Putin Stresses Need to Storm Seized Theater, Praises Hostages

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 07, 2002

Putin Stresses Need to Storm Seized Theater, Praises Hostages

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Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that the government had no doubts about the need to storm a Moscow theater in a hostage crisis last week in which some 800 people were held hostage by Chechen gunmen, and praised the hostages for their "courage, reserve and self-control."

"We had never faced a situation of such complexity before, yet no one had any doubt for even a second that the operation was necessary," said Putin when meeting with cast members of the musical "Nord-Ost", which was being performed at the theater when the attack erupted.

"Our nation has lived through a terrible tragedy, a grave ordeal," Putin said, stressing that the consequences could have been much worse but for the hostages' "courage, reserve and self-control."

The president also promised the cast that the government would support the restoration of the musical.

Some 50 heavily armed Chechen militants seized the Moscow theater on Oct. 23, holding some 800 audience hostage to press their demand to end the Chechen war. Russian special forces stormed the theater three days later. While all attackers were killed, at least 120 people died during the operation with 118 of them succumbing to the effects of the gas used to incapacitate theexplosive-attached attackers.

As of Wednesday, 98 of the freed hostages remained in hospitals,including six in grave conditions, Russian news agencies reported.

In addition, nine officers of the Federal Security Service's Alpha commando that stormed the building were also in hospitals, the Interfax quoted Sergei Goncharov, Chairman of the Alpha Veterans Association, as saying. He said the hospitalization was probably a result of the special gas.

During a separate meeting with foreign ambassadors in the Kremlin on Wednesday, Putin said that the global community must take "joint efforts to make sure that the masterminds and perpetrators of terrorist attacks don't find refuge in any countryof the world."

Putin expressed gratitude "to all those who, in those difficultdays for Russia, gave our country help and moral support."

An absolute majority of international community members has voiced support for Russia, said the president. "This gives us morecertainty that by acting together we will succeed in preventing the organizers and perpetrators of terrorist acts from finding refuge in any country."

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