A suit has been filed in a Moscow court by an...
A suit has been filed in a Moscow city court by an organization representing relatives of the 130 victims of the October 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis. The suit alleges President Vladimir Putin lied when saying the gas used in the rescue operation was harmless.
The organization told Moscow Echo radio that it was suing Putin for 10 million rubles ($330,000) for telling US reporters in an interview last year that the opiate gas used at the start of rescue operation was safe.
Putin said most of the civilians died because their immune systems became too weak after they had spent for more than three days in the Nord Ost theater without food and almost no water.
The Nord Ost organization said it did not actually expect to win the case. "Putin will avoid answering any questions this time, too," said its head Tatyana Karpova.
