Moscow city council members declare themselves heroes of the Dubrovka rescue operation

Last week, the country learned the names of some unknown ‘Nord-Ost’ heroes. 35 members of the Moscow city parliament — the entire city council — were awarded commemorative badges in the form of a cross with the words “participant in the special operation.” The raid participants felt a bit uncomfortable, to say the least, as it turns out that the award was either not given to some, or not all of the heroes.

The ‘Nord-Ost’ badge is a cross with gold piping and security service logos, and looks very similar to a medal. It is a pleasure to hold in ones hands, and, obviously, the cross will look very nice on these parliamentarians’ suit jackets.

The 35 Moscow city council members awarded themselves for their participation in the Dubrovka hostage rescue operation. It happened at their last meeting on the initiative of council member Sergei Goncharov, president of the Association of ‘Alpha’ Unit Veterans, as a sign of respect, from the veterans to the council members. “These are people who we believe made a contribution that helped the commando units conduct a successful operation,” said Sergey Goncharov.

Council members accepted the award, and were confident that they deserved to be included on a list with commandos who stormed the Dubrovka theater complex. “We worked honestly and conscientiously to solve the problem. After all, we didn’t just come up with some nonsense about who did more, and who less. The Moscow city council worked as a collective body,” said council member Alexander Kovalev. “All for one.”

In order not to hurt anyone’s feelings, everyone received a badge of honor, even those who were at that time abroad on business. According to council member and ‘Alpha’ group veteran Sergey Goncharov, the Moscow city council during those tragic days displayed heroism that was fit to be judged according to the laws of war.

“If a military unit is located in some area and participates in a special operation that was judged highly successful, it is assigned the title ‘Guards’ and, regardless of whether or not a soldier at the time was in the trenches or in the hospital, he still gets the badge and becomes a member of the Guards unit,” said Sergey Goncharov.

Moscow rescue service officer Alexander Shabalov discussed how the Guards / council members helped to rescue hostages. “I saw for myself how buses full of seriously-ill patients couldn’t get through (the traffic),” he said. “All the streets were lined with cars with flashing lights, though these weren’t operational vehicles, but officials, council members who had come to see and be seen.”

A real scandal broke out, since among the winners was the mayor of Moscow. Luzhkov’s memorial badge was prepared bearing the number one, though there has been no opportunity to present it, since the mayor’s office considers it to be inappropriate. “I have no comments on this subject,” said Mayor Luzhkov. “The city government has nothing to do with it, and you would be better off asking the council members.”

Comments from the mayor’s representative in the Moscow city council, Anatoly Petrov, were more categorical. According to him, council members put themselves in a very awkward position. “This was not beneficial for the Moscow city council,” he said. “Council members normally don’t portray themselves in such a manner.

Members of the Russian federal parliament were quick to disown the commemorative badge, though some had been preparing to give themselves awards without consent. “I just can’t find the words,” said parliament member Valery Draganov. "I think it’s nuts. It’s simply immoral. Even my name ended up mentioned as a potential recipient. I’d like to warn everybody that this is no laughing matter.”

For those who negotiated with the terrorists, the roll of honor in itself also raises many questions. Joseph Kobzon was surprised to learn of the award. “There was this civic impulse felt by all of society,” he said. “So let’s come up with a medal and award it to every citizen of Russia.” After the scandal, some council members insisted that they could not understand why they accepted this badge of honor. Yevgeny Bunimovich said that he was given the cross a few minutes before the end of a meeting. “I think that, in this situation, we should just shrug our shoulders, deal with our discomfort, and move on,” he said.

In the near future, Moscow city council members would like to get together and decide what to do about the awards, and most importantly — can they fully consider themselves to be heroes?

By Alexander Rogatkin, in ‘Vesti Nedeli’
March 2nd, 2003
http://www.vesti7.ru/news?id=1944

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