12:22, 2 September 2005

Controversy over Beslan residents' meeting with Putin

The residents of Beslan who met the president of Russia are about to leave Moscow. The aeroplane is to bring them back to their homeland where mourning continues, says Radio Echo of Moscow.

The residents of North Ossetia call their meeting with the president of Russia very frank. They hope that investigation defects will be eliminated. "The level of sincerity astonished me and all my fellow countrymen," North Ossetia's leader Taimuraz Mamsurov told journalists. "I think that all questions have been asked and, regardless of their tonality and content, they have been accepted," he added.

Another participant in the meeting, Victor Yesiyev, also thinks that the president answered all the questions asked to him. "The conversation has been a success and President Vladimir Putin has answered all questions," he said. "We are coming back pleased with the president's invitation. We believe that the president of Russia will pay attention to all the questions asked and that those defects that the investigation has shown will be removed," said Victor Yesiyev.

"It seemed to us that he heard us," Sussana Dudiyev told journalists.

The meeting involved North Ossetia's leader Taimuraz Mamsurov whose two children were among the hostages in Beslan, and Beslan residents Sussana Dudiyev, Anneta Gadiyev, Rita Sidakov, Rimma Torchinov, Mairbek Tuayev, Azamat Sabanov, and Victor Yesiyev.

Originally, President Putin invited 20 people from among victims and relatives of those killed in Beslan. However, many of them refused to go to Moscow when they learnt about the date for the visit. "On this day a year ago, children in the gymnasium were crying, "Putin, Dzasokhov, please help us!'" indignant Ella Kesayev who had lost two nephews in the school told Vremia Novostei newspaper.

"He (Putin) is perfectly aware that we could not go on this particular day. But it is on this day that we were presented with an ultimatum that he wanted to see us. Many victims say: 1, 2, and 3 September are mourning days, we must not go to Putin to boost his image, we must not go to the one who bears most responsibility for our children's death," she said.