Putin meets Beslan mothers

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin was to hold a politically sensitive meeting on Friday with mothers whose children died in the Beslan school hostage massacre a year ago and who are demanding he and other top officials be held to account for the tragedy that killed 331 people.

Four of the child-victims’ mothers, representing the 200-strong Beslan Mothers Committee, left the southern city of Beslan along with four other local representatives aboard a special flight for the face-to-face meeting, expected to take place at the Kremlin.

At the Kremlin however there was a lock-down on information, confirming the delicacy of the situation. Press spokesmen refused to confirm that the mothers had arrived in Moscow, refused to say where the meeting would take place and refused to say anything about timing.

"We can’t comment," a Kremlin spokeswoman said. "There may be a statement later."

However, members of the Beslan Mothers Committee promised to address journalists on return to Beslan later on Friday.

The meeting was scheduled on the second of three days of mourning for the victims of the tragedy throughout the Russian province of North Ossetia where Beslan is located, and the mothers said they were torn between seeing Putin and remaining with their families to grieve.

Three written requests for a meeting with Putin sent by the mothers to the Kremlin in the year since the Beslan tragedy came to nothing.

But amid rising anger and a recent sit-in demonstration by the mothers to protest the conduct of the official investigation into the Beslan tragedy, the Russian leader acquiesced on Monday to a meeting with the mothers.

Russian media said the Beslan mothers had become a serious political factor in Russia that the Kremlin could no longer afford to sideline. One report published Wednesday said Putin’s decision to meet the mothers "has set a precedent for all Russia."

The mothers, led by Susanna Dudiyeva, a Beslan woman whose son was among the 186 children who died in the hostage crisis, have made clear that they do not intend to give Putin an easy ride.

"We are not going there to hear his condolences," Dudiyeva told the respected daily Izvestia earlier this week.

"We need to look him in the eyes and tell him that he is responsible for the deaths of our children... We are going to show him what suffering is."

Among the questions they are demanding answers to:

- Where were these officials during the three days of the crisis?

- How did 32 attackers travel from Chechnya to Beslan with bombs and guns undetected?

- Why did Russian officials apparently refuse any negotiations with the hostage-takers?