Interfax. Saturday, Oct. 26, 2002, 8:38 PM Moscow Time

MOSCOW. Oct 26 (Interfax) - The seizure of the hostages in the Moscow theater took two months to prepare, according to an interview recorded by the NTV channel on the evening of October 25 with Movsar Barayev, the terrorists' ringleader.

Barayev said his people went to see the Nord-Ost musical and had a good look at the theater building. "We'd go to the show, see what was what." One of the gang members said on the same recording that the theater was chosen because it was close to the center of Moscow. "We wanted everyone to see, everyone to know."

Barayev said he was indeed a nephew of the Chechen rebel commander Arbi Barayev, however he did not set out to avenge his uncle's death in Moscow. The main purpose of the terrorist act in Moscow was "to bring an end to the war, and to get the troops withdrawn."

"We take orders from the supreme military emir," in other words Shamil Basayev, the interview continues. Barayev also said the terrorists were also accountable to Aslan Maskhadov, the Chechen separatist leader

Azerbaijani authorities order to close Chechen cultural center in Baku

Interfax. Saturday, Oct. 26, 2002, 8:38 PM Moscow Time

BAKU. Oct 26 (Interfax) - The Azerbaijani authorities have order to close a so-called Chechen cultural center in Baku. Nikolai Ryabov, Russia's ambassador to Azerbaijan, said at a news conference in Baku on Saturday.

Ryabov said that Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev and the government made this decision on Friday.

The Russian ambassador expressed his gratitude to the Azerbaijani authorities and personally to President Aliyev.

Ryabov said that the Chechen cultural center in Baku was "in effect, an intelligence agency of Chechen elected president Aslan Maskhadov." He added that the center "conducted undercover work among about 8,000 Chechen refugees living in Azerbaijan."

Annan, Putin hold telephone conversation

Interfax. Saturday, Oct. 26, 2002, 8:18 PM Moscow Time

MOSCOW. Oct 26 (Interfax) - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation on Saturday evening.

Annan expressed his solidarity with the people of Russia at this difficult time, the Kremlin press service told Interfax. The UN secretary general said that he experienced a sincere feeling of relief when he learnt about the end of the hostage crisis. Putin expressed his gratitude to the world community for its support during this inhuman terrorist attack in Moscow.

The Russian president thanked the UN Security Council for its prompt reaction to the Moscow events, by adopting a resolution unambiguously condemning this terrorist attack, the press service said

Interfax correspondent reports details of rescue raid

Interfax. Saturday, Oct. 26, 2002, 7:28 PM Moscow Time

MOSCOW. Oct 26 (Interfax) - Interfax's correspondent Olga Chernyak, who was among the hostages in the theater in Moscow's neighborhood Dubrovka, said all those inside the theater were looking forward to a storm, because they saw no other opportunity to be freed. "We were waiting for this storm, we were sure it was necessary. The terrorists said to us, 'God is Allah, and we are eager to get into his kingdom. The Chechen women, who were among the terrorists, said they would be glad to gain freedom and were prepared to blow up themselves. When some noise was periodically heard outside the building, the female terrorists scattered around the hall among the sitting hostages. They laid hands on their belts and shouted that they would blow up the hall and themselves together with all those sitting," Chernyak said. "This morning began with terrorists' shooting and killing two people. They shot in the eye of a young man, who was crying something like 'mummy, I do not know what to do!' and there was a lot of foaming blood. They also shot a woman in her belly. We understood that executions started. And suddenly we felt that some gas was let into," she said.

"Some smells had been periodically felt in the hall before. Once a drainpipe leaked, then something else happened, and we all, including the terrorists, got used to this. Therefore they probably did not notice when the storm actually began. When I realized that gas was coming into the room, I remembered what my grandfather once told me - he went through the entire World War II and then worked as a veterinarian. My husband, who was near me, and I pulled shirts and other clothing onto our faces and tried to moisten them. Then I passed out and then came round only at an emergency medicine room." Chernyak yet again said she is sure that the terrorists, who started to lose patience, would have killed all the hostages if the storm had not been launched

Terrorists contacted Basayev, their accomplices from abroad

Interfax. Saturday, Oct. 26, 2002, 6:48 PM Moscow Time

MOSCOW. Oct 26 (Interfax) - The terrorists who took several hundreds of people hostage in a Moscow theater made a number of calls to their accomplices in Chechnya and abroad, Olga Chernyak, an Interfax jounalist, said.

Chernyak was one of the hostages. She said that the terrorists repeatedly mentioned a Chechen rebel leader, Shamil Basayev. She said that once they might have contacted Basayev himself, since, during the conversation, a terrorist called the individual he was speaking to by the name of Shamil.

Chernyak said that the hostages-takers also made a call to Turkey. The hostages learnt about this from the cellphone a terrorist gave them after the call. They also learnt than the conversation was in Arabic

Without raid, all hostages would have died - Interfax journalist

Interfax. Saturday, Oct. 26, 2002, 6:28 PM Moscow Time

MOSCOW. Oct 26 (Interfax) - If the theatre had not been stormed, all hostages would have been killed, the Interfax journalist who was among the hostages, Olga Chernyak, said.

"We were waiting to die. We realized that they would not release us alive. We did not believe they would let us go even if all their demands had been met and troops withdrawn from Chechnya. The terrorists and especially the women among them told us: 'We came here to die. All of us want to go to Allah, and you will go together with us," she noted.

On Saturday morning, the terrorists began killing hostages. "They killed two hostages, a woman and a man, in front of us. The man was shot in the eye, and there was a lot of blood. I was sitting in the middle of the stalls, row 12, seats 25 and 26 [Olga was together with her husband Sergei Fokin], and everything was happening near me. I thought then that we would all be killed. Something happened later and I fainted. I regained consciousness in the intensive care department. It was probably a special gas. I am sure that we were saved from imminent death," she said.

"The storm was necessary. Everybody was expecting it and hoping for it. The women terrorists kept saying that the troops must be pulled out of Chechnya. They said, 'as soon as the troops are pulled out, you will be released.' But, in my view, this all was unlikely to happen. Judging by their actions, they all, especially the women, just wanted to kill themselves, at least I got this impression," Olga said. "We were listening to radio together with the Chechens. They, of course, muffled the sound, but I was trying to sit somewhere nearby. They also had portable TV sets looking like radios, and they were watching all this. Then they tried to arrange the Internet but did not seem to succeed, because they could poorly operate all these devices. All they could do is kill and explode. They were not able to work with telephones and other devices and eventually smashed them all [cell phones] in anger," she said.

The gunmen first allowed the hostages to make calls rarely, "when they wanted to tell something to someone or to press on someone. They said, 'you hear that shooting, then you must phone and say, 'Don't shoot.' Phone your parents and tell them to organize rallies.' And so we did all they told us to. Then they made three or four calls and ordered switching off all the phones, because phones jammed their radio and TV sets. They threatened to shoot at those who would try to phone, and so I was using SMS, because this can be done quietly," Olga said. On October 23, Chernyak told Interfax over the cell phone that hundreds of people were being held hostage in the theatre. Interfax was the first news agency to tell the world about the act of terrorism. Chernyak is remaining in hospital. Interfax and law enforcement agencies continue searching for her husband, Sergei

-- Anonymous, October 26, 2002