Posted on 10/26/2002, 9:22:08 PM by Destro
Kiwi recalls hostage hell
SUNDAY , 27 OCTOBER 2002
By MATTHEW LOWE and SARAH CATHERALL
A Christchurch nurse held by Chechen rebels for 66 days said the Moscow theatre hostages would have had a nightmarish time.
Red Cross nurse Geraldo Cruz, abducted at gunpoint close to the breakaway Russian republic's border in May 1999, said nothing about events in the outside world would have got through to the captives during their three-day ordeal.
"It must have been terrible for them. The hardest thing is to try and stop your mind from going around, it will have been a nightmare.
"Something like this changes your whole life, the way you look at life and stop taking for granted everything you have. It is a really hard experience."
Cruz was tortured and shot by the rebels who held him prisoner in a number of remote locations in the Caucasus mountains after his capture in the town of Nalchik by four armed men.
He was unexpectedly freed and believes it may have been in exchange for the release of a Chechen rebel being held by Russian authorities.
Cheryl McNabb, sister of New Zealander Stan Shaw who was killed by Chechen rebels, said the theatre ordeal would not have been easy for relatives of the hostage victims or the captives.
Shaw, who was working in the former Soviet country as a telecommunications engineer, was captured along with three colleagues in October 1998. Their decapitated heads were found two months later by a remote road.
The prime suspect in the murders was arrested only in August - a lieutenant of Arbi Barayev, whose nephew led the Moscow theatre siege.
Meanwhile, an expert on post-Soviet developments has warned there could be a backlash from Chechen rebels and the Russian people after the bloody end of the siege.
Dr Evgeny Pavlov, a lecturer at the University of Canterbury, believed the rebels were likely to take further action after the dramatic end to the hostage taking.
But depending on the number of people killed during the storming of the building by special forces, he said the public could also turn on President Vladimir Putin.
"If the number is minimal Putin's popularity will surge, but if the numbers are substantial - say any more than 20 dead - then we will see the opposite effect.
"There will be those outraged by the hostage taking and pushing on for Putin to completely squash the resistance but others will argue and say look what this has lead us to and it is now time to end this."
Pavlov added that Chechen rebels, as well as other terrorist organisations, may now be planning further action after the way Russian authorities resolved the hostage situation.
"There is definitely going to be a backlash and there will also be a very close watch on the ethnic Chechens living in Moscow.
"We can't rule out further terrorist acts but they probably won't happen in Moscow because I am sure the streets will be patrolled very well at this point in time.
"We don't know whether this particular rebel leader took his own initiative or if the hostage taking was part of a plan by the most powerful players among the rebels.
"There has been some allegations that some foreign source is also involved in organising this and the rebels definitely have links with al Qaeda and other rebel organisations."
The lecturer, who is visiting Moscow next month, said Russia and Chechyna had been considering "semi-official" discussions to resolve political tensions between the two countries recently but any hope of that was now over.
"The idea of negotiations is going to come to an end."
A TV grab shows dead female hostage-takers inside a Moscow theater after Russian special forces stormed the building, October 26, 2002. Russian forces killed most of the Chechen guerrillas who had started to execute captive theatergoers, but some of the 700 hostages also died, officials said. (Pool via Reuters)
The body of a man thought to be a Chechen gunman lies at the entrance of a theater after it was stormed by special forces in Moscow, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2002. Russian special forces stormed the building before sunrise Saturday to end the crisis. More than 90 hostages dead, but some 750 others freed and dozens of the assailants killed. (AP Photo/Gazeta)
Russian special forces take a detained man out of the Moscow theatre where Chechen rebels were holding hundreds captive. An official said 67 hostages and 34 rebels were killed when troops stormed the building on October 26. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
He's on crack. Putin's popularity will surge even if its 150 dead.
Dont' forget the car bomb by moscow's mcdonalds just a week prior to the hostage taking!
Yes, the Russian people love a strong leader, and Putin has not failed this challenge. This guy just hates Russia like far left academics usually hate America:
Dr Evgeny Pavlov, a lecturer at the University of Canterbury, believed the rebels were likely to take further action after the dramatic end to the hostage taking.
But depending on the number of people killed during the storming of the building by special forces, he said the public could also turn on President Vladimir Putin.
He's setting an impossible goal, so Putin will invariably fail.
I'm amazed at how few people died during this...major kudos to the Russian boys who took care of this.
Maybe this guy needs to read more history on Russia than just "post-Soviet" era stuff.
Say what you will about the Russians, but they have shown a history of resolve and being able to stick it out. Has this guy forgotten the 20 million dead from WWII?
Maybe some of that gas leaked out and got the author.
On another note... I am forced to conclude that the Russians shot the islamic terrorist (redundant, I know) while they slept. So many dead islamists, many looking like they died while asleep.
He's on crack. Putin's popularity will surge even if its 150 dead.
Dodgy eh? I'm starting to notice more and more how our universities are sliding towards this sort of crap thinking.
Personally I'm very impressed with the way that this situation was handled - they had a crack at negotiation, but the minute the wankers were about to carry out their threat, they were stopped cold: overwhelmed and slaughtered. Probably the most ideal solution you could get in an unideal situation.
. . .'further action' is guaranteed by Islamic Terrorists no matter what the outcome. . .whether 'dramatic (violent) action' is used . . .or had the Russians cooperated minimally or totally. . .
This rationalization, which we see often here by the 'Left'. . .(if we bomb Saddam, we put ourselves in jeopardy. . .) is just not operable.
The pro-Islam anti-west conspiracy is programmed and activated worldwide. This religion has appealed to people that have both the anger and the shortcomings to confuse scripture with instructions to kill people of other religions. The schedule is every day.
Right on - and I wish more people knew this, but for the sake of those who don't understand, it makes sense to offer the gesture concurrently with organising an assault. And not only is it for PR, but it’s what the terrorists will expect – it suggests to them that the only option left is being exercised, and that they are in control of the situation, when in reality that control is rapidly slipping as information is gathered and troops assemble and rehearse. And then suddenly it is all over.
Yeah, I agree.
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