Nikolai Patrushev, former director of the Federal Security Service and aide to the Russian president, has blamed the rescue services for the deaths of the hostages during the storming of the theatre complex on Dubrovka in Moscow, which had been seized by terrorists. He made this statement in an interview with *Rossiyskaya Gazeta*. *The Agency* drew attention to Patrushev’s remarks.
According to Patrushev, the FSB units acted ‘professionally’, whilst other services ‘lacked coordination’.
“After the terrorists had been neutralised, all the hostages were supposed to receive the necessary assistance. This was to be provided by the emergency services, who entered the auditorium following the special forces. But they were at a loss. As a result, not all the victims were given the antidote, and some of the hostages received a double dose. This is what led to the casualties,” Patrushev claimed.
In 2002, Sergei Shoigu was head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in Russia. Patrushev added that the Ministry of Emergency Situations, now under the leadership of Alexander Kurenkov, operates “more effectively and professionally”. In 2024, Shoigu was relieved of his post as Defence Minister and appointed Secretary of the Russian Security Council. Criminal cases relating to corruption have been brought against many high-ranking officials in the Ministry of Defence who worked under Shoigu.
On 23 October 2002, a group of terrorists took more than 900 hostages at the Dubrovka Theatre Centre during a performance of the musical ‘Nord-Ost’ and held them captive for three days. The terrorists booby-trapped the auditorium and demanded the withdrawal of federal troops from Chechnya, threatening to kill the performers, audience members and staff at the Theatre Centre.
Three days later, the FSB launched an assault, using a nerve agent whose composition remained undisclosed for a long time. As a result of the assault, 174 people were killed.
In 2011, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Russian authorities had improperly planned and carried out the rescue operation, thereby violating the victims’ right to life and, subsequently, their right to a fair trial.