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The Commission has officially questioned Anisimov and Pronichev. What did they have to say?

They said they were sent to Beslan by Patrushev to offer advice and that was all. Beyond that, we are in the realm of speculation as to what they did or did not do there. In my view, the President and Patrushev confused the situation unbelievably. Under the law on the struggle against terrorism there should have been no advisers there, just an operational headquarters bearing full responsibility. In Beslan we had uncalled-for advisers functioning unlawfully in parallel with those in command. If Andreyev [Valeriy Andreyev, the Head of the North Ossetian FSB Directorate at the time the school was seized], who was in charge of the counter-terrorist operation, had two of his bosses advising him, how was he to take responsible decisions?

Can you give an assessment of the conduct of senior state officials? Patrushev, for example? Did he do everything he could?

He told us he was in Moscow and not at the scene, but we have a different complaint against him: why to this day have no effective informants been infiltrated into the terrorists’ ranks? Why was the FSB unprepared, not only in Beslan but also in Ingushetia, when resistance fighters rampaged unchecked for several hours and killed people who supported the federal authorities? That too was a disgrace.

The same goes for Minister Nurgaliev. The most serious complaint against the Interior Ministry is that it failed to organise an effective cordon round the school. They said that people in the Caucasus are hotheaded and just ignored it. Minister Nurgaliev sent his deputy, Pankov, there. There was a crowd right round the school which joined in the assault and the fire engines could not get through because of a huge number of private cars obstructing them. What was the militia doing in the meantime? I would not say that Nurgaliev should take personal responsibility for this, but Pankov certainly should. Instead, the explanation was: “It was splendid that the local townsfolk assisted. Without them far more people would have died, and they pulled many of the injured free.” Does that mean that next time the hostages’ relatives should just grab whatever comes to hand and mount an assault?

How do you rate Dzasokhov’s actions?

Do you mean, do I think he should have gone into the school? I have no answer to that. Should Dzasokhov have gone to his death? Your question is too difficult. It is absolutely clear that Aushev, who did go in, was much less at risk than Dzasokhov. Given their past records, Aushev was much less at risk than Zyazikov or Dzasokhov who, I am quite sure, would not have come out alive. For me it is obvious that in situations like that the Republican presidents need to be protected. They should not bear the burden for everything that happens in the course of a counter-terrorist operation. Did Dzasokhov do everything he could? Well, what could he do? He initiated the process of negotiating with Zakayev. He was at the scene, among the people, not hiding. I imagine he did what he could.

What about Zyazikov?

If he had gone in they would have killed him. For them he was a traitor.

Did Dr Roshal do enough?

Roshal was questioned by the Commission. He is a decent man. My impression was that he should not have been asked to go to talk to the fighters. The only conversation he had with them ended with them calling him a kike – a foul, churlish insult. On the other hand, it was he they called for initially, and he came.

How do you assess Aushev’s actions?

Aushev is a figure from the Caucasian elite of the Yeltsin era. At the beginning they were all presidents and ministers: Aushev, Maskhadov, Dudayev, Basayev were quite often seated at the same table. The Caucasus is a brotherhood. Then the Chechens went off the rails and started killing people. The war with Russia started and Aushev sided with Russia. In Beslan Aushev did everything right.

The so-called advisers, Anisimov and Pronichev?

The decision to send advisers was taken by Patrushev and Putin. Before the Commission Anisimov