2024-09-01 15:54:11
On the first day of school, it is customary in Russia that in the morning the younger children are seen off by their parents and the teachers receive flowers. It was the same twenty years ago – September 1, 2004 – in Beslan. In a city of 40,000 in Russian North Ossetia, not far from Chechnya.
The hustle and bustle outside the building of School number one peaked shortly after nine o’clock in the morning, when the principal, seventy-two-year-old Lydia Calijevová, gathered the children on the playground for the opening ceremony of the school year.
“Suddenly I heard what seemed to be a loud bang. I didn’t pay much attention to it, I thought to myself that it must be the bursting of balloons that some children had brought. But then shots rang out and there was no doubt. I saw men in in military uniforms and with black masks on their faces,” gymnasist Alexandr Cagolov testified later.
The gunmen herded all the people – children, teachers and parents – into the gymnasium. “Sit down and shut up,” they shouted. But there were so many people that there was almost nowhere to sit. More than a thousand. One man who was running was shot dead by masked assailants and his bleeding body was dragged into the gym for all to see.
“We have taken you hostage and we demand that Vladimir Putin withdraw his troops from Chechnya. Until the Russian army leaves Chechnya, you will remain sitting here,” said one of the gunmen. Another then put a pistol to the temple of Ruslan Betrozov, a father of two schoolboys standing nearby, and shouted: “If you don’t all shut up, I’ll shoot him.” After a few seconds, when there was still no complete calm, he pulled the trigger and Betrozov fell dead onto the gym floor.
Black widows
On that day, Beslan school was attacked by 32 Chechen terrorists who wanted to force the Kremlin to end the war. The Chechen metropolis of Grozny was practically razed to the ground at that time, tens of thousands of people died. The New York Times reporter Susan Glasser spoke to one of the surviving parents in Beslan, who appealed to the terrorist in the gymnasium not to harm the children. He is said to have replied that all five of his children had died in a Russian aerial bombardment.
The terrorists planted explosives in the gymnasium and other areas of the school. “Their commander was tall and had a thick beard. They called him colonel. There were also black widows among the terrorists, they had Kalashnikovs in their hands and were wearing a belt with grenades. They looked like mortals with a scythe,” testified the gymnast Cagolov. Black widows were women whose husbands, brothers or fathers had died in the war and wanted to take revenge on the Russians. The man whom others called Colonel was Ruslan Khuchbarov.
The terrorists treated the hostages, including children, extremely cruelly. They refused to give them water, food and medicine. People in the gym had to drink their own urine and most of the children stripped down to their underwear due to the heat and bad air. They spent more than two days in these conditions.
Members of the Russian anti-terrorist unit Alpha headed to Beslan in special planes, the army and the police evacuated the surrounding blocks. On Friday around one o’clock in the afternoon – the third day of the crisis – the terrorists agreed to transport several bodies of people who had been shot from near the school. As the truck approached the building, explosions rang out.
The bombs exploded in the gymnasium, with dire consequences. One of the schoolboys then described that he saw many dead, people without limbs and blood and dust everywhere. After the explosions, Russian troops launched an assault on the building, but as the hostages ran away, they were shot at by both soldiers and terrorists from behind. The roof of the school, damaged by the explosions, collapsed and a fire broke out, in which dozens of people were burned to death. The number of identified victims eventually rose to 334, but dozens of people are still missing today.
Putin in Beslan for the first time
The fighting lasted for several hours, some terrorists resisted until the last moment in the basement of the school. The members of the Russian Alpha unit were surprised by the sudden action, so some did not have time to put on their bulletproof vests and died in the rush. Of the thirty-two terrorists, all but one, Pasha Nur-Kulayev, died. He was sentenced to life in court.
Why the charges exploded and a shootout ensued, killing many of the hostages, has never been fully understood. According to one version, the explosive was accidentally detonated by one of the terrorists, according to some witnesses, the first shots were heard from around the school towards the inside.
After the Beslan tragedy, Russian President Vladimir Putin pushed through new anti-terror laws and measures that strengthened his powers. But he visited the school in Beslan for the first time only this year, twenty years after the massacre. On the 20th of August, he stopped there on his way through the Caucasus and met with representatives of the Mothers of Beslan movement, which unites the parents of child victims.
Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Beslan school, which was the target of a terrorist attack in 2004. | Photo: Reuters
The association’s co-chair Aneta Gadijeva told reporters that the women had complained about the investigation into the terrorist attack, which has not yet been closed, and also reminded Putin of his 2005 promise to tell them the “whole truth” about Beslan. The president reportedly replied that he did not know the details of the investigation.
The Beslan massacre was also the first event when the newly appointed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov drew attention to himself. He accused European states of having a hand in the attack because they provide asylum to Chechen rebels.