Nikolai Patrushev, former director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) who now serves as a presidential aide, has blamed rescue workers for the deaths of hostages during the terrorist attack at Dubrovka in 2002.

“Let me emphasize: the FSB units performed professionally,” Patrushev told the Russian government’s official newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta. “The same cannot be said for the other services — their coordination was lacking. After the terrorists were eliminated, all the hostages were supposed to receive the necessary medical assistance. It was supposed to be provided by the rescue services that entered the auditorium behind the special forces. But they panicked. As a result, the antidote was not administered to all of those affected, and some of the hostages received a double dose. That is what led to the casualties.”

Patrushev, who headed the FSB at the time of the attack and oversaw the assault, said “there should have been no casualties.” He also asserted that the assault itself had proceeded as planned, adding that “the bandits failed to set off a single explosive device.”

In 2011, the European Court of Human Rights found Russian authorities responsible for violating the hostages’ right to life: the court determined that doctors had not been warned in time about the gas used in the raid and were therefore unable to provide proper medical care to the victims. The court ordered Russia to pay 64 applicants more than 1.2 million euros in compensation and to conduct a new investigation into the causes of the deaths. No investigation was carried out.

Sergei Shoigu headed Russia’s Emergencies Ministry at the time of the Dubrovka attack. He has lost much of his influence in the government — in May 2024, Shoigu was dismissed from his post as defense minister, and criminal cases were opened against his former deputies. Shoigu is now the secretary of Russia’s Security Council.