Moscow theater hostage crisis

2002 Nord-Ost siege
Russian special forces storm the Dubrovka Theater during the 2002 Moscow hostage crisis.
Location	Moscow, Russia
Coordinates	55°43′33″N 37°40′24″E / 55.72583°N 37.67333°E / 55.72583; 37.67333Coordinates: 55°43′33″N 37°40′24″E / 55.72583°N 37.67333°E / 55.72583; 37.67333
Date	23–26 October 2002
Target	Dubrovka Theater
Attack type	Mass hostage taking
Deaths	At least 170 in total (including 133 hostages and 40 militants)
Non-fatal injuries	Over 700
Perpetrators	Riyadus-Saliheen IIPB SPIR Movsar Barayev (leader) Abu Bakar (deputy leader) Shamil Basayev (claimed responsibility for organization)
Motive	Independence for Chechnya and the withdrawal of Russian troops

The Moscow theater hostage crisis (also known as the 2002 Nord-Ost siege) was the seizure of a crowded Dubrovka Theater by 40 to 50 armed Chechens on 23 October 2002 that involved 850 hostages and ended with the death of at least 170 people. The attackers, led by Movsar Barayev, claimed allegiance to the Islamist militant separatist movement in Chechnya. They demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya and an end to the Second Chechen War.

Due to the layout of the theater, special forces would have had to fight through 30 metres (98 ft) of corridor and attack up a well defended staircase before they could reach the hall in which the hostages were held. The attackers had numerous explosives, with the most powerful in the center of the auditorium. After the murder of two female hostages two-and-a-half days in, Spetsnaz operators from Federal Security Service (FSB) Alpha and Vega Groups, supported by a Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) SOBR unit, pumped an undisclosed chemical agent into the building's ventilation system and began the rescue operation.

All 40 of the attackers were killed, with no casualties among Spetsnaz; about 130 hostages died, including nine foreigners, due to adverse reactions to the gas. All but two of the hostages who died during the siege were killed by the toxic substance pumped into the theater to subdue the militants. The use of the gas was widely condemned as heavy-handed, but the American and British governments deemed Russia's actions justifiable. Physicians in Moscow condemned the refusal to disclose the identity of the gas that prevented them from saving more lives. Some reports said the drug naloxone was successfully used to save some hostages, suggesting the gas was an opiate-based compound.