Moscow hostages tell their story

Outside hospital gates there is mounting anger

By Sarah Rainsford BBC Moscow correspondent

Through the imposing iron gates of Hospital 13, a mother calls out for her son, her voice shaking with emotion.

"How do you feel sweetheart?" shouts Yelena, and young Alesha smiles encouragement from his top floor window.

The women were the most threatening, with their black veils - only their eyes were visible. They cried that their sons and husbands were being killed in Chechnya and now we would share their fate

Relatives of the hostages are being stopped here at the hospital gates. But for Yelena, this short sighting is enough.

The last time she saw her son was on television.

His unconscious body slumped in a rescue bus rushing away from the scene of the siege.

"It is the first time I have seen my son alive. I am so happy," she says.

"He called from the theatre for two days while his phone battery worked. The last thing he told me was that he loved us all. That is when I thought it was really serious. But he is alive - that is the main thing."

Nightmare

As the crowd of relatives on the pavement grows, the first of the hostages starts to emerge - pale and bewildered.

Chemical expert Lev Fyodorov says this was a military operation using Cold War weapons

Zhenia tells me she was sitting in the eighth row when the nightmare began.

At first she thought it was part of the show. The rebels though proved to be deadly serious.

"The women were the most threatening, with their black veils - only their eyes were visible. They cried that their sons and husbands were being killed in Chechnya and now we would share their fate," she says.

"They didn't eat or sleep. They only gave us chocolates from the theatre buffet and we had to use the orchestra pit for a toilet."

Gas attack

By Friday night, Zhenia could sense her captors were becoming jumpy. Shots were fired, the atmosphere was tense. By the early hours, the gunmen were calmer and Zhenia dropped off to sleep.

"We were sitting, dozing. It was 5 o'clock or so in the morning and suddenly there was a strange smell. The last thing I heard was when the Chechens shouted: 'Turn on the air-conditioning - it is gas'."

As the former hostages began telling their tales, there came a startling admission from the authorities.

Moscow's Chief City doctor, Andrey Seltsovskiy revealed that almost all those who died were poisoned by the very gas meant to save them.

But there is still no official word on precisely what that gas was.

"This was a military operation using chemical weapons developed during the Cold War," says Russian chemical expert, Lev Fyodorov.

He says civilian doctors were utterly unprepared for what followed.

Even if the death toll rises, President Putin's popularity should remain intact

Hospitals were flooded with patients but doctors were not told exactly what they were fighting against.

"Their effect on children, the elderly and pregnant women is unpredictable. The troops entering the theatre would have taken the antidote. The rescue services should have given the same antidote to the hostages."

Anger

Outside Hospital 13 there is mounting anger - not though at this news.

These shouts of frustration are directed at a line of armed guards keeping patients from their loved ones.

Yet even in this crowd most believe there was little choice and that to use gas was the least worse option.

Even if the casualty figures continue to rise, President Vladimir Putin's popularity should remain intact.

He rose to power promising no mercy for terror and that is exactly what his supporters say he has demonstrated here.