MOSCOW, Nov 14: A Russian magazine has sent the state prosecutor and interior ministry 25 questions about last month’s special forces operation to end a hostage-taking by ChechenS in a Moscow theatre, its editor said on Thursday.

These “unanswered questions” about how 128 of the more than 800 hostages died are of interest “not just to the media but to society as a whole”, said Rustam Arifdzhanov, editor of the mass circulation weekly, Versia.

“We need to know the truth here in Russia and outside Russia,” Arifdzhanov said at a press conference.

Many grey areas remain in official accounts of the Oct 26 rescue operation that ended the three-day hostage crisis during which the guerillas threatened to execute the hostages if Russia did not wind down the war in Chechnya.

Most of the questions raised by Versia concern the deaths of the 128 hostages, almost all of whom succumbed to the effects of the knockout gas used to stun the hostage-takers.

Commentators have deplored the lack of information concerning the gas that hindered doctors’ efforts to save those affected by it, and the lack of preparation of the city’s medical services who were placed on standby on the night of the operation.

Among the questions raised by Versia are:

— Who gave the order to only allow the medics access at 07:13 am (ie, two hours after the start of the assault)?

— Why was it not anticipated that, having taken in such large doses of the gas, so many people were bound to die?

— Why were the families given such vaguely worded death certificates?

Arifdzhanov also questioned the authorities regarding a list published on several Internet sites purportedly of 77 hostages believed to have disappeared during the rescue operation.

Russian State Duma (lower house) deputies voted on Wednesday against the creation of a commission of inquiry into the circumstances of the theatre rescue.—AFP