Woman killed trying to help free hostages
Los Angeles Times
Published Oct. 26, 2002 OLGA26
MOSCOW -- She was the first person slain by the Chechen guerrillas who seized hostages at a Moscow theater this week, but the irony is that the 26-year-old perfume-shop clerk did not even have to be there.
Olga Romanova was always moved to action by her innate sense of justice, according to her family, who say that early Thursday morning she went on a one-person mission to convince the hostage-takers to free about 700 captives.
Whether courageous or foolhardy, her attempt ended in death when the Chechens decided she was a police spy.
Romanova was adamant that she must try to do something to assist the theatergoers and performers captured Wednesday night while attending the Russian musical "Nord-Ost," said her mother, Antonina Romanova.
Olga set out from home at 3:30 a.m. Somehow, probably because she lived in the neighborhood and knew it well, she made it to the theater unnoticed by police, who had hastily cordoned off the building in southeast Moscow. staged.
"I told her not to go, I begged and I cried," said her mother. "I did everything to stop her, because I thought going there was sheer madness. But everything was in vain.
"She had confidence in her power of persuasion and she believed she could talk the terrorists into releasing the hostages -- if not all of them, then at least the women and children."
A communique issued by the pro-Chechen information agency Kavkaz Center gave the guerrillas' version of the woman's fate.
"At approximately 4 a.m. -- a young woman entered into the building . . . despite the fact that she was warned not to enter," it said. "The young woman impudently entered into the hall, declaring, 'And what can you do to me?' " the agency claimed.
In dry language, the communique described the killing: "Having information about the tactics of the FSB [the Russian security police], mujahedeen understood that the woman entered for the purpose of collecting information.
" Considering the seriousness of the prevailing situation, it was decided to shoot the young woman."
Her mother said, "She could not stand when people were mistreated, and this is what I think drove her out of our apartment that night. Olga told me that she wanted to go talk to the terrorists and tell them that holding so many innocent people . . . was a wrong thing."
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