the same way and maybe it made the difference at the end."
Yuzhny, who was looking to avenge last week's defeat to Grosjean at the Madrid Masters in the only previous meeting between the two, blamed himself for the lost opportunity.
"I played well but made too many unforced errors," he said. "The first set was really close and, in the last game, I just made two bad mistakes in a row. In the second, I played a bad sixth game and lost concentration at the end."
Russian tennis chief Shamil Tarpishchev said, before the match, that Yuzhny could have greatly enhanced his chances of playing in next month's Davis Cup final against France if he beat the No. 1 French player here.
"He would have a good chance of playing in Bercy, especially since our top player Marat Safin is not playing well at the moment," said the Russian Davis Cup captain.
But Yuzhny said he was not thinking about the Davis Cup.
"I don't think I would have had a chance of facing Grosjean on the opening day of the Davis Cup final no matter what, so it never crossed my mind during the match," he said.
In Stockholm, seventh seed Paradorn Srichaphan of Thaland scored his second title win of the year when he defeated Chile's Marcelo Rios 6-7, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 at the $650,000 Stockholm Open final on Sunday.
Paradorn overpowered the Chilean sixth seed with his heavy ground strokes, and forced Rios to play from several meters behind the baseline to grab his second title of the year.
From the second set onward, Rios was rarely allowed to dictate rallies from inside the baseline, with the Thai earning several key points on his powerful serves.
Rios had to run to keep pace with Paradorn and it paid off in the first set when he clinched the tiebreak 7-2 on five straight points.
But a lapse of concentration by Rios gave Paradorn a 2-0 break in the second set, who then capitalized and routed the former world No. 1 6-0 to tie the match.
Rios failed to take advantage of two break points in Paradorn's opening serve game in the third set and was broken in the fourth game to hand the Thai a 3-1 lead.
Both players then held serve with Paradorn saving several break points on the way to take the set 6-3.
The Thai scored a double break in the last set and clinched the match 6-2 on his first match point, serving out at love.
In Basel, Switzerland, Argentina's David Nalbandian won the Swiss Indoor tournament on Sunday, and then immediately turned his sights to next week's Paris Masters and a possible place in the Shanghai end-of-season Masters Cup.
"It's still possible, but if I don't go to Shanghai, I will have a holiday and go back to Argentina," said the sixth seed. "But first, I am going to focus on Paris and try to do really well there again. If I do, who knows what will happen?"
The 20-year-old made sure of a top-15 place in the latest rankings of the ATP Champions Race with his 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 win over Fernando Gonzalez and also kept alive his ambition to take part in the showpiece tournament in China.
In Luxembourg, No. 1 seed Kim Clijsters successfully defended her Luxembourg Open title by thrashing Bulgaria's Magdalena Maleeva 6-1, 6-2 in the final on Sunday.
No. 2 seed Maleeva could do little to stem the flow of powerful winners generated by Clijsters, who also won the title as a 16-year-old qualifier in 1999.
"I don't know why, but winning here this year seems even more special than winning the first two," said a jubilant Clijsters.
In Linz, Austria, Clijsters' fellow Belgian Justine Henin overpowered unseeded Alexandra Stevenson 6-3, 6-0 in less than an hour Sunday to win the Generali Open.
Henin, seeded fourth, set the tone by breaking Stevenson's serve in the opening game. It was Henin's second title of 2002.
(Reuters, AP)
TITLE: Smith's 11 Yards Rewrite the History Books
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: IRVING, Texas - Emmitt Smith never considered leaving Texas Stadium without the NFL's career rushing record. He even dressed for the occasion. Smith went through four No. 22 jerseys during his historic game Sunday. But, under them all, he kept on the same white T-shirt, one with his image on the Dallas Cowboys star logo, the phrase "All Time" and the number 16,727 - a yard more than the late Walter Payton had.
With an 11-yard run in the fourth quarter against the Seattle Seahawks, he became No. 1.
Smith cut left, saw a hole and plunged through it. He got tripped up, but put his right hand down to keep his balance and surged forward. And past Payton.
"Trust me, I knew what I needed," Smith said. "Once I broke the line of scrimmage I knew that would have to be the one."
The 33-year-old Smith ran for 109 yards on 24 carries, both season highs, and scored a touchdown, giving the Dallas fans something to remember, even though their team lost 17-14. Many of them even stayed around for a postgame celebration.
"To do it in front of the home crowd makes history of this magnitude such a special thing," Smith said. "I've learned how special it is when I saw Cal Ripken go through what he went through, and I saw Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, and watched Barry Bonds do what he did, and saw the fan reaction."
After Smith came back on the field in full uniform, he took a victory lap around Texas Stadium - a la Ripken - and slapped hands with fans before making his way to a star-shaped stage in the middle of the field.
Smith gave an eloquent speech filled with thank-yous and memories, and was then presented a silver football from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, before the team unfurled a banner that reads: "All-Time Leading Rusher ... 22 ... Emmitt Smith."
Midway through his 13th season, Smith has 16,743 yards. Payton finished his 13-year career in 1987 with 16,726. Smith broke Payton's record for career carries earlier this season and topped his yardage record in his 193rd game; Payton played 190.
Payton, who played his entire career for the Chicago Bears and earned the nickname "Sweetness" for his beautiful playing style, died in November 1999 from cancer. He was 45.
Smith had four more carries after the record run, all on the same drive. After a 1-yard loss, he exploded for 14 yards - his sixth carry of at least 10 yards - and had consecutive 1-yard runs, the second being his 150th career rushing TD, extending his own NFL record and tying the game at 14.
Seattle then drove for Rian Lindell's 20-yard field goal with 25 seconds left, but it was still Smith's day.
TITLE: SPORTS WATCH
TEXT: Waugh Ends
MELBOURNE, Australia (Reuters) - Mark Waugh retired from international cricket on Monday after he was dropped from Australia's team for the first Ashes test against England in Brisbane starting on Nov. 7.
Waugh lost his place to South Australian batsman Darren Lehmann after an indifferent run of form, then promptly announced he was quitting the international arena.
"Having been left out of the current test team and the one-day team earlier this year, I feel my chances of playing for Australia at age 37 have led me to this decision," Waugh told a news conference.
Australian captain Steve Waugh led the tributes to his twin brother after the announcement.
"It has been a pleasure and a privilege to have played alongside my brother at test level for the past 12 years, spanning more than 100 matches together, and it will seem very strange not to have him with us when we walk out in Brisbane," the Australian captain said.
"Mark has been an inspiration, not only to his teammates, but also to a host of young players, because of the way he has played the game - hard but fair and in a positive way."
Eberharter Shows Way
SOELDEN, Austria (Reuters) - Olympic and World Cup champion Stephan Eberharter threw down the gauntlet to his rivals with victory in the season-opening giant slalom on Sunday - his first win here after being runner-up three times in a row.
The 33-year-old Austrian, who led after the first run, set the 14,000 spectators into a jubilant frenzy by storming through the finishing line in a combined time of 1:49.47.
"I always felt at home on this mountain and today I knew that I had to ski aggressively to win," Eberharter said.
France's Frederic Covili, a surprise winner here last year and who went on to capture the crown in the discipline, proved he was no one-season wonder, by placing second in a time just 0:00.13 slower down the challenging Rettenbach glacier. Reigning world champion Michael von Gruenigen of Switzerland, who was below par last year but came back to clinch victory in the final giant slalom of the season, showed he was still a force to reckon with by racing into third, 0:00.28 slower than the leader.
TITLE: Angels in Seventh Heaven After First Crown
AUTHOR: By Ben Walker
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: ANAHEIM, California - This is definitely movie material - and the stars are the Anaheim Angels. They came out of nowhere to reach their first World Series, rallying past every team on the way.
Their rookie pitcher wins Game 7. The best hitter in the world watches from the losers' dugout, knowing he was once just six outs away from winning the only title he has ever wanted.
John Lackey, Garret Anderson and the Angels made it all come true, beating Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants 4-1 Sunday night for the franchise's first championship in 42 years.
The Angels became the eighth straight home team to win Game 7 of the World Series. History was on their side from the start and so was an omen - a skywriting plane put a gigantic halo over Edison Field before the first pitch.
A day after it blew a 5-0 lead in the seventh inning, San Francisco never got close to winning its first title. Bonds went 1-for-3 with a walk to close out one of the most dominant Series performances ever, yet it wasn't enough.
When it ended, Bonds walked down the dugout and picked up his glove. He walked back, tapped his son on the back and walked down the runway as the Angels celebrated on the field.
Lackey wasn't even with the Angels, stuck in Triple-A, when they went 6-14 for the worst start in team history. But with both staffs worn down, the 24-year-old righty gave Anaheim exactly what it needed with five innings of one-run ball.
Anderson hit a three-run double off Livan Hernandez in the third for a 4-1 lead. The rally monkey made a brief, early appearance on the video board to celebrate the moment, then sat back and let the sellout crowd of 44,598 bang their ThunderStix like crazy.
"Well, I just wanted to get into a situation where I'd be able to hit my pitch, not do too much," Anderson said.
Brendan Donnelly, Francisco Rodriguez and Troy Percival closed it for manager Mike Scioscia's bunch. Percival escaped a two-on, one-out jam for his third save of the Series.
"Unbelievable for us, for our fans," Percival said. "This team has worked as hard as any team, ever. We deserve it."
When it was over, Southern California, the land of celluloid stars, received a whole team of them, while Hollywood luminaries Pierce Brosnan and John Travolta watched from the stands.
Bonds wound up 8-for-17 (.471) with four homers, a .700 on-base percentage and 1.294 slugging percentage.
Anaheim and the Giants combined for a record 85 runs and 21 homers.
Anderson doubled in the third to make it 4-1, and Angels fans went wild.
David Eckstein made up for a rare baserunning mistake in the first by leading off the third with a single. Darin Erstad also singled. Tim Salmon came up and Hernandez cost himself, hitting the Angels star in the right hand.
No outs, bases loaded. The at-bat of a lifetime for Anderson, drafted by the California Angels in 1990 and out of the postseason until this year.
Unsung despite a stellar career, Anderson got the hit that will put him in highlight reels for a long time, sending a line drive into the right-field corner that easily scored all three runners.
As Reggie Sanders tried to corral the ball along the low wall, an Anaheim fan got into the act, bopping the right fielder on the back with a pair of red ThunderStix. There was no interference called, although two security guards were soon standing in the area when Hernandez, who lost for the second time in the Series, was pulled.
Hernandez looked nothing like the MVP of the 1997 World Series for Florida, but instead resembled the pitcher who tied for the NL lead in losses this season, which he did with 16.
A surprising lapse by Eckstein, who took off Anderson's liner to center field and was doubled off, enabled Hernandez to overcome two walks in the first.
Hernandez was not so lucky the next inning when he walked Scott Spiezio with two outs and Bengie Molina followed with a double that tied it at 1.
Molina added another double, the hits his way of honoring his father far away. Earlier Sunday, former amateur outfielder Benjamin Molina Santana was in Puerto Rico, where he was inducted into the island's hall of fame.
The Giants took a 1-0 lead in the second on singles by Benito Santiago and J.T. Snow and a sacrifice fly by Sanders.
Anaheim third baseman Troy Glaus was voted MVP after hitting .385 with three home runs and eight RBIs.