An electronic portrait of Chechen rebels, led by Mosvar Barayev, during their four day hostage taking at the Dubrovka Theatre in Moscow on 23 October 2002. Between 40-50 heavily armed militants stormed the sold-out theatre during the musical production of Nord-Ost taking 850-900 hostages, including the cast and orchestra, demanding an end to the Second Chechen War (1999-2009) and withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya. The Chechen radical militant group The Special Purpose Islamic Regiment (SPIR) conducted the operation under the leadership of military commander Shamil Basayev. Although the rebels threatened to kill hostages if their demands were not met, they released over two hundred hostages during the first three days and killed three people, two civilians who had passed through the military blockade and entered the theatre and one hostage killed by a stray bullet during a rebellion by another hostage.

Armed with explosives, the rebels unsuccessfully negotiated with Russian officials and on the morning of the fourth day, the Federal Security Service (FSB) released an undisclosed chemical agent, most likely a derivative of fentanyl and animal sedative, through the ventialation system and stormed the theatre.

All of the insurgents were killed either by the gas or ensuing conflict (although several went accounted), and between 130-200 hostages died from the toxic gas and failure to administer aid. Reports of the FSB orchestrating the seizure and hostage taking through agents provocateurs have been systemically silenced. Vladimir Putin used the event to gain control of the independent news network NTV (HTB).

The image is electronically painted from over 150 video stills from an NTV interivew during the hostage taking.