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CNN Live At Daybreak

Russia's Hostage Crisis Aftermath

Aired October 28, 2002 - 06:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: To the mourning in Moscow. Flags are flying at half-staff, as the nation remembers the more than 100 people killed in a hostage crisis. All of the deaths were caused by a mysterious knock-out gas used by government forces to end the raid.
Let's go live again to Moscow. Our Matthew Chance is at the theater with more.

Good morning -- Matthew. And we still don't know what exactly this gas was, do we?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is still no indication of that. Certainly, the Moscow authorities, though, are coming under a lot of pressure to reveal exactly what that substance was. They have referred to it variously as a special substance, as a sleeping gas. Officials at the Ministry of Health have said it was some kind of anesthetic that was pumped into the theater auditorium by Russian Special Forces in the moments before those troops stormed the place.

And let me just bring you up-to-date on where I'm coming to you from, though. It's the location outside of the theater. It was the scene of that very dramatic hostage crisis.

It's now the place where the Muscovites, the people of Moscow, have come to pay their last respects to the many innocent people who lost their lives there. You can see some people have come to lay flowers. Some of those people are very clearly upset. Others have lost members of their families, loved ones, friends, in this hostage crisis.

Some hostages themselves have also been coming here as well. That very heavy loss of life -- figures confirmed to us now by Russian officials, 117 of the hostages, 750 were freed; 117 were killed as a result, it turns out, of this mystery gas, as we've said, was pumped into the auditorium by the Russian authorities.

COSTELLO: Matthew, I just had a question for you. Why isn't the Russian government coming out and saying what this gas was?

CHANCE: Well, it is strange, because they are coming under a lot of pressure, as I say, for them to do that. But there was a lot of speculation around as to what their reasons are; perhaps they just want to keep their exact military tactics secret at this stage. They say it was a military operation, and therefore, military-style secrecy should surround the exact details of it.

There is speculation as well, though, that this was some kind of -- possibly some kind of nerve agent of the type that was developed during the Cold War. And if that is the case, then it would violate, perhaps, chemical weapons treaties signed by Russia, as well as other counties in the international community.

And so, there is a possibility that it could be that, but at the moment now, it's just not clear why the Russians aren't being up front with that information.

COSTELLO: Yes, your heart goes out to all of those people behind you waiting to see how their relatives are doing -- and friends.

Thank you, Matthew Chance, for that live update from Moscow.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired October 28, 2002 - 06:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: To the mourning in Moscow. Flags are flying at half-staff, as the nation remembers the more than 100 people killed in a hostage crisis. All of the deaths were caused by a mysterious knock-out gas used by government forces to end the raid.
Let's go live again to Moscow. Our Matthew Chance is at the theater with more.

Good morning -- Matthew. And we still don't know what exactly this gas was, do we?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is still no indication of that. Certainly, the Moscow authorities, though, are coming under a lot of pressure to reveal exactly what that substance was. They have referred to it variously as a special substance, as a sleeping gas. Officials at the Ministry of Health have said it was some kind of anesthetic that was pumped into the theater auditorium by Russian Special Forces in the moments before those troops stormed the place.

And let me just bring you up-to-date on where I'm coming to you from, though. It's the location outside of the theater. It was the scene of that very dramatic hostage crisis.

It's now the place where the Muscovites, the people of Moscow, have come to pay their last respects to the many innocent people who lost their lives there. You can see some people have come to lay flowers. Some of those people are very clearly upset. Others have lost members of their families, loved ones, friends, in this hostage crisis.

Some hostages themselves have also been coming here as well. That very heavy loss of life -- figures confirmed to us now by Russian officials, 117 of the hostages, 750 were freed; 117 were killed as a result, it turns out, of this mystery gas, as we've said, was pumped into the auditorium by the Russian authorities.

COSTELLO: Matthew, I just had a question for you. Why isn't the Russian government coming out and saying what this gas was?

CHANCE: Well, it is strange, because they are coming under a lot of pressure, as I say, for them to do that. But there was a lot of speculation around as to what their reasons are; perhaps they just want to keep their exact military tactics secret at this stage. They say it was a military operation, and therefore, military-style secrecy should surround the exact details of it.

There is speculation as well, though, that this was some kind of -- possibly some kind of nerve agent of the type that was developed during the Cold War. And if that is the case, then it would violate, perhaps, chemical weapons treaties signed by Russia, as well as other counties in the international community.

And so, there is a possibility that it could be that, but at the moment now, it's just not clear why the Russians aren't being up front with that information.

COSTELLO: Yes, your heart goes out to all of those people behind you waiting to see how their relatives are doing -- and friends.

Thank you, Matthew Chance, for that live update from Moscow.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.