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Beslan is a city in the Republic of North Ossetia - Alania. The
administrative center of the Pravoberezhny district. The city is
located 494 meters above sea level, on the right bank of the Terek
River, 14 km north of the city of Vladikavkaz and 18 km west of the
city of Nazran.
Beslan is an important railway junction
located on the Rostov-on-Don-Baku branch and is the starting point
of the branch leading to Vladikavkaz.
Population - 37,371
people. (2020). Beslan is the third largest city in North Ossetia
after Vladikavkaz (303,597) and Mozdok (42,039). The area of the
city of Beslan is 23.17 km².
It was founded in 1847 and was originally named Beslanikau - "the village of Beslan", after the local feudal lord Beslan Tulatov. In official use, the name was fixed by surname - Tulatovo or Tulatovskoe. In 1941, the village was renamed Iriston (literally - "Ossetian", from the corresponding ethnonym), and in 1950, when the village was transformed into a city, it was renamed Beslan.
It was founded in 1847 by immigrants from
other regions of Ossetia and named Beslanikau - "the village of
Beslan", after the local feudal lord - Beslan Tulatov. But in
official use, the name was fixed by his last name - Tulatovo or
Tulatovskoe.
By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme
Soviet of the RSFSR dated April 26, 1941, the village of Tulatovo
was renamed Iriston, which in translation from Ossetian means
“Ossetia”. And in 1950, upon acquiring the status of a city, in
Beslan. The city's buildings are based on two-story or three-story
houses of the 1940-1950s.
On September 15-16, 1961, street
riots took place in the city, in which 700 people participated. The
riot arose from an attempt by the police to detain five people.
Armed resistance was shown to the guards of order. One person is
killed. Seven are put on trial.
Beslan gained notorious
worldwide fame in connection with the terrorist attack in city
school No. 1 in 2004.
On
September 1, 2004, school No. 1 in Beslan was seized by terrorists,
1128 children and adults were taken hostage. The terrorist attack
killed 333 people, including 186 children. More than 1000 people
turned to medical institutions for help. During the operation to
free the hostages on September 3, 2004, ten soldiers of the FSB
Special Forces Center were killed. Department "A" ("Alpha") lost
three people, and Department "B" ("Pennant") - seven.
The
terrorist act in Beslan was the latest in a series of terrorist
attacks in the spring and summer of 2004, for which, according to
the France Presse agency, referring to the Kavkaz Center website,
the Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev (assassination of Chechen
President Akhmat Kadyrov on May 9, 2004, a raid on Ingushetia on the
night of June 21-22, 2004, as well as an attack on Grozny,
explosions of two passenger planes and a terrorist attack near the
Rizhskaya metro station in Moscow in August 2004).
After the
terrorist attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 13,
2004 announced the adoption of a number of measures aimed at
improving the socio-economic situation in the Southern Federal
District of Russia, toughening the fight against terrorism and
strengthening state power in the country. In particular, Putin came
up with an initiative to abolish direct elections of top officials
of the subjects of the Federation, proposing to confirm them in
office by decisions of the legislative bodies at the suggestion of
the President. After speaking on television, Putin linked his
initiative to the Beslan tragedy. A bill to abolish direct
gubernatorial elections was developed and adopted in December 2004.