2002 World Events · Counterterror expansion and networked conflict
Moscow theater hostage crisis
Chechen militants seized a theater audience in Moscow; Russian forces ended the siege using an incapacitating agent, killing militants and many hostages.
Evidence-led reading
What is stated, why it matters, and what remains uncertain
What this is
A specific-event record selected from the protected World Events source ledger for cross-year research. It is not an exhaustive account of 2002.
Why it matters
It shaped Russian counterterrorism doctrine and hostage-rescue controversy.
What is established here
The page faithfully exposes the submitted record and its source boundary. No claim-level evidence packet has yet upgraded the record beyond a research starting point.
What remains uncertain
Starting-point source from the submitted dataset; verify exact dates, attribution, legal posture, casualty figures, and current status before reuse.
Record narrative
Source-bounded summary
Chechen militants seized a theater audience in Moscow; Russian forces ended the siege using an incapacitating agent, killing militants and many hostages.
It shaped Russian counterterrorism doctrine and hostage-rescue controversy.
Structured fields
Record at a glance
- Stable record ID
- 2002-002
- Date or period
- 2002-10-23 to 2002-10-26
- Type
- Terrorist attack
- Focus
- Terrorism
- Impact scope
- Continental
- Priority
- 5 of 5
- Location label
- Dubrovka / Moscow, Russia
- Coordinate precision
- Site-level approximate coordinate
- Actors named by the source record
- Chechen militants; Russian security forces; hostages
- Verification state
- source-start-point; sensitive details require independent verification
Geographic context
A coordinate locator, not a surveyed event footprint
The submitted record supplies 55.7250, 37.6740 with the precision label “Site-level approximate coordinate.” Multi-location events, disputed borders, campaigns, and broad regions cannot be reduced to one point.
Review location and coordinate boundariesSource and verification boundary
This remains a starting-point record
Starting-point source from the submitted dataset; verify exact dates, attribution, legal posture, casualty figures, and current status before reuse.
Citation and correction
Use the stable record ID and challenge individual propositions
A correction may concern the date, place, actors, attribution, legal status, figures, coordinate precision, source characterization, or why-pivotal summary without invalidating every other field.
2IA — International Intelligence Archive. “Moscow theater hostage crisis.” World Events record 2002-002. Reviewed July 27, 2026. https://2ix.org/world-events/2002/2002-002/