Russian press raises rescue questions

The mounting death toll has stunned Russia

Russia now has its own 11 September which should unite the nation, says the moderate Russian daily Izvestiya says in its Monday edition.

But the nation is far from united, amid mounting press criticism of the authorities' actions in the wake of the rescue operation.

The operation is not complete until the very last hostage is handed over to his family.

Izvestiya

Izvestiya deplores the authorities' unwillingness to issue definitive lists of victims and survivors, or to allow hospital visits even for relatives.

"Russian citizens are quite sane," it states. "In dealing with them one need not stoop to vulgar totalitarianism, police repression or disparaging hushing-up and half-truths."

"The operation is not complete until the very last hostage is handed over to his family," the daily says.

Russian chemical expert Lev Fedorov gave Izvestiya his assessment of the operation.

Evidently the troops storming the auditorium did not provide treatment to anyone inside

Lev Fedorov
Chemical expert

"The troops storming the theatre achieved their aim in the sense that they put the auditorium to sleep and shot their adversaries,"he told the paper.

"The hostages had to be rescued quickly. And evidently the troops storming the auditorium did not provide treatment to anyone inside. A few people were given an antidote once they were outside, but others weren't."

Another medical expert told Izvestiya that in his opinion, it was vital for those administering first aid to know straightaway which toxic substance they were dealing with.

The liberal daily Vremya Novostey also criticises the authorities' "unwillingness, inability and dread of simply talking to people".

It beggars belief that in his Saturday address to the nation, President Putin failed to mention Chechnya at all as if the war there has nothing to do with what happened

Moskovskiy Komsomolets

The paper says it is universally accepted that the events on Melnikov Street ended in tragedy - by yesterday the death toll among the hostages was already more than 100, and today or tomorrow, in the opinion of the specialists, it could be close to 150.

However, the professionals are unanimous in declaring the operation carried out in Moscow to have been a complete success, it says.

While most papers almost spare the Russian president from criticism, the popular daily Moskovskiy Komsomolets directly attacks him.

"It beggars belief that in his Saturday address to the nation, President Putin failed to mention Chechnya at all as if the war there has nothing to do with what happened," it says.

"If you refuse to accept the truth, if you treat the consequences of the disease and not its cause, you will never be cured," warns Moskovskiy Komsomolets.

Antidote theory

The paper also quotes several sources in the special services as saying that juice taken to the hostages by parliamentarians had a substance mixed into it, without their knowledge, that was supposed to alleviate the toxic effects of the gas.

It cannot be ruled out that those hostages who recovered more quickly than the others had drunk that juice, the paper says.

The liberal weekly Novaya Gazeta, meanwhile, says Russia has to change its attitude to Chechnya.

It believes that the question is not whether an end is put to the war as this "will have to happen" but it is rather how.

"To begin this difficult process, to show political will and a desire for peace," it says, "one political statement from the Russian president will be enough".

However, "it will have to be a statement that leaves no room for ambiguity, no room for turning back".

This should be followed by a truly free and fair election in Chechnya and, much as Russia is opposed to it, the arrival of an international peacekeeping force.

It says this "will make it possible to achieve the dual task of withdrawing the troops and disarming the guerrillas".

'Siege mentality'

And another article in Izvestiya reflects on the lessons to be drawn from the tragedy.

"We can become a nation united in the face of a shared disaster - terrorism," it says.

"But that demands that we show not only courage but also civic responsibility, discipline and, most importantly, have real and effective democracy.

"We should win this war without introducing a state of war. To do that would be a national catastrophe and the terrorists would achieve their aim: pistol-whipping the Russian nation into a state of siege mentality."

The press review was compiled by BBC Monitoring.