Muscovites accept deaths as a 'necessary evil'

Russia submitted to a day of mourning yesterday as Muscovites seemed to accept the loss of more than 120 people from the gas …

Russia submitted to a day of mourning yesterday as Muscovites seemed to accept the loss of more than 120 people from the gas deployed during the theatre siege as a "necessary evil". President Vladimir Putin announced that he would give his military forces extra powers to deal with terrorism and vowed that Russia would never give in to blackmail.

Scenes of grief surrounded the theatre itself. Lines of flowers laid out on the forecourt slowly grew yesterday, metres away from where scores of lifeless bodies had been dumped by rescue workers.

Mourners passed through police lines to leave wreaths. Few seemed to know the victims personally. All seemed stricken by communal grief.

"They should have told the doctors about the gas immediately," said Ms Tatiana Sorkhina, who did not know any of the victims. "The gas was necessary," she added, "as the crisis was ended quickly and could have been a lot scarier."

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She did not think there should be reprisals in Chechnya. "The Chechens are also a normal people, like the Russians. They are both good and bad."

Mr Viktor Pibovarov, who stood at the police theatre barricades for hours, said: "We have to start talking to the Chechens now. Russians want peace, not war. But Putin is from the KGB. He does not negotiate."

An old woman, who did not want to give her name, sobbed: "It is impossible to speak about this. I saw it all on TV. Such sorrow."

Roadblocks went up across Moscow yesterday, as police intensified security. Mr Putin, who has thus far escaped serious criticism of his decision to deploy the lethal nerve gas, continued his tough anti-terrorism rhetoric, which he laced with a note of sorrow for the casualties of the siege on Saturday.

Funerals for the victims will be financed by the state and families will each receive 100,000 roubles (€3,200) compensation.

Russian officials yesterday denied that "sarin or other poison gases" had been used to neutralise the Chechen commando group, but refused to give precise details.

The purpose of the special forces raid on a Moscow theatre on Saturday "was not to kill everyone and so the use of sarin or any other poison gas can be ruled out", the Russian presidency's senior medical official Mr Viktor Fominykh said.

"Consequently, it is not essential to know its composition exactly in order to provide treatment," he added. He had "no objective information" about the nature of the gas pumped into the theatre.

A total of 239 people were released from hospital yesterday while 405 others, including nine children, remained in care. More than 40 people remained critical.

The new measures announced for Russian forces were not outlined in any detail and appeared to be meant as a morale-booster on an official day of mourning. "International terrorism is becoming bolder, acting more cruelly and here and there around the world threats of the use of means comparable to weapons of mass destruction are heard," Mr Putin said.

"If anyone even tries to use such means in relation to our country, Russia will answer with measures adequate to the threat to the Russian Federation - in all places where the terrorists, the organisers of these crimes or their ideological or financial sponsors are located. I emphasise: wherever they may be."

Mr Putin showed signs of following a tougher line on the Chechen problem. "The tragic events in Moscow are over, but many problems remain. We are paying a heavy price for the weakness of the state and for inconsistent actions."

Russian officials also dismissed as unlikely future talks with Chechen's exiled elected president Mr Aslan Maskhadov, a position reiterated yesterday after a spokesman for Mr Maskhadov said he was ready for unconditional talks to end the conflict.

The pro-Kremlin media has tried to link last week's hostage-takers with Mr Maskhadov in a further effort to isolate him as a kind of Chechen Yasser Arafat, who is accused of not trying to combat terrorism seriously.

Politicians at both ends of the parliamentary spectrum called yesterday for new efforts to reach a political solution. Mr Gennadi Zyuganov, the leader of the communists, the main opposition party in the duma, said: "There is no military solution in Chechnya. The president should appoint a strong and experienced person as deputy prime minister to work out a new political and economic plan after consulting experts.

"When you have an economy which hasn't worked for 10 years and people who haven't been to school for 10 years and they have nothing to do but take up the gun, you won't resolve things by military means," he added.

The communist leader said there was no way to justify the high number of hostage deaths from the gas which the special forces used. He called for a closed session of parliament to examine the country's security.

Mr Boris Nemtsov, a leading member of the Union of Rightwing Forces, also said there was no military solution in Chechnya.

"We think Russian forces should gradually be withdrawn, leaving only a small contingent. There have to be round-table talks with representatives of the various groups of Chechens as well as Russian government ministers and other Russian politicians".

Reports came in yesterday that Russian ground and air forces had launched a special operation east of the capital Grozny and claimed to have killed 30 separatist fighters. - (Guardian Service, Reuters)