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| The Belsan school gym in 2006 |
| (TASS) |
Russia: Beslan Reports Compared
January 3, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- A Russian interparliamentary commission's final report on the September 2004 Beslan tragedy differs on a number of points from the conclusions of previous findings. more
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 Russia and the world were stunned and horrified on 1 September 2004 when a band of fighters linked to radical Chechen field commander Shamil Basaev took over a school in the North Ossetia town of Beslan, taking hundreds of children, teachers, and parents hostage. RFE/RL was among the first media organizations on the scene.
After a 2 1/2 day standoff, Russia security forces stormed the building, leading to a shoot-out that left some 330 people -- more than half of them children -- dead. The world was horrified by the images of the tragedy that dominated the media for days.
 The event, which came in the wake of the late August 2004 downing of two Russian airliners by Chechen suicide bombers, has been called the Russian equivalent of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. As a result, Russian President Vladimir Putin asserted Russia's right to launch preemptive strikes to prevent suspected terrorist attacks. Within days, Putin had proposed a series of wide-ranging political reforms that have shaped the path of Russia's development ever since. Among other changes, Russian journalists have also found themselves under heightened scrutiny since Beslan.
RFE/RL has followed the story and its many ramifications both in Russia and around the world ever since. This dedicated Internet page brings together all of RFE/RL's English-language reporting related to Beslan.
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