Patrushev, who previously headed the FSB, blamed the deaths of the Nord-Ost hostages on MChS rescuers who “lost their bearings”

Patrushev (who previously headed the FSB) blamed the deaths of the Nord-Ost hostages on MChS rescuers who “lost their bearings” (it was headed by Shoigu at the time)

I want to emphasize that the FSB units worked professionally. But the other services did not have that same coordination. The fact is that after the terrorists were eliminated, all the hostages were supposed to receive the necessary assistance. That assistance was supposed to be provided by the rescue services that entered the auditorium after the special forces. But they lost their bearings. As a result, not all the victims were injected with the antidote, while some of the hostages received a double dose. That is what led to the losses,

said Russian presidential aide Nikolai Patrushev in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

According to Patrushev, who headed the FSB at the time of the attack and oversaw the assault, “there should not have been any losses.” He also said that the assault itself went according to plan, since “the bandits failed to detonate a single explosive device.”

In October 2002, terrorists took more than 900 people hostage at the Dubrovka theater center in Moscow, where the musical Nord-Ost was being performed. The building was stormed using sleeping gas. The terrorists were killed. According to official figures, 130 hostages died, mainly because of the effects of the gas.

At the time of the Dubrovka attack, the MChS was headed by Sergei Shoigu. Lately, he has lost a great deal of his influence in government.

@meduzalive