Russian plainclothes security officers cordon off school territory during the hostage crisis in the South Ossetian town of Beslan in Southern Russia on September 1, 2004
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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An Alternative Beslan
// Rodina Party Deputy Uncovers the Secret of the Investigation
Yesterday an alternative report that investigates the September 2004 terrorist attack on a Beslan school was published. The author of the report is Yury Savelev, a Rodina party deputy who is a member of the parliamentary commission investigating the tragedy and who is also the former editor of the Petersburg magazine "VoenMekha," a doctor of technical science, and a specialist in the physics of combustion and explosions.
Savelev reviewed the conclusions of an investigation into the causes of the explosions in the school, the fire, and the deaths of so many hostages. According to his data, the first explosions were caused by grenades used in an attack by Russian security forces attempting to kill the terrorist who was in charge of the bombs. These grenades also could have caused the fire in the building and the deaths of the majority of the hostages. The deputy is certain that his version of events is correct. His analysis of the terrorist act in Beslan is based on data from open sources and primarily on an analysis of eyewitness accounts concerning the actions of the terrorist Kulaev, who was the only one of the hostage-takers captured alive after the building was stormed by federal troops and who was sentenced to life in prison for his participation in the attack (these accounts are available on the internet at www.pravbeslana.ru).
In the deputy's opinion, an analysis of the data leaves no doubt that specialists hired by the general prosecutor came to incorrect conclusions concerning the actions of Russian security forces in the events that led to the storming of the building, as well as about the character of the explosions in the gym, where, according to the official version of events, most of the hostages died. According to the official opinion, the hostages met their doom because of the spontaneous combustion of three explosive devices in the gym. Deputy Savelev, however, believes that explosions of two of these devices were enough to attract grenade fire from outside the building as soldiers attempted to take out the terrorist who was standing on the button. It is this grenade attack that he believes caused the fire that cost so many of the hostages their lives.
In publishing his version of events, Savelev believes he is responding to the needs of the people of Beslan who lost relatives in the events of September 2004. These people, he says, have still not received answers to the questions that they asked President Putin a year ago at a meeting in the Kremlin. However, he maintains that, although he thinks that poorly thought-out attacks by Russian soldiers on the presumed location of the hostages and the terrorist with the bombs may be mainly responsible for the hostages' deaths, his main goal is not to accuse the soldiers. Rather, he wants the government to stop dodging questions and to request new information for a more careful investigation, and he believes that his report will be an important step towards opening up the investigative process and producing some real answers.
Nikolai Sergeev
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 29, 2006
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