Editing Alpha Group (section)

==In the Russian Federation==
[[File:Hero of the Russian Federation medal.png|thumb|[[Hero of the Russian Federation]] medal]]

===Decorated servicemen===
{{Unreferenced section|date=February 2021}}
As of 2018, nine officers of Alpha have been awarded the title [[Hero of the Russian Federation]]:
* Lt. Gennady Sergeyev (posthumously)
* Col. Anatoly Saveliev (posthumously)
* Maj. Vladimir Ulyanov (posthumously)
* Maj. Yuri Danilin (posthumously)
* Col. Sergei Dyachenko
* Col. Valery Kanakin
* Lt. Artyom Sevshencko
* Maj. Alexander Perov (posthumously)
* Col. Andrei Kum.<ref name=history>{{cite web |url=http://www.alphagroup.ru/group-a/index.php |title=История Группы "А" |publisher=Alphagroup.ru |access-date=3 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190203200136/http://www.alphagroup.ru/group-a/index.php |archive-date=3 February 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Shuffling and reforms===
Alpha Group was severely downgraded during the [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|dissolution and collapse of the Soviet Union]]. After the fall of the USSR, both Alpha and Vympel were transferred to the newly formed [[Federal Protective Service (Russia)|Main Guard Directorate (GUO)]], which was established on the basis of the KGB's [[Ninth Chief Directorate]]. In 1993, they were taken from GUO control, and for a time being put under the jurisdiction of the [[Ministry of Internal Affairs (Russia)|Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD)]].<ref name=early>{{cite web|url=http://www.psan.org/document518.html |title=The Early Yeltsin Years |access-date=2008-02-01 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080201083223/http://www.psan.org/document518.html |archive-date=1 February 2008}} by Jonathan Littell.</ref> As part of the government shakeup following the June 1995 [[Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis]] in which the Alpha Group had a leading role, Yeltsin fired the first Director of the [[Federal Security Service (Russia)|Federal Security Service (FSB)]], [[Sergei Stepashin]]. Two months later, Alpha and Vityaz were both transferred from the MVD to the FSB. Simultaneously, [[Mikhail Barsukov]] became the new head of the organization, and created the FSB Anti-Terrorist Center (ATC), headed by Gen. Viktor Zorkin.<ref name=early/><ref name=rulers/> Directorate "A" (Alpha) was tasked with protecting transportation and buildings while Directorate "V" (Vega/Vympel) was tasked with protecting strategic sites (another Directorate, "K", was tasked with ideological counterintelligence); "A" and "V" were soon joined in a ''Tsentr [[Spetsnaz]]'' (Special Purpose Center) under Gen. [[Vladimir Pronichev]].<ref name=early/>

Meanwhile, Alpha veterans became active in legitimate businesses (such as the private security company [https://www.alpha-b.ru/eng/ Alpha-B] co-founded by Col. Golovatov in August 1993<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alpha-b.ru/eng/ |title=Dear clients of LLC private security company "ALPHA-B"! « ООО ЧОП АЛЬФА-Б – Частное Охранное Предприятие |publisher=Alpha-b.ru |date=18 August 1993 |access-date=3 March 2014}}</ref>) in [[Russian mafia|organised crime]], as well as in politics.<ref name=guide/> The Alpha veterans' association, led by Sergey Goncharov, strongly opposed Russian President Yeltsin faction's party, [[Our Home – Russia]], in the [[1995 Russian legislative election|legislative election of 1995]] (Goncharov later became a [[State Duma]] deputy).<ref name=guide>Ibp Usa, ''Russia Foreign Policy and Government Guide'', page 113.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://english.pravda.ru/russia/politics/20-08-2004/6631-alpha-0/ |title=Alpha Russian special service unit is as strong as ever |publisher=English pravda.ru |date=20 August 2004 |access-date=3 March 2014}}</ref> Gen. Karpukhin, who resigned from the service following the 1991 coup attempt, became chief of security to Kazakh President [[Nursultan Nazarbayev]], after which he worked with private security companies in Moscow, and ran unsuccessfully for the Duma as a member of the Union of Patriots in 1995.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1426138/Maj-Gen-Viktor-Karpukhin.html Maj-Gen Viktor Karpukhin – Telegraph].</ref>

===Operations===
In October 1995, Alpha killed the armed man who hijacked a bus carrying South Korean tourists in Moscow. He had demanded $1 million and to be flown out of the country.<ref name=map/><ref>Gary Borg, [https://www.chicagotribune.com/1995/10/15/police-storm-bus-kill-hijacker/ Police Storm Bus, Kill Hijacker], ''Chicago Tribune'', 15 October 1995.</ref> In December 1997, Alpha freed the Swedish trade counsellor Jan-Olof Nyström who was kidnapped in Moscow by a gunman similarly demanding a ransom and a flight out of Russia. The hostage was swapped for Alpha's Colonel Anatoly Saveliev (Savelyev), and the hostage-taker was killed during the storming of the embassy. Colonel Savelyev was injured during the action, and died in hospital of a heart attack shortly thereafter.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Hostage+stand-in+is+killed.-a061085175 |title=Hostage stand-in is killed. - Free Online Library |publisher=Thefreelibrary.com |date=1997-12-21 |access-date=2014-05-04}}</ref><!-- he's on the list of the Geroy Rossii recipients, which he got for this -->

====1993 Russian constitutional crisis====
In 1993, during the [[1993 Russian constitutional crisis|Russian constitutional crisis]], Yeltsin, who by then was President of the Russian Federation, used Alpha and Vympel during a deadly showdown in central Moscow against the pro-parliament forces that sided with Vice-President [[Alexander Rutskoy]] (declaring him an acting president).<ref name=disaster>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/04/russia.schools Botched operation was a disaster waiting to happen], ''The Guardian'', 4 September 2004.</ref> The pro-parliament faction had seized the [[White House (Moscow)|Russian White House]], along with several Supreme Soviet deputies who had been taken hostage. Yeltsin ordered Russian troops to storm the building, including elements of the paratroopers, the Alpha and Vympel Groups, Russian ground forces, and the [[Internal Troops of Russia|Internal Troops]]'s special forces unit, [[Vityaz (MVD)|Vityaz]]. However, the Alpha troops initially refused to attack the White House,<ref name=agru>[http://www.agentura.ru/english/spetsnaz/FSBspecialforces/ Agentura.ru – FSB Special forces: 1998–2010] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130118123943/http://agentura.ru/english/spetsnaz/FSBspecialforces/ |date=18 January 2013 }}.</ref> reportedly bringing their commander, Gen. Zaitsev, to the brink of suicide over the open insubordination of his troops in the face of a presidential order.<ref name=politics>Brian D. Taylor, ''Politics and the Russian Army: Civil-Military Relations, 1689–2000'', page 294.</ref> When one of the Alpha troops, Lt. Sergeyev, who was near the White House, was mortally wounded by sniper fire from the nearby [[Radisson Royal Hotel, Moscow|Hotel Ukraina]], the unit finally agreed to move.<ref name=politics/> Opposition gunmen were blamed for the shooting, but it is possible that the shots were actually fired by members of a special unit loyal to Yeltsin; it was rumoured that the snipers in the hotel were commanded by [[Alexander Korzhakov]], chief of the [[Presidential Security Service (Russia)|Presidential Security Service (SBP)]].<ref name=era/> The crisis ended when Yeltsin's forces, paratroopers supported by tanks and armoured personnel carriers, many of which were manned not by conscripts but members of the Union of Afghanistan Veterans,<ref name=politics/> stormed and seized the White House on 4 October 1993, killing dozens, and possibly hundreds, of people, and ensuring the total victory of Yeltsin's faction.<ref name=politics/><ref name=era/><ref>Margaret Shapiro, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130516002333/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-968180.html Army Shellfire Crushes Moscow Revolt; Dozens Killed in Assault on Parliament; Yeltsin Foes Surrender After Two-Day Battle], ''The Washington Post'', 5 October 1993.</ref><ref>Serge Schemann, [https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/05/world/showdown-moscow-overview-russian-army-routs-rebels-parliament-yeltsin-takes.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm SHOWDOWN IN MOSCOW: The Overview; RUSSIAN ARMY ROUTS REBELS AT PARLIAMENT AS YELTSIN TAKES STEPS TO TIGHTEN CONTROL], ''The New York Times'', 5 October 1993.</ref> In the end, Rutskoy and the other leaders of anti-Yeltsin faction, including [[Ruslan Khasbulatov]], [[Vladislav Achalov]] and [[Viktor Barannikov]], all negotiated their surrender to the Alpha troops, who had entered the shelled and burning building after the shooting stopped, and brought them, along with the detained Supreme Soviet deputies, to [[Lefortovo Prison]].<ref name=politics/><ref name=era>Roy Aleksandrovich Medvedev, George Shriver, ''Post-Soviet Russia: A Journey Through the Yeltsin Era'', page 127.</ref>

====Conflicts in Chechnya and the North Caucasus====

The Alpha Group was involved in the [[First Chechen War]] of 1994–1996, following the Chechens' declaration of independence from the Russian SFSR and then the Soviet Union in 1990–1991.<ref name="Katz2004">{{cite book|author=Samuel M. Katz|title=Against All Odds: Counterterrorist Hostage Rescues|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xGG-ta6K3yUC&pg=PA1960|year=2004|publisher=Twenty-First Century Books|isbn=978-0-8225-1567-8|page=1960}}</ref> In the fall of 1994, Alpha provided personal security details for the main commanders of the invasion of [[Chechnya]], Defense Minister [[Pavel Grachev]] and federal Interior Minister [[Viktor Yerin]], as they travelled to the [[Mozdok, Republic of North Ossetia–Alania|Mozdok]] airbase in [[North Ossetia]], which was the main headquarters, staging area and logistics base for Russian forces entering Chechnya.<ref name=map/><ref>{{cite web|author=John Pike |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/mozdok.htm |title=Mozdok (182nd Heavy Bomber Rgmt) |publisher=Globalsecurity.org |access-date=3 March 2014}}</ref> Later, many Alpha troops served in "mobile anti-terror groups" ({{Transliteration|ru|mobilnye gruppy antiterrora}}), as well as providing security for the pro-Moscow Chechen government complex and the regional FSB headquarters in the Chechen capital [[Grozny]].<ref name=map/> In August 1996, [[Battle of Grozny (August 1996)|when the city was retaken]] by Chechen separatist forces, 35 of them (including 14 members of the territorial Alpha unit from Krasnodar Krai)<ref name=map/> took part in a defence of the FSB headquarters. The separatist forces began to systematically retake individual buildings which were being defended by cut-off groups of Russian military and security forces. By the war's final ceasefire, the main FSB office was one of the few key structures still being held by federal forces in central Grozny, but at the cost of 70 of its defenders' lives in some of the fiercest fighting during the last battle.<ref name=lessons>Olga Oliker, ''Russia's Chechen Wars 1994–2000: Lessons from Urban Combat, Issue 1289'', pages 31, 77.</ref><ref>Antero Leitzinger, ''Caucasus and an Anholy Alliance'', page 285.</ref>

Allegations arose, following the [[Khasavyurt Accord]] of August 1996, that the ATC carried out clandestine operations intended to discredit the [[Chechen Republic of Ichkeria]], so that it would not receive international recognition of its independence. According to [[Jonathan Littell]], the service "... was most likely deeply involved ..." in many of the high-profile kidnappings which damaged Chechnya's reputation. Littell wrote: "It is impossible to say whether these provocations were part of a more general FSB policy or whether the [ATC] and its departments were running their own show; certainly it did not reflect the official policy of the government, nor of those officials like [[Ivan Rybkin]], the Secretary of the [[Security Council of Russia|Security Council]], tasked with the Chechen dossier between 1996 and 1999."<ref name=early/>

Alpha was active during the [[Second Chechen War]] that began in 1999, as well as the subsequent [[Insurgency in the North Caucasus]]. During the 2000 [[Battle of Komsomolskoye]], Alpha snipers attached to [[Vladimir Shamanov]]'s Western Group of federal forces, were deployed in an attempt to suppress [[Ruslan Gelayev]]'s snipers in the village.<ref name=lessons/> According to the unit's veterans, operations in which Alpha took part led to the arrest of Chechen commander [[Salman Raduyev]] in 2000, the killing of Chechen commander [[Arbi Barayev]] in 2001, the killing of Chechen separatist President [[Aslan Maskhadov]] in 2005, and the killing of foreign militant leader [[Abu Hafs al-Urduni|Abu Hafs]] in [[Dagestan]] in 2006.<ref name=map/> Following the transfer of responsibility for operations in Chechnya from the [[Ministry of Defence (Russia)|Ministry of Defence]] to the FSB in January 2001, and prior to the "Chechenization" policy that began in 2003, Alpha members (along with the other Russian personnel and pro-Moscow Chechen militia) participated in at least 10 mixed "combined special groups" ({{Transliteration|ru|svodnye spetsialnye gruppy}}, SSGs), considered [[death squad]]s by human rights groups and outside observers.<ref name=putin>{{cite web|url=http://www.psan.org/document521.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080201075322/http://www.psan.org/document521.html |archive-date=2008-02-01 |title=The Security Organs Under Vladimir Putin |access-date=3 March 2014}}</ref><ref>Fred Weir, [http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0516/p07s02-woeu.html Putin battles political fallout of Chechnya fight], ''The Christian Science Monitor'', 16 May 2003.</ref><ref>Mariya Y. Omelicheva, ''Counterterrorism and Human Rights'', page 132.</ref><ref>Mark Franchetti, "Russian death squads 'pulverise' Chechens", ''Sunday Times'', 26 April 2009.</ref> It is believed that the SSGs were behind many of the numerous "name/address cleansings" (''imeny/adressny zachistki''): usually night-time raids by masked men in unmarked vehicles, targeting specific active or former rebel combatants, their supporters, their relatives, or other civilians for either [[forced disappearance]] or outright [[extrajudicial killing]].<ref name=putin/> In 2005, [[Human Rights Watch]] declared that the disappearances had reached the scale of a [[crime against humanity]], and that "Russia has the inglorious distinction of being a world leader in enforced disappearances."<ref>[http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_21-3-2005_pg4_9 Chechnya suffering crimes against humanity: HRW – Daily Times] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927170441/http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_21-3-2005_pg4_9 |date=27 September 2013 }}</ref> Chechnya's UFSB also formed a local Alpha unit, believed to be similar in its role to the SSGs.<ref name=putin/>

====Mass hostage crises====
[[File:Fsb alpha group.jpg|thumb|Alpha Group members during a training exercise in 2009]]

The group was instrumental in the Russian government's attempts to forcibly bring an end to a series of mass [[hostage crisis]] incidents, in which groups of Chechen and other separatist militants took hostages. These events took place in Russia's southern territories near Chechnya as well as in the Russian heartland, and were made up of the [[Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis]] in June 1995, the [[Kizlyar-Pervomayskoye hostage crisis]] in January 1996, the [[Moscow theatre hostage crisis]] in October 2002, and the [[Beslan school hostage crisis]] in September 2004.<ref name="HastedtGuerrier2010"/> Each of these high-profile incidents resulted in hundreds of fatalities and injuries among the hostages and, with the exception of the Moscow siege, significant losses among the unit's personnel.

At [[Budyonnovsk]] (Budennovsk) in [[Stavropol Krai]], two abortive storming attempts by Alpha and Vympel killed scores of hostages in a major public relations disaster for the Russian government, as the carnage was televised live across the country.<ref name=early/><ref name=smith>Sebastian Smith, ''Allah's Mountains: The Battle for Chechnya, New Edition'', pages 202, 213.</ref><ref name=gazavat>Robert W. Schaefer, ''The Insurgency in Chechnya and the North Caucasus: From Gazavat to Jihad'', pages 132, 136–138.</ref> In the first, a pre-dawn raid, only 86 out of more than 1,500 hostages were freed, but more than 30 hostages were killed before the rescuers were forced to retreat after four hours of fighting, which also resulted in the deaths of several men on both sides.<ref name=negotiating/> After that, the leader of the hostage-takers, Chechen commander [[Shamil Basayev]], agreed to release pregnant and nursing women, and to allow emergency services to put out a fire in the main building and to collect and remove dead bodies.<ref name=negotiating/> The assault was then resumed at noon and included the use of [[tear gas]]; it stopped after over an hour later when Basayev agreed to release the remaining women and children.<ref name=negotiating>Adam Dolnik, Keith M. Fitzgerald, ''Negotiating Hostage Crises With the New Terrorists'', pages 46–47.</ref> The overall death toll of more than 120 people included three Alpha members.<ref name=early/> In the end, the crisis was resolved through negotiations that led to an agreement involving a ceasefire in Chechnya and high-level peace talks, both of which later broke down, with full-scale hostilities resuming in October 1995.<ref name=early/><ref name=gazavat/> Russian Prime Minister [[Viktor Chernomyrdin]] claimed that both attacks had not been authorised by the government, but were launched by troops acting without orders.<ref>Andrew Felkay, ''Yeltsin's Russia and the West'', page 123.</ref>

At Pervomayskoye, a small settlement on the outskirt of [[Kizlyar]] in Dagestan, in an operation that was conducted under the direct control of Barsukov, Alpha Group was mostly held in reserve during multiple failed storming attempts spearheaded by Vityaz and the [[SOBR]] (a special forces unit of the [[Moscow City Police|Moscow police]]), supported by tanks and armoured vehicles.<ref name=rulers>David Cox, ''Close Protection: The Politics of Guarding Russia's Rulers'', pages 60, 101, 106, 127.</ref><ref name=gazavat/> Further attacks were conducted with heavy artillery, including [[BM-21 Grad|Grad]] launchers firing salvos of rockets into the village, and helicopter gunship support.<ref name=gazavat/> According to statements made to justify the use of unlimited force, the FSB had been informed, falsely, that the hostages had been executed by their captors, prior to the commencement of military operations.<ref name=gazavat/> This full-scale offensive continued for three days, until the Chechen militants fought their way through the siege lines in a night-time break-out, escaping with many of the surviving hostages in another major humiliation for the Kremlin. 26 out of the 150 hostages lost their lives (most of the original 2,000 hostages had been released in Kizlyar), and in all the incident resulted more than 300 fatalities, mostly among the Russian forces.<ref name=gazavat/> Although they avoided the kind of devastating losses that decimated the Moscow SOBR (including the death of their commanding officer)<ref name=rulers/> and the 22nd Independent Brigade of [[Spetsnaz GRU]],<ref>{{in lang|ru}} [http://www.polit.ru/article/2006/03/07/6_rota/ Пиар на крови десантников]</ref> Alpha Group still suffered casualties at Pervomayskoye.  These included a friendly fire incident which occurred after fighting had ended, when a regular soldier accidentally fired his vehicle's [[2A28 Grom|Grom]] gun, killing two Alpha members.<ref>John Giduck, ''Terror at Beslan: A Russian Tragedy With Lessons For America's Schools'', page 112.</ref>{{better source needed|date=July 2013}} <!-- really happened, unreliable source --> When the Alpha Group was deployed, they were sent in without winter clothing and quartered in unheated buses. One of the unit's commanders claimed they were "set up", saying: "The first day it was 15 below and we were standing in the fields with no warm clothes. There were no sleeping bags, no water, no food. The hostages were being destroyed, the rebels were being destroyed and we were being destroyed there. That's what happened."<ref>Michael Specter, [https://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/22/world/10-days-that-shook-russia-siege-in-the-caucasus.html 10 Days That Shook Russia: Siege in the Caucasus], ''The New York Times'', 22 January 1996.</ref>

Several highly controversial actions made the force susceptible to criticism revolving around the loss of life among the hostages. One of these actions was the use of an [[Moscow hostage crisis chemical agent|unknown chemical agent]] to assist Alpha Group and the SOBR break the [[Moscow hostage crisis|October 2002 Moscow hostage crisis]], by knocking out the people inside the building. The FSB chemical attack resulted in the deaths of at least 129 hostages and serious damage to the health of many others,<ref name="moscnews">[http://english.mn.ru/english/issue.php?2004-41-2 Nord-Ost Tragedy Goes On], ''Moscow News'' 2004 N.41&nbsp;– a discussion of the long-term effects of the anesthetic on the surviving hostages. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080229135507/http://english.mn.ru/english/issue.php?2004-41-2 |date=29 February 2008 }}</ref> yet was hailed by the group's officers as their "... first successful operation for years".<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/27/russia.chechnya Troops bring freedom and death to theater of blood], ''The Guardian'', 27 October 2002.</ref> In 2011, the [[European Court of Human Rights]] (ECHR) ordered Russia to pay compensation to 64 survivors of the siege for their physical and emotional suffering, and to prosecute the officials who committed the human rights violations, ruling that the authorities had failed to minimise the risks to the hostages.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}} Russia failed to uphold the ECHR ruling, paying the compensation to victims but not launching an investigation into the violations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20120904/264573778.html |title=Russia fails to uphold ECHR court ruling on 2002 terrorist attack, lawyer {{pipe}} Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI) |date=4 September 2012 |publisher=Rapsinews.com |access-date=3 March 2014}}</ref>

Another controversy was the use of tank cannons, portable flamethrowers, and other weapons such as grenade launchers in [[Beslan]], North Ossetia. On 3 September 2004, the local school was taken over by Chechen-led militants from [[Ingushetia]], and was subsequently raided by the heavily armed FSB special forces of Alpha and Vympel.<ref name=echr/><ref>Uwe Klussmann, [http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/the-beslan-aftermath-new-papers-critical-of-russian-security-forces-a-363934.html The Beslan Aftermath: New Papers Critical of Russian Security Forces], Spiegel Online, 27 August 2005.</ref><ref>Yaroslav Lukov, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4205208.stm Beslan siege still a mystery], BBC News, 2 September 2005.</ref><ref>Yuri Zakharovitch, [https://web.archive.org/web/20060921145128/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1516216,00.html Should Russia Share Blame for the Beslan Massacre?], ''TIME'', 31 August 2006.</ref><ref name=crime/> The operation was overseen by the head of the Special Purpose Center, Gen. Alexander Tikhonov, who forbade extinguishing the fire in the school,<ref name=crime>David Satter, [https://www.forbes.com/2009/10/01/beslan-putin-politkovskaya-basaev-dzasokhov-chechen-opinions-contributors-david-satter.html Remembering Beslan: A crime against humanity.], Forbes.com, 10.01.09.</ref> while the actual attack was personally led by Gen. Pronichev, and supported by tanks, armoured personnel carriers and attack helicopters. [[John McAleese]], a member of the [[Special Air Service]] (SAS) team which had [[Iranian Embassy siege|liberated the Iranian Embassy in London]] in 1980, immediately called it one of the worst hostage rescue attempts he had seen or heard about.<ref name=disaster/> The Beslan siege turned out to be particularly bloody, costing the lives of more than 333 people, including 186 children (age 1 to 17), 111 relatives, guests and friends, 17 school staff members and 10 Alpha members.<ref>Nick Paton Walsh, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/06/chechnya.russia Frantic search for missing as Beslan begins to bury its dead], ''The Guardian'', 6 September 2004.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://ria.ru/incidents/20061222/57561669.html|title=Захват школы в Беслане изначально планировался как теракт-самоубийство|trans-title=Beslan school hostage crisis initially was the suicide terrorist attack|publisher=[[RIA Novosti]]|language=ru|date=2006-12-22|access-date=2017-08-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170814163020/https://ria.ru/incidents/20061222/57561669.html|archive-date=2017-08-14}}</ref> No ballistic tests were carried out, and prosecutors were not allowed to examine the special forces' weapons to determine who exactly killed the hostages.<ref>Madina Sageyeva, [http://iwpr.net/report-news/beslan-%E2%80%93-search-truth-goes Beslan&nbsp;– The Search for the Truth Goes on] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928045941/http://iwpr.net/report-news/beslan-%E2%80%93-search-truth-goes |date=28 September 2013 }}, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, 18 August 2005.</ref> In 2007, 447 survivors and relatives of victims of the Beslan massacre brought a complaint against the Russian government in seven applications to the ECHR.<ref name=echr>[http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/webservices/content/pdf/001-111101 FIRST SECTION | Application no. 26562/07 | Emma Lazarovna TAGAYEVA and Others against Russia and 6 other applications (see list appended) | STATEMENT OF FACTS] (ECHR document about the siege).</ref>