The Moscow theater hostage crisis was the seizure of the crowded Dubrovka Theater by Chechen terrorists on 23 October 2002, which involved 850 hostages and ended with Russian security services killing or causing the death of 172 people. The attackers, led by Movsar Barayev, claimed allegiance to the Islamist separatist movement in Chechnya. They demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya and an end to the Second Chechen War.
Shamil Salmanovich Basayev, also known by his kunya "Abu Idris", was a North Caucasian guerilla leader who served as a senior military commander in the breakaway Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. He held the rank of brigadier general in the Armed Forces of Ichkeria, and was posthumously declared generalissimo. As a military commander in the separatist armed forces of Chechnya, one of his most notable battles was the separatist recapture of Grozny in 1996, which he personally planned and commanded together with Aslan Maskhadov. He also masterminded several of the worst terrorist attacks that occurred in Russia.
Spetsgruppa "A", also known as Alpha Group, or Alfa, whose official name is Directorate "A" of the FSB Special Purpose Center, is a stand-alone sub-unit of Russia's special forces within the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). It was created by the Soviet KGB in 1974. Although little is known about the exact nature of its primary directives, it is speculated that the unit is authorised to act under the direct control and sanction of Russia's top political leadership, similar to its sister unit, the Directorate "V" (Vympel), which is officially tasked with protecting Russia's strategic installations, as well as conducting black operations inside and outside Russia. It is also available for extended police duties, for paramilitary operations, and for covert operations, both domestically and internationally.
The Beslan school siege was a terrorist attack that started on 1 September 2004, lasted three days, involved the imprisonment of more than 1,100 people as hostages and ended with the deaths of 333 people, 186 of them children, as well as 31 of the attackers. It is considered to be the deadliest school shooting in history.
Leonid Mikhailovich Roshal is a noted pediatrician from Moscow, Russia, expert for the World Health Organization, and chairman of International Charity Fund to Help Children in Disasters and Wars.
Black Widow or Shahidka, is a term for Islamist Chechen female suicide bombers, willing to be a manifestation of violent jihad. They became known at the Moscow theater hostage crisis of October 2002. The commander Shamil Basayev referred to the shahidkas as a part of force of his suicide bombers called the Riyad-us Saliheen Brigade of Martyrs. Basayev also stated that he himself trained at least fifty of the Black Widows. The female suicide bombers have carried out over 65% of the 23 terrorist attacks linked to the Chechen movement since 2000. The Black Widows are associated with terrorist attacks in Chechnya between 1999 and 2005.
Ali Musaevich Taziev, also known as Akhmed Yevloev, Magomet Yevloyev, and Emir Magas; born 19 August 1974) is the former leader of both the Ingushetia-based Ingush Jamaat and as the military wing of the Caucasus Emirate. On 30 September 2006, Taziev was appointed to the post of commander of the Caucasian Front by the orders of Dokka Umarov. In July 2007, one year after Shamil Basayev’s death, Taziev became his official successor as the most high-ranking military commander in the rebel forces. He is believed to be personally responsible for the death of several local high-ranking security officials.
The Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis took place from 14 to 19 June 1995, when a group of 195 Chechen separatists led by Shamil Basayev attacked the southern Russian city of Budyonnovsk, some 110 kilometres (70 mi) north of the border with the breakaway Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. The attack resulted in a ceasefire between Russia and Chechen separatists, and peace talks between Russia and Ichkeria.
Abdul-Halim Abusalamovich Sadulayev was the fourth President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Sadulayev served little more than a full year as President before being killed in a gun battle with FSB and pro-Russian Chechen forces.
Nur-Pashi Aburkashevich Kulayev is a Russian terrorist and the sole survivor of the 32 hostage-takers in the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis. A native of Nozhay-Yurtovsky District, Chechnya, Kulayev was a 24-year-old unemployed carpenter at the time of the attack. His brother Han-Pashi Kulayev had formerly served as bodyguard for Shamil Basayev.
Vladimir Anatolievich Khodov was one of the leaders of the hostage-takers in the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis.
The 2005 raid on Nalchik was a raid by a large group of Islamic militants on Nalchik, in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic (KBR) of southern Russia, on 13 October 2005.
Hamzat (Ruslan) Gelayev (Russian: Хамзат Гелаев; Chechen: ГелагIеран Ӏабдулхьамидан воI Руслан, romanized: Gelaevhervan Abdul-Hamidan vol Ruslan was a prominent commander in the Chechen resistance movement against Russia, in which he played a significant, yet controversial, military and political role in the 1990s and early 2000s. Gelayev was commonly viewed as an abrek and a well-respected, ruthless fighter. His operations spread well beyond the borders of Chechnya and even outside the Russian Federation and into Georgia. He was killed while leading a raid into the Russian Republic of Dagestan in 2004.
Aleksandr Sergeyevich Dzasokhov is the former head of the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania.
Doku Khamatovich Umarov, also known as Dokka Umarov as well as by his Arabized name of Dokka Abu Umar, was a Chechen mujahid in North Caucasus. Umarov was a major military figure in both wars in Chechnya during the 1990s and 2000s, before becoming the leader of the greater insurgency in the North Caucasus. He was active mostly in south-western Chechnya, near and across the borders with Ingushetia and Georgia.
Mothers of Beslan or Beslan Mothers' Committee is a support and advocacy group of parents whose children were among the more than 1128 victims of the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis in North Ossetia–Alania. The group is led by chairwoman Susanna Dudiyeva and as of 2006 has nearly 200 members. Marina Litvinovich, who helped to create the Mothers, runs the website.
In June 2000, the North Caucasian Chechen separatist-led Chechen insurgents added suicide bombing to their tactics in their struggle against Russia. Since then, there have been dozens of suicide attacks within and outside the republic of Chechnya, resulting in thousands of casualties among Russian security personnel and civilians. The profiles of the suicide bombers have varied, as have the circumstances surrounding the bombings.
Galashki ambush took place of May 11, 2000, when the separatist militants from the group of Shamil Basayev, led by a Galashki native Ruslan Khuchbarov, attacked and destroyed a convoy of the Russian Interior Ministry paramilitary forces in the Republic of Ingushetia. The incident was the first major act of violence linked to the Second Chechen War in Ingushetia and the first major rebel raid outside the neighbouring Chechnya since war began in 1999.
Events from the year 2004 in Russia.
Riyad-us Saliheen was the name of a small "martyr" (shahid) force of suicide attackers. Its original leader (amir) was the Chechen separatist commander Shamil Basayev. In February and March 2003, the group was designated by the United States and subsequently by the United Nations as a terrorist organization. After several years of inactivity, Riyad-us Saliheen was reactivated by the Caucasus Emirate in 2009 under the command of Said Buryatsky; following his death, Aslan Byutukayev became its new leader.
