BESLAN /North Ossetia/, August 20. /TASS/. Foreign actors not only sought to vindicate the terrorists that carried out the attack in Beslan in 2004, but even assisted them, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a meeting with mothers of Beslan.
"We are well aware that the foreign actors not only sought to justify this horrible crime, but even provided the terrorists with all kinds of aid: moral, political, informational and financial," the Russian president noted.
On the morning of September 1, 2004, a group of 32 terrorists captured the Beslan school number 1 during the festivities. The terrorists rounded the people up in the gymnastics hall, where they were held captive without food or water for three days. A total of 334 hostages, including 168 children, died, as well as 10 special operations fighters, 2 Ministry of Emergency Situations employees, and 15 police officers.
The assault operation took place on September 3; all terrorists but one were eliminated. The last remaining attacker serves his lifetime sentence on the Yamal Peninsula. Shamil Basayev, who got eliminated two years later, took responsibility for the attack. September 3 is now observed as the Day of solidarity in combating terrorism in Russia.