... in response to I withdraw all of my prior opinions..., posted by robobond on Oct 27, 2002[This message has been edited by robobond]
"MOSCOW (Oct. 28) - Russia on Monday mourned those who died when troops stormed a theater seized by Chechen gunmen, but the Kremlin was criticized for the gas it used to disable the rebels and which killed more than 100 of their captives.
The government has so far refused to name the gas which special troops used to knock out the rebels on Saturday morning before they could detonate explosives strapped to their bodies in the Moscow theater they seized three days earlier.
Moscow's top doctor Andrei Seltsovsky said 646 hostages were still in hospital -- 150 in intensive care, 45 of them in a grave condition.
Flags were ordered flown at half mast and light entertainment was canceled in the city of more than 10 million. Wednesday's Champions' League match in Moscow between Spartak Moscow and FC Basel was canceled as a mark of respect.
Passersby placed fresh flowers and candles in plastic glasses outside the theater where the hostages were held for three days by the Chechen suicide squad. Fifty, or nearly all of them, were killed in Sunday's assault.
President Vladimir Putin apologized within hours of the predawn operation on Saturday for proving unable to save all hostages.
But initial relief was replaced by doubts about the mysterious gas as the death toll mounted over the weekend.
''They poisoned us like cockroaches,'' a woman quoted her daughter as saying in Kommersant daily.
One doctor expressed frustration at being powerless to help survivors.
''I saw no gunshot wounds at all. Those who died had swallowed their vomit or their tongue or their hearts had stopped,'' he told the Nezavisimaya Gazet daily.
''If only we had known beforehand! If they had told us that we would be getting large numbers who had lost consciousness or heart failure, it might have been a bit different.''
QUESTIONS OVER RUSSIA-EU SUMMIT
Question marks were also raised about a Russia-European Union summit scheduled for November 11 in Copenhagen.
A Danish text television service reported that the meeting could be moved to Brussels because of protests by Putin over a Copenhagen meeting by Chechen exiles planned for Monday.
Early reports said around 10 hostages had died, suggesting the operation was more successful than had seemed possible.
But then the death toll hit 67, then over 90, before reaching 117 on Sunday. Only two died from gunshots.
Asked what had killed the other 115, Seltsovsky said: ''The effects of the gas exposure.''
The injuries and deaths followed the seizure of a Moscow concert hall on Wednesday night by armed Chechen rebels, bent on forcing Russia to withdraw from their republic.
For Putin, the rising toll was an uncomfortable reminder of two other tragedies which have blighted his term of office.
In August 2000, the nuclear submarine Kursk sank after a torpedo exploded on board, killing 118. Putin was widely criticized for a perceived failure to act decisively then.
A helicopter was shot down over Chechnya in August with a similar number of deaths, despite Putin's repeated claims that the Chechen war, launched in September 1999 -- months ahead of his election as president -- was all but over.
It was after guerrillas shot two hostages dead early on Saturday that crack Alfa troops stormed the theater, first pumping in the gas. Officials said the gas was to stop women fighters seated among the 750 hostages detonating explosives.
The storm troops then took on the remaining rebels in the rooms and corridors of the second floor in close-quarter combat.
Televised scenes of desperate relatives clamoring outside hospitals for news of their loved ones and being pushed back by police will also have done little to boost Putin's image.
AN ANESTHETIC?
A failure to identify the gas -- and claims that it was similar to anesthetics used in surgery -- also reinforced a long-standing image of Russian secrecy and disinformation.
Dr. Peter Hutton, head of Britain's Royal College of Anesthetists, said he knew of no medical anesthetic gas that could have been used in the way the gas was used in Moscow.
''It's almost certainly something that's developed, owned, and used only by the military,'' he said.
Paul Beaver, of the London-based security and defense consultancy Ashbourne Beaver Associates, said the operation would be considered a success in military terms, defined as fewer than 30 percent casualties.
But he said most military gases have antidotes and it may have been a flaw in planning if the attack was launched without making sure there was enough antidote to treat freed hostages.
Russia now faces possible strains in relations with its partners as it continues to portray its Chechen policy as an antiterrorist operation along the lines of the U.S.-led coalition against the al Qaeda network in Afghanistan.
On Sunday, the Foreign Ministry summoned France's ambassador to complain about a pro-Chechen rally in Paris.
REUTERS Reut03:43 10-28-02
Copyright 2002 Reuters Limited"
