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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. |
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 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. |
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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. |
All photos from issue.
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
 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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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Editor, Congratulations to the Russian security forces for liberating the majority of the hostages and liquidating the thugs without damage to the theater. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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 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. |
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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. |
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