“What condition are Ukrainian citizens in? When will they be able to come back home?”
“The condition varies in severity from serious to mild. We know which hospitals house 32 out of 39 of our people. As of Monday night, eighteen had been discharged. Relatives have already taken some of them. Out of the 32 identified Ukrainians, 17 citizens of Ukraine reside permanently in Moscow and the rest are Ukrainian residents. Two citizens of Ukraine employed at the Dubrovka Theatrical Center were found dead at a morgue. Identification is very difficult. As of yesterday, only 55 out of the 177 were identified. It was also found that some Russian citizens had called themselves Ukrainians when rumor spread that Ukrainians would get a better deal. Today (the interview was taken yesterday morning — Ed.) we are getting ready for the first batch to be sent home. The problems now being solved relate to medical treatment of and clothing for our citizens. We are cooperating in this matter with the Russian authorities. Yet, the bulk of the job is being done by our embassy in Moscow. The Ukrainian government has appropriated funds for this. It should be noted that some individuals lost their documents. So we urged border guards not to hinder these people from crossing the border.”
“How effective do you think cooperation has been between the Russian and Ukrainian leaderships during the hostage liberation operation? Did the Russians coordinate their actions with the Ukrainian authorities when they decided to storm the theatrical center?”
“No actions related to storming can be coordinated with anybody; absolutely nobody can be informed about the operation. As to our citizens, cooperation was set up at the very beginning at the level of foreign ministries in order to find ways of releasing our compatriots. It is worth recalling that some tried to act on their own in this situation. Obviously, their actions were aimed at liberating the hostages. But, from the viewpoint of professionals, such steps are not admissible. It was clear to the professionals that the terrorists would not set free a great number of hostages, including the Ukrainians. The separate steps, not coordinated with the Russian authorities, appeared propagandistic. Separate attempts have never been useful when citizens of different countries were taken hostage. Thus, the contacts of somebody — for example, of the citizens of Ukraine on the request of the citizens of Ukraine with the terrorists in the theater or with those who masterminded them without coordination with the Russians — would have been unambiguously viewed as dangerous operations.”
“Can we say the operation was successful, given so many casualties?”
“The question should be put differently. What consequences would there have been if the operation had not been conducted? The terrorists said they were Islamic kamikazes: they mined the premises, girded themselves up with explosives, and emphasized they would rather die than leave. Obviously, a successful operation is one that cost no lives. Otherwise, such an appraisal is dubious. So we can only discuss here whether the Russian special forces acted properly. We must wait until this kind of analysis has been made. I do not think it would be good for us to evaluate the special forces’ actions when the overwhelming majority of our citizens managed to survive.”
“What international consequences could the Moscow tragedy have?”
“I believe it will further reinforce and activate the antiterrorist coalition.”
“Do you think Moscow might toughen its stand on Chechnya?”
“These things can’t be linked. There are so many examples of this being an international phenomenon. All countries should make a concerted effort to combat terrorism. The question that arises is understanding the causes of terrorism. The problem of worldwide poverty, globalization, and identification of the so-called golden billion (who live far better than the rest of the world’s inhabitants — Ed.) is a matter of a painstaking and multifaceted research. Countries should join forces not only at the level of secret services. Even such big countries as the US and Russia, with the world’s most powerful secret services at hand, failed to thwart terrorist acts either on their own or in cooperation with each other. What is today on the agenda is the cohesion of forces at the regional level and within the UN framework to stamp out the causes of terrorism (the disparity in economic and living standards etc.). All this is far more difficult to do than organize the cooperation of secret services.”
