8. Fifty-eight hours of terror.

That is how long the nightmare on Melnikov Street in Moscow kept the entire nation on edge.

Wednesday, October 23rd

9:15 p.m.  A group of armed militants in camouflage entered the theatrical center at Dubrovka, on Number 7 Melnikov Street.  The theater is now variously referred to as ‘Nord-Ost’ (from the musical being performed on the stage that evening).  More than 800 people were at the theatre at that time.

The terrorists declared that everyone was now their hostage and began to wire the building with explosives.  During the first minutes a few actors and workers of the theater managed to escape from the building through windows and emergency exits.

10 p.m. It became known that the building was seized by a group of Chechen gunmen under the command of Movsar Barayev.  According to eyewitnesses, there were 30–40 terrorists, including women, and they were all wearing explosives.  Preliminary reports stated that they demand the cessation of the war in Chechnya.  Units from the FSB, interior ministry, and police forces arrived at the theater building.

Thursday, October 24th

12:15 a.m.  The first attempt was made to contact with the terrorists.  The Chechen representative to the Russian parliament, Aslambek Aslakhanov was on the spot.

2:20 a.m. The terrorists released 17 people without any preconditions.

Between 3 a.m. and 9 a.m. Russian special forces tried to contact the militants, but without success.  At this time FSB officers found out that the seizure of hostages was under orders from Aslan Maskhadov and international terrorists organizations.

9:30 a.m. Foreign diplomats arrived at the theatre.  It is known that there were 60–70 foreign citizens among the hostages.  Negotiations with the terrorists broke down.

Between 11:30 a.m. and 12:20 p.m.  The gunmen demanded Boris Nemtsov, Irina Hakamada, and Grigoriy Yavlinskiy come to conduct negotiations, as well as the journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

1 p.m.  Member of the Russian parliament Josef Kobzon and physicians from the Red Cross arrived too.  A half-hour later they brought a woman and three children out from the building.

3 p.m.  Josef Kobzon and Irina Hakamada once again conducted negotiations.

5 p.m.  The terrorists killed a woman who had tried to enter the building.

6:30 p.m.  The terrorists shot and threw grenades at two women who had run out of the building.  The hostages escaped uninjured, but one special forces soldier was wounded.

7 p.m.  Qatari television channel Al-Jazeera broadcasted gunman Movsar Barayev’s appeal that had been made several days before the seizure of Nord-Ost.  The terrorists declareD themselves to be kamikazes and demanded the retreat of Russian forces from Chechnya.

Between 7 p.m. and midnight. Unsuccessful attempts to convince the militants to accept food and water for the hostages took place.

Friday, October 25th

1 a.m.  The terrorists allowed Leonid Roshal, the director of the Center for Emergency Surgery and Trauma, into the building.  He brought medicine and provided first aid for some of the hostages.

The gunmen released 7 people and 8 children, including a girl from Switzerland.  Negotiations soon afterwards ceased.

3 p.m.  Russian president Vladimir Putin had a meeting with the heads of the interior ministry and the FSB.  After this meeting FSB director Nikolai Patrushev stated that the authorities were ready to guarantee the lives of the terrorists if they released all the hostages.

Between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.  Evgeny Primakov, head of the Russian chamber of commerce, former Ingushetian president Ruslan Aushev, Russian MP Aslambek Aslakhanov, and pop singer Alla Pugacheva attempted to contact the militants.

The terrorists freed three women and a man.

Saturday, October 26th

5:30 a.m. The sound of three explosions and gunfire came from the building.  Afterwards, the shooting stopped.  The special forces began to redeploy their forces around the theatrical center.  Journalists crowded into the areas with the best visibility, but officially there was no acknowledgement that an assault had begun.

5.45 a.m.  Representatives from the operational headquarters reported that the terrorists had killed two hostages and wounded another two in the course of the last two hours.

6:20 a.m.  Several new, powerful explosions were heard.  Two hostages run out from the building.  Headquarters representatives reported that another six had also managed to escape.

6:30 a.m.  The official FSB representative, Sergey Ignatchenko, reported that the theatrical center was now under the control of the special forces, and that Movsar Barayev and a majority of the terrorists had been destroyed.  There was no report of casualties among the hostages.

Between 6:30 a.m. and 6:45 a.m.  MChS (emergencies ministry) vehicles, buses, and ambulances arrived at the building.

Between 6:45 a.m. and 7 a.m.  Rescuers and physicians began to bring hostages out from the building and distributed them among hospitals.

7:25 a.m.  Presidential aid Sergey Yastrzhembsky declared officially that the hostage rescue operation at the building was over, that most of the explosives in the building had been rendered safe.  He reported that the special forces were looking for terrorists who had managed to hide.

8:00 a.m.  Deputy head of the interior ministry, Vladimir Vasilev, reported that 36 terrorists were killed, including the female suicide bombers, more than 750 hostages were freed, and there were 67 deaths during the operation.