Logic & Sanity

Russia's 9/11

Today is a one year anniversary of the terrorist act in Beslan. Several dozen heavily armed terrorists have seized a school
in Beslan and held over a thousand people hostage for several days. The siege ended with a botched russian raid which has resulted in over 330 dead and about twice that in wounded.

I've was live blogging the event as it was happening and you can still see that (quite extensive) post here.
My other posts related to Beslan can be found here.

"Residents of Chechnya"

On August 8, 2000, an explosive hidden in a canvas bag and left on Moscow's subway station "Pushkinskaya", claimed the lives of 13 and left 118 injured. Now, almost 5 years later, sources close to the ongoing investigation (according to Interfax) claim that the authorities have identified the suspects. Their names have not been disclosed. It has only been said that they are "residents of Chechnya".

The above photo is of a small memorial in the station "Pushkinskaya" to the victims of that terrorist act. It was taken by me last June when I visited Moscow.

Guerillas steal their money from the Russian countryside!

(Translated from "Komsomolskaya Pravda" by Carl)

While the law enforcement agencies were occupied after Beslan in finding out the the identity of the leader of the terrorists, "Komsomolka" began its own investigation.

And this was before the fingerprint experts declared that "The Colonel" could be no one else besides Ruslan Khuchbarova.

Our information disclosed that during the first Chechnyan war he fought on the guerilla side as a ordinary cut-throat. Later he settled in Orel for a few years.

Officially he did not work. Through just what means he lived, one can only guess. In 1998, during a fight between gangs, he shot two Armenians with a machinegun and left the city in a hurry. Even now Khuchbarov is on the federal most-wanted list.

We succeeded in finding out quite a lot about his background and even had an interview with his former live-in girlfriend (see KP issues from 11, 14, 16 September 2004). The main conclusion that we arrived at as we followed the Colonel's tracks: in the Orlov countryside, under the protection of high-ranking persons, there has operated - and probably continues to operate - a well-organized criminal group of Chechnyan immigrants who make money to send to their guerilla brethren for carrying out the war in Chechnya.

In the 1980s, while they were still brothers with the USSR, the Chechnyans came to the Orlovsk area to live and work. The settled entire villages and worked as farmers. They say that Shamil Basayev himself paved the roads in the Novosil'skiy region. After the disintegration of the nation, the proclamation of Iskeriya independance and rise to power of Dzhokhar Dudayev, the Chechnyans began working in a completely different field: they began to send meat, grain and money to Chechnya.

During the terror act a Karaganda boy was shot

(Translated from "Novi Vestnik" by Carl)

Ten year-old Zaur Gutnov from our city was shot by terrorists. After the explosion in the school gym, when the falling wall opened a path to safety for the hostages, the boy did not make it. His mother, who leaves in Karaganda, could not find the money to dash to Beslan. The explosions and shootings at the Osetian school were seen by Natal'ya Gutanova on television, but only after the funeral of her son...

The photograph, crossed by a black ribbon of mourning, shows a laughing boy. He was born in Karaganda, where his parents mmet and married - the Russian Natal'ya and Osetian Vladimir. Soon the young family with Zaur and his young sister Gal'ya moved to Beslan, where the boy went to first grade.

"I've been there a few times," recalls Natal'ya, a nice young woman in a black scarf of mourning. Her head his swollen, her eyes dull. "A normal school. Not very big, in an old building. I took Zaur there."

Thirteen year old hostage's diary

Thirteen year old ex hostage Kristina Dzagoeva kept a diary during her 52 hours of captivity. Parts of it were published in the German newspaper Bild and posted by utro.ru.

I translated the parts made available by utro.ru below (my comments in brackets):

150 still missing in Beslan

There's an article in gazeta.ru titled "Beslan's grim secret". Here are the latest numbers:

Officially, the number of dead is 326, but, as of today morning, only 75 death certificates have been given out, 84 bodies are still unidentified, and 94 are considered missing. According to the unofficial list, compiled by the residents of Beslan, the number of missing is 150.

Terrorist group liquidated

utro.ru

A terrorist group was liquidated in Dagestan, in a special force operation that began on August 25th. The group was 50 strong. Twelve persons were arrested, the status of the remaining terrorists is not being reported.

Dagestani police seized 30 assault rifles, several sniper rifles, 4 grenade launchers, anti-aircraft gun, 16 mines, 20 kilos of explosives, large amount of ammo, and also video cameras and 2 inflatable watercrafts. According to authorities, the group has receieved $500,000 for a terror act to be committed on the Dagestani territory (details of which are not being reported at this time). No word on whether the money was recovered.

Beslan Updates PART 2

My Beslan updates post is getting quite long, so I am going to continue here.

You can donate money to the victims here.

Send your condolences to the Russian Embassy

Part 1 of the updates, on the situation in Beslan after the raid and any related news(hunt for terrorists, politics, etc), can be found here.

My live blogging updates, as the crisis took place, can be found here.

NEW UPDATES BELOW

Beslan updates PART 1

As the crisis is over, I will continue to blog about the aftermath and the investigation, so bookmark this entry if you want to follow the developments as they are reported first from the russian sources.

You can donate money to the victims here. (hat tip: Nanette, scott holmes and others)

Send your condolences to the Russian Embassy (hat tip: Linda)

My live blogging updates, as the crisis took place, can be found here.

OLD UPDATES BELOW, NEW UPDATES (PART 2) are HERE