Twenty years ago, as Russia’s prime minister, Vladimir Putin launched a military operation in Chechnya that would come to define his rule and haunt it.
This image contains sensitive content which some people may find offensive or disturbing.
This image contains sensitive content which some people may find offensive or disturbing - Click to revealThe 2002 theater siege was followed by several other attacks on civilians outside Chechnya by militants citing the Kremlin’s operation there. On September 1, 2004, attackers seized a school in North Ossetia, which borders Chechnya, taking more than 1,100 pupils, parents, and staff hostage and demanding a withdrawal from Chechnya, among other things. Russian special forces launched a rescue operation that critics said was bungled, and the three-day Beslan ordeal ended with 334 people dead, including 186 children.