Russia marks today the 20th anniversary of the bloody attack on a school in Beslan, they said world agencies, writes BTA. Terrorists attacked a school in Beslan in the Russian Caucasus on September 1, 2004 and took the students, teachers and parents there hostage. The attack ended with the death of 334 people, including 186 children, which shocked the entire country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was also in power 20 years ago, visited the school in Beslan this year on August 20. It was his first visit there. During it, he compared the mass murder of 20 years ago with the Ukrainian military offensive in Russia's Kursk region, France Press recalls.
If we have to go back to the events of September 1, 2004, they unfolded as follows. On the day of the beginning of the school year in Russia, an armed group composed of Chechens and Ingush entered the First School in Beslan in the Republic of North Ossetia and took more than 1,000 people hostage. The crisis lasted over 50 hours. People were kept in cruel conditions, without water. Some of them were executed.
On September 3, 2004, two explosions rang out in the school's gym, causing panic. The children started to run, and the attackers opened fire on them. The explosions, the source of which has not yet been fully established, forced Russian special forces, who surrounded the school, to launch a chaotic attack that ended in a horrific bloodbath - 334 killed, of which 186 were children, and more than 750 wounded, France Press summarizes.
This is the bloodiest attack in the history of Russia. It was carried out at the time of the Second Chechen War. In this conflict, Russian forces against the Chechen rebels were ultimately victorious. However, Russian forces are accused of having massacred tens of thousands of civilians in Chechnya, adds AFP
The attack in Beslan marks the peak of atrocities committed within the framework of the two Chechen wars (1994-1996 and 1999-2009).
The poor management of the crisis in Beslan and the almost complete lack of negotiations with the attackers has given rise to protests led in particular by the Committee of Beslan Mothers. In 2005, the protesters succeeded in one of their demands - the resignation of the leader of North Ossetia, Alexander Dzasokhov.
In 2017, the European Court of Human Rights declared that the Russian authorities had taken insufficient measures to prevent the attack and blamed them for the disproportionate use of force during the storming of the school. The court ordered Moscow to pay more than 3 million euros to 409 applicants, including former hostages from Beslan and relatives of the victims.
Today there are memorial ceremonies for the victims of the tragedy two years ago. During one of them, former students who survived the attack gathered in the school yard, lined up by class and carrying the portraits of their slain classmates and other victims. Afterwards, the survivors laid flowers and placed candles in the former gym, which is now a memorial to the victims. The committee of mothers from Beslan is giving a press conference today.
During his visit to Beslan on August 20, Putin stated: "Just as we fought against terrorists, we must today fight against those who commit crimes in Kursk Oblast and Donbass". In his speech, he again brought up the topic of "denazification" of Ukraine.
On March 22 this year in the Moscow region in the concert hall "Crocus City Hall" a bloody attack took place in which 145 people died and hundreds were injured. Russian authorities accused Kiev of playing a role in the attack, although Islamic State quickly claimed responsibility for it. But Russian authorities continued to believe that Kiev was involved along with its Western allies, who categorically denied any involvement in this attack, recalls AFP.