RUSSIA: THE FUNERAL HAS TAKEN PLACE FOR TWO TEENAGERS WHO DIED IN THE MOSCOW THEATRE SIEGE

Record ID: 328980

  • Title: RUSSIA: THE FUNERAL HAS TAKEN PLACE FOR TWO TEENAGERS WHO DIED IN THE MOSCOW THEATRE SIEGE
  • Date: 25th October 2002
  • Summary: (U4) MOSCOW, RUSSIA (OCTOBER 30, 2002) (REUTERS) LV PEOPLE LEAVING CHURCH LV EXTERIORS OF CHURCH SV WOMAN WITH CHILD CU BOY CRYING SV/LV OF PROCESSION CARRYING TWO COFFINS (6 SHOTS) LV COFFINS BY GRAVE SV OF PEOPLE WITH FLOWERS AROUND COFFINS (2 SHOTS) SV RELATIVES BY COFFIN OF ARSENI KURILENKO MCU MOTHER OF ARSENI KURILENKO BY COFFIN MCU WOMENA / CHILDREN WATCHING (2 SHO
  • Embargoed: 9th November 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Crime,Arts,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9PJX9VITNLKUS79KR7IOT8GJF
  • Story Text: The funeral has taken place for two teenagers who died in the Moscow theatre siege. They were members of the cast of the musical "Nord-Ost" (North East) which was being staged at the theatre when Chechen guerrillas entered it last Wednesday night. The child actors were both 13 years old. They were buried side by side at a Moscow cemetery.
    Fourteen year old Chrisitina Kurbatova and thirteen year-old Arseni Kurilenko, actors that played one of the leading roles in the Nord-Ost musical, were buried on Moscow's Vagankovskoye cemetery on Wednesday (October 30).
    The two children were among the 117 victims killed by gas that was used by Russian special forces during the siege of the theatre on October 26.
    The Russian government has refused to tell even the doctors treating hundreds of hostages what gas was used during the rescue operation.
    Russian security forces said they used the gas to knock out the Chechen separatists but many civilians fell vicitim to the deadly chemical.
    Relief at the dramatic end to the siege quickly turned to anguish as the death toll climbed remorselessly and medical officials announced that only two hostages had been shot throughout the three-day ordeal.
    Despite backing President Vladimir Putin's decision to order the rescue operation, Washington has continued to press for details of the gas. U.S. officials have been told of the effects of the gas but not the name of the active agent, the embassy in Moscow said.
    Doctors said three days of captivity, with little food or water, had made the hostages particularly vulnerable to the toxic agent, especially the young and old. Many died of heart or respiratory failure.
    One leading political party called for an inquiry into how heavily armed Chechen guerrillas, demanding Russian troops quit their homeland, had been able to take over a packed theatre just a few miles from the Kremlin.
    Russian NTV channel showed video footage of Moscow police arresting a criminal group dining at a Moscow restaurant on Friday (October 25). Police suspected they were Chechens linked to the terrorists that took over the theatre. But later it turned out that members of the criminal group were Georgians.
    The footage of the raid was shown on NTV two days after the theatre siege began. Moscow police also raided the markets where nationals from the Russian southern areas, including Chechnya, trade.
    Mainstream separatist Chechen leaders, who accuse Russian forces of brutality away from the world's gaze, condemned the hostage-taking and again called for direct talks with the Russian government on the future of the separatist province.
    They said Russia's many nuclear facilities could be the target of future attacks unless the Kremlin began meaningful peace talks rather than seek to impose a pro-Moscow government Chechens, who have chafed at Russian rule for two centuries, complain they are an oppressed minority inside Russia. Moscow, which first sent in troops in 1994, sees an independent Chechnya as destabilising the sensitive Caucasus region and setting an unwelcome precedent for other disaffected ethnic groups.
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