The Russo-Ukraine war continues in one part of the world. It’s been almost more than two months. Along with Russia, Chechen rebels also took part in the fighting in Ukraine. But once these Chechen rebels inflicted a big wound on Russia. In fact, on October 23, 2002, about 850 people watching a play were taken prisoner by Chechen rebels at the Dubrovka Theater in central Moscow, about five kilometers from the Kremlin.
At the Dubrovka Theater in Moscow, spectators were watching a play and around 9 o’clock there was a sudden air firing. At first people thought that this part was part of the drama, but on seeing 50 armed attackers took about 850 people captive. A third of these Chechen attackers were women. After the incident, the Russian internal security agency (FSB) admitted that these were women whose husbands or brothers were killed in fighting with Russia.
About 50 armed Chechen rebels demanded that Russian troops immediately and unconditionally withdraw from Chechnya, or else they would start killing the hostages. After some time one of the assailants fired five bullets at a young woman, who was fighting with them. After this, the Chechen raiders released about 150 such hostages who could pose a threat to them. These included some foreigners, Russian women and children. These attackers also sent a message through the released people.
The message said that 10 hostages would be killed in exchange for one rebel if the Russian army tried to kill them. The incident caused a stir in Russia and President Putin canceled all his programs. Around 39 hostages were released on the second day of the incident. Putin sent a message to the attackers that they should release everyone and they would not be harmed. At the same time, the entry of commands directly into the theater was a threat to everyone’s life.
However, a rumor was spread by the Putin government that the commando attack would take place at 3 in the morning, while the original time was 5 o’clock. The Russian commandos then injected sleeping gas through the theater’s ventilation system to smother the attackers. The attackers were wearing masks, but in the atmosphere of chaos, some of the female rebels fell down. At 6.33 am, 200 Russian soldiers entered the theater and several attackers were gunned down.