Maxim was born on February 9th, 1982, in the city of Cheboksary.  He grew up a well developed, and obedient little boy.  He never cried and was not even capricious.  In school he got 4’s and 5’s (B’s and A’s), and several times he participated in the school Olympiads in various subjects, taking honors and awards.  After 8th grade he was accepted to the Chuvashsko-Turkish school, through intense competition — 25 students had applied for each slot.  He attended school with great pleasure, and showed a keen interest in languages.

Maxim also graduated from music school, studying piano and the accordion, and was a good singer, participating in shows where he played the main roles, as well as the Azamat dance ensemble.  He loved chess and participated in sports.  At 14, to increase his stamina, Maxim would pour cold water over himself according to the Ivanov method.

After the Turkish school, Maxim applied right away to three institutes of higher learning: the College of Foreign Languages at Chuvashky University, the FSB academy, and the Moscow military university.  Every school accepted him, but he selected the later, since he wanted to study Eastern languages.

At Moscow he was outclassed, but soon overtook his classmates by a wide margin.  One foreign languages instructor, who had mastered 14 languages, said that he was ready to leave the university, but, upon meeting Maxim, he decided the stay.  He gave individual lessons to the cadet so that the young man would not lose interest in his studies.  According to the instructor, never before had he seen such a gifted student.  The English-language instructor at the military university used to call Maxim “the extraterrestrial”.  She was amazed at Maxim’s kind and sympathetic character, and his many interests, since he enjoyed books, the theater, and sports.  “Young people like this these days are very rare,” said the instructor.

Maxim’s range of interests was really unusually great.  With great pleasure, he would go to the theater, museums, and even automobile shows.  He knew backwards and forwards all the different makes and models, and their characteristics, just as if he had memorized a multiplication table.  Since 3rd grade, Maxim did translations.  He had long-time girlfriend pen pals in Greece and Trinidad-Tobago.  They probably still do not know why he stopped writing.

The last time Maxim came home to Cheboksary, during summer vacation in 2002, to his parents he seemed to have grown up.  The young man shared his plans with his loved ones: he said that he would travel to Greece during his next vacation, then later to another country, and so on, every year.  He very much wanted to see the world.  Maxim was in a big hurry to live, as if he wanted to do everything, to bind the boundless.  Maxim never offended anyone, not even in word.  On the contrary, he always tried to help others.  They say that such a type is “a bright and open person”, and that only positive energy flows from him.

On October 23rd, 2002, for success in his studies, Maxim was given a ticket to the musical ‘Nord-Ost’, which was playing at the theatrical center on Dubrovka.  At the beginning of the second act hostages were taken.  Sitting next to Maxim was Kseniya Lomina.  We know about the last days and hours of Maxim’s life from this woman, who said: “Maxim conducted himself like a real man.  He remained calm, self-assured, and showed strong self-control.  He helped the people sitting nearby, and never let their morale fall.  He did crossword puzzles and demonstrated his outstanding knowledge.  There were children nearby, and in order to get food and water from the gunmen, one had to raise their hand and ask.  The children were afraid to talk with the captors, so Maxim did this for them.  I was very frightened that the gunmen would blow us up and shared my worry with Maxim.  To this he replied: all right, just so long as we aren’t handicapped.  I had a cell phone, and I offered it to Maxim so that he could call home, but he refused – he didn’t want to upset anyone.”

Maxim Mitin could have left the auditorium; after all, the gunmen released foreigners and Moslems.  With his complete knowledge of English and Turkish, he could have pretended to be this.  But Maxim stayed; he did not want to abandon those alongside him in the auditorium.  In their time there they had become friends, and supported one another as best they could.  Maxim, apparently, decided that leaving his comrades in misfortune would have been betrayal on his part.