Starting from 12 August 2000 when the Russian submarine Kursk sank to the ocean floor after an explosion. They refused international help in spite of the fact the British and Norwegian rescue teams were willing to help them. It cost lives of 118 Russians on board. Then only in 2001 a Dutch team was able to recover the wreckage and the dead bodies.
Then on 23 October 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis was some what different. Kremlin was adamant not have any negotiations with the terrorists and used a nerve gas to make around 40 Chechen militants unconscious along with 850 hostages. Initially the mission looked brilliant as they were able to prevent militants blowing up the place. However there was not enough anti dose for the hostages to bring them back to normal and Russian military was adamant not to disclose the gas they used preventing doctors to treat the hostages. This resulted in death of 129 civilians.
Finally the most gruesome of all. Beslan school hostage crisis which happened on 1 September 2004. Chechen rebels took hostage of around 1200 people; mostly little children. Again Kremlin was not in a negotiation mode and finally decided to siege the school when rebels have threaten to blow up the place. This cost more than 300 lives mostly school children. Up to this day most of the fact and figures of this mission remains a mystery.
Another submarine accident occurred on 5 August 2005. Fortunately Kremlin had to relax its' stance specially because of the Kursk incident and had to ask for help from US and UK. UK team was able to carry out the rescue mission even in the midst of some silly decision making of Russians.
All these incidents happened during the Ptuin was in power. It was kind of hard to understand his way of thinking during these crisis situations. Even before Putin's time in 1995 Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis resulted in the lost of 166 lives. One shocking thing from all these incidents how bad they act during a time of crisis.
One master piece of hostage rescue was carried out by Israelis in 1976 during Entebbe Hostage Rescue. They were able to rescue 103 hijacked passengers from an Ugandan airport terminal. Only 3 casualties were reported. This was carried out in a foreign land when the state of Israel was still in its infancy.
Most of these incidents are documented in video and can befound in you tube.
