This is the documentary on the Russian Theater Crisis that took place October 23, 2002, Some 40 to 50 armed Chechens who claimed allegiance to the Islamist militant separatist movement in Chechnya took 850 hostages and demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya and an end to the Second Chechen War. The siege was officially led by Movsar Barayev. After a two-and-a-half day siege, Russian Alpha Group forces pumped an unknown chemical agent into the building's ventilation system and raided it.
During the raid, all 40 of the attackers were killed by Russian forces, and about 130 hostages died due to adverse reactions to the gas (including nine foreigners). All but two of the hostages who died during the siege were killed by the toxic substance pumped into the theater to subdue the militants.
