Russia commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Beslan school massacre, where over 330 people, including 186 children, lost their lives in the hostage crisis.
On September 1, 2004, militants, primarily Chechens, stormed School Number One in Beslan, North Ossetia, during a celebration of the first day of the school year, taking more than 1,100 people hostage.
The siege lasted for around 50 hours, ending in a violent confrontation between the attackers and Russian special forces, resulting in 334 deaths and over 750 injuries. Survivors, relatives, and officials, including North Ossetia's governor Sergei Menyailo, honored the victims by laying flowers and kneeling at the school’s gymnasium, now a memorial site. Former students, wearing T-shirts featuring an angel drawn by a victim, processed through the school playground with portraits of the deceased.
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The Mothers of Beslan, a group of parents who lost their children, have long sought an impartial investigation into the siege and criticized the Russian authorities for their handling of the crisis.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was in power during the attack, recently visited the school for the first time since the tragedy. He compared the Beslan siege to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine's Kursk region, linking both to Russia's broader struggle against terrorism and neo-Nazism.
In 2017, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Russia's response to the Beslan attack, citing significant failures in preventing the attack and excessive use of force. Despite this ruling, calls for a renewed investigation have yet to be answered.
