Briefs

– Moscow Theater Siege Commemorated

Several hundred people gathered on the steps of the Dubrovka on October 26 to commemorate the more than 129 hostages who perished in the siege in 2002, the Moscow Times reported on October 29. Interfax reported that among those in attendance were relatives of the victims of the 2004 Beslan school siege, the 2002 Volgodonsk apartment bombing, the 2005 London metro bombing and the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States attended. According to the news agency, Moscow First Deputy Mayors Lyudmila Shvetsova and Yury Roslyak, Moscow City Duma Deputy Sergei Mitrokhin, co-chairwoman of Voice of Beslan Ella Kesayeva head and Tatyana Karpova of Nord Ost, a group formed by the relatives of the victims and named after the musical playing at the theater at the time of the siege, were also in attendance.

– Ingushetia Special Ops Will Continue Until Election Day

Russian Deputy Interior Minister Arkady Yedelev said that the special operation being conducted in Ingushetia will be extended until December 2, the day the country will hold State Duma elections, Newsru.com reported on October 30. Yedelev said it would be “premature” to end the special operation in Ingushetia and that he was certain an “absolute majority” of the grave crimes, including murders and attacks on law-enforcement personnel, will be solved. On October 31, Lieutenant-Colonel Magomed Khalukhaev, head of the military department of the Ingush Interior Ministry’s OMON commandos, was wounded in a shooting in Nazran.