Russian updates. ( including text of hostage crises= 67 dead and police used unspecified stun gas).

national | miscellaneous | news report

Saturday October 26, 2002 12:52

by €

ipsiphi23 at email dot com

For more information contact Amnesty Dublin 00 353 1 677 63 61

As readers will know (Because Pat C. told them on IMC newswire 24th October) Alexey Simonov of the Glasnost Defence Foundation, will speak at Buswells Hotel, Molesworth Street, Wednesday 30 October 2002 (Entry: Free) This is to mark the launching of a campaign by Amnesty International on the Russian Federation.

It has been reported on international newswires that the recent hostage crises in Moscow has been ended.
http://reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=topnews&StoryID=1637105

Indymedia was only able to provide a few Translations of information which left the Russian federation.
These can be found (with basic English translations) http://www.germany.indymedia.org/2002/10/32122.shtml

Translations:
http://fets3.freetranslation.com:5081/?Sequence=core&Language=German%2FEnglish&Url=http://de.indymedia.org/2002/10/32122.shtml

and
http://russia.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=3489&group=webcast

Russian indymedia have also produced translations.

http://www.russia.indymedia.org

"Paris, 24 October 2002 - The Chechnya Committee and the FIDH firmly condemn the action perpetrated, on 23 October, by an armed commando of Chechnya Independence fighters who have taken hostage hundreds of people in a Moscow theatre"
FIDH = Federation of Human Rights.
(a group in the former Soviet Union states working for human rights and press freedoms).

Swedish indymedia is still off line due to technical reasons, so the quality of reporting has admittedly been poor nor can the neutrality of opinions expressed be guaranteed.

If you don´t go through the links at least consider these words attributed to "an old man" by the Reuters correspondent;

one bystander, Igor Konstantinov, in his 60s, was in no doubt about what he thought.

"Putin has only one choice. (U.S. President George W.) Bush showed the world what to do with these bastards after September 11. It's Putin's turn to liquidate them in Russia."

..."Putin links Russia's conflict in Chechnya to the U.S.-led global war on terrorism, which he enthusiastically backed after last year's September 11 attacks on the United States."

other websites (though unvouched for include):
http://bliznetsy.ru/
http://adresa.ru/

Russian police have also been reported to have used a non-lethal gas to stun the hostage takers.
information on "non-lethal" weapons including gas may be found at;
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/non-lethal.htm
and
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-05/ns-nwk050802.php
(which is a reprint of a New Scientist article of May 11th).

Please don´t forget that for the forthcoming Prague NATO meeting of 46 heads of state, Czech police have been bolstered by an investment of 350 million KC on police gear.
It is suspected non-lethal gas may be used for the first "official" time in Prague. [Before they finally join the EU].

http://www.praguepost.com/P03/2002/Art/1023/news1.php