Questions were sent in while we were on the air at Echo of Moscow, most of which we were unable to answer. As I promised, I am answering these on the site. If anyone still has questions, please ask, and I will try to answer them.

Yekaterinburg | Tanya |

22:18 | 10.05.2007

I kiss your feet at your invaluable return and your holy strength; let happiness be yours once again! I have no words to express my enthusiasm at your being healed! Let all that is bright and dear come to you!

Reply:

Thanks

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Moscow | Irina | I live nearby

09:46 | 11.05.2007

How goes the investigation into the case of the deaths at Dubrovka? Have they brought to task the special services employees who conducted the operation?

Reply:

As was stated during the broadcast, the investigation is endlessly continuing. With regards to the actions of the special services, the decision to close the criminal case was made on 16.10.2003.

Moscow | Serafima | a listener of ‘Echo’

13:27 | 11.05.2007

Svetlana, what kind of assistance is the government giving to the victims of ‘Nord-Ost’? Have they paid any compensation, are there rehabilitation centers?

Reply:

Many mistakenly believe that sums of compensation were paid immediately after the tragedy. In reality, a one-time payment of material assistance was made (Moscow city government order 1645-RP, dated 28.10.2002). Compensation received by the victims had to be achieved through the courts, and the specifics can be found on the website under the section: “lawsuits by the victims for damages”.

As far as the organization of medical assistance to the casualties, you can find this out from Anna Rudnitskaya’s article: “Non-Stockholm Syndromes”.

Petersburg | Agnia | a relative of one who died at Kashirsk (apartment blasts)

13:31 | 11.05.2007

Svetlana, as far as I know, you maintain close contact with ‘The Beslan Mothers’. Do you have cooperative actions? If so, how do authorities react to this? Don’t they break it up?

Reply:

We answered this on the air. In addition, I can give you a link to articles on our picket: “Nord-Ost gets locked up”, and our joint press conference: “Terror act casualties: They lie to us!”

On April 18th of this year Novaya Gazeta published our appeal to the leadership of Russia.

Chelyabinsk | Alexey | businessman

13:49 | 11.05.2007

Tell me, have you ever thought that, other than Putin and the “bloody KBG”, that anyone else could be at fault, for example, the Chechen beasts that would not have thought twice about blowing you up and treated you like sheep? Purely by accident you ended up in a war. There are always those who die in war. Should 28 of (FSB director) Panfilov’s people also go to court?

Reply:

I have never doubted the guilt of the terrorists, and I have always said this to the journalists. I will not repeat myself, but I will quote from a report on the quality of the investigation that was conducted, a report of which I am also a co-author: “The authors do not aim to justify the terrorists, their guilt is evident and beyond the shadow of a doubt. However, this tragedy once again has demonstrated the relationship of the Russian authorities have towards the observation of human rights while conducting a special operation, in the course of investigating the act of terrorism, and during judicial hearings of lawsuits brought by the casualties and victims in defense of their rights and interests.”

To compare the deaths of peaceful residents at a theater with the loss of soldiers during a war, in my view, is incorrect. In selecting materials for the site, I found an article in which they described the delivery of the poisoned hostages to the first municipal hospital:

“No one paid any attention to the common, khaki-colored UAZ minivan that drove up to the department at about 9 a.m. Those who brought it there did not know that there was an open door on the side of the building for personnel, and so they beat against the locked doors of the receiving area for a long time.

“At last the doors were opened, and they, in turn, opened the doors of their vehicle. The department workers’ hair stood on end: inside the 12-seat UAZ were stacked – one cannot put it any other way – one on top of another, 30 (THIRTY) casualties. Motionless. Without gunshot wounds. Those who had rode up front in the van did not say anything about the character of the injuries.

“Soon it was determined that several had died in the vehicle. Not from the gas, but from being crushed under bodies. At the very bottom was a 13-year-old girl. Her diagnosis: crushed to death.”

This 13-year-old girl was my daughter. Who is guilty in organizing the “rescue” of the hostages in SUCH a way? The terrorists?

Moscow, Russia | Alexey | economist

15:32 | 11.05.2007

I wish to beg forgiveness from Svetlana Gubareva and Dmitry Milovidov for the tactless question of Alexey (businessman) from Chelyabinsk. I sympathize with your grief and I hope that the sooner or later the Russian public will achieve a detailed investigation into the events, including the actions (and inactions) of Mr. Putin, who, according to the Russian Constitution, is obligated to guarantee the rights of the citizens of Russia, the most important of which is the right to life.

Reply:

Thank you for your understanding and sympathy. In affirmation of my position, I would like to quote from Anatoly Kovler, who was selected by Russia to be a member of the European Court of Human Rights. He stated that “human rights are higher than national interests” and that “human rights in their value hold the very top place in the Russian Constitution” (from an article by Leonid Nikitinksy in Novaya Gazeta).

Moscow | Mikhail Demidov | artist

15:48 | 11.05.2007

Doesn’t it seem to you that the Chechen Republic, not the Moscow mayor’s office, should pay compensation for the casualties at Dubrovka?

Reply:

In government, laws determine life. In Russia there existed federal law 130-F3, dated 25.07.1998 (in our case the phrase “was in effect” does not quite describe it). Article 17 of this law (with amendments and supplements on 30.06.2003) read:

“1. Compensation for damage caused as a result of a terrorist act is to be made from the budget of the subject state of the Russian Federation in which the terrorist act is performed, with the amount of the stated sums of compensation to be taken from those persons who caused the damage, as determined by civil-procedural legislation…”

“3. Compensation for damage caused to foreign citizens as a result of a terrorist act performed within the territory of the Russian Federation is to be made from the federal budget, with the amount of the stated sums of compensation to be taken from those persons who caused the damage”.

Petersburg | Dasha | college student

16:04 | 11.05.2007

Svetlana, every community attracts certain lamebrains, as well as those who do not wish to share your grief. A certain percentage of those are even on this forum, but the majority is against the two.

Reply:

Dasha, I thank you for your support. However, I would not call these people “lamebrains” only because their point of view differs from my own – everyone has a right to view a situation in their own way. It seems to me that it is bad for a person to base their opinion only on emotions, without any knowledge of the situation or the laws of the land in which they live.

Moscow | Kristina | salesgirl

16:48 | 11.05.2007

Do you have any hate for the terrorists who caused the situation in which your loved ones died? Or is there only pain remaining?

Reply:

Hate is a destructive human feeling. And what point is there in hating the dead? Besides those who came to the theater, there are still those who thought up, organized, and financed this crime. And there are those who made the decision to use gas while failing to organize medical assistance.

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