Survival Tips for Extreme Situations
How should one behave to stay alive during a terrorist takeover? Yuri POGIBA, a retired colonel of the State National Security Committee, president of the International Association of Veterans of the Anti-Terrorism Unit "Alpha" of the Kyrgyz Republic, answers this and other questions specifically for the readers of "AiF".
- Yuri Leonidovich, besides explosions in crowded places, hostage-taking has always been the most common type of terrorist act. How do captured individuals usually behave?
- There is no universal model of behavior for a person taken hostage. Some may fall into a stupor, others may start to panic, while some may even show excessive aggression: they begin to attack the terrorists and try to take their weapons. Such individuals typically die first. There is always a certain percentage of citizens who will behave completely inadequately. It is especially frightening if there are women and children among the hostages: predicting their behavior is the most challenging.
- How should one behave if, God forbid, you find yourself a hostage?
- Terrorism today is a global problem, so anything is possible. If you find yourself in such a misfortune as falling into the hands of terrorists, the most important thing is to do everything possible to avoid panic: breathe deeply, pray if you are religious, recall the multiplication table, your favorite poems... You need to distract yourself from the situation you are in by any means. However, calmness does not mean despair. Do not isolate yourself or fall into complete apathy. After all, this is usually what terrorists aim for - complete submission. It is important for a person to monitor the situation - you need to notice, hear, and remember what is happening: what the terrorists are discussing among themselves, what they look like, who their leader is, what their plans are, and how roles are distributed. In the future, your knowledge will be useful to law enforcement agencies in their work. For this, you need to be calm and attentive.
What else is very important to know? That you will definitely be freed. This will not happen instantly, but it will happen. As practice has shown, 99% of hostages are always released. Neither the state nor society will abandon their citizens in such a situation. By any possible and impossible means - whether through negotiation or force - they will extract you from the clutches of terrorists. I say this as a specialist. The level of special forces, such as "Alpha" and other law enforcement agencies, is quite sufficient for conducting operations of this type. You need to be patient, cautious, and not provoke aggression from the terrorists.
- Are there any signs that an assault is about to begin?
- The specifics of any law enforcement operation largely rely on the element of surprise. Therefore, until the last terrorist is captured, none of the hostages will know when their rescue operation will begin.
- What should one do during the rescue operation?
- When the assault begins, you should immediately lie on the floor and not move. It is best to stay lying down until the special forces allow you to get up. Otherwise, your activity will only interfere with the special forces. It is best to lie closer to the walls: in the so-called "dead zone" - it is not shot through from the outside. Under no circumstances should you lie near windows and doors - shards of glass or wooden debris can injure you.
- What if the assault has already begun?
- If you hear the sounds of explosions from flashbangs or gas grenades or gunfire, there is no point in running and hiding against the wall. You need to immediately drop to the floor on your stomach, cover your head with your hands, close your eyes, and under no circumstances rub them. But the most important thing is to stay away from the terrorists during the assault, as specialists will be "working" on them at that moment. You will only hinder them and put your life in even greater danger. I would not give any more detailed recommendations - each case of hostage-taking by terrorists is different from others.
- Should one obey the commands of the terrorists?
- The most reasonable tactic here is passive cooperation. What does this mean? First, you should not enter into a harsh contradiction with the terrorists. You should speak to them as calmly as possible. If they do not force you to take a weapon and shoot at your own, but rather ask you to bring water or do something similar, then you should comply. On the other hand, if there is an urgent need for something, such as medicine, do not hesitate to approach the terrorists, appealing to certain matters. For example, asking for the release of children, the elderly, pregnant women, and the sick, if they happen to be there.
- Is there a difference for a hostage in what kind of weapons the terrorists are armed with - firearms, a "suicide belt," or something else?
- There is no difference. Regardless of what the terrorist is armed with, the rules of behavior outlined above do not change. The danger does not come from the type of weapon the terrorist has, but from the terrorist themselves. A knife in the hands of a terrorist is no less dangerous than a gun or a grenade: "dagger-wielders" - "sicarii" in ancient Palestine, "hashishin" in the Middle East during the Middle Ages, the street "knife intifada" in present-day Israel. And let's not forget recent incidents, like the daytime attack on Kadyr Malikov. The criminals used knives.
- Why did the police initially claim that it was just a hooligan attack?
- In the case of Kadyr Malikov, the law enforcement and other state structures involved in capturing the criminals worked excellently in cooperation with their Turkish colleagues. Within two hours, the people who attacked the theologian were identified. All participants in this operation were initially focused on the end result. Civilians do not know that in such matters, secrecy is always paramount. The goal is to prevent any leakage of information about the real actions of law enforcement agencies.
In general, to avoid becoming hostages, society itself must be uncompromising not only towards manifestations of terrorism but also, first and foremost, towards those involved in it.
- If we think rationally, who is the current terrorist?
- Anyone. For example, in 2006, the State National Security Committee conducted a special operation to eliminate a terrorist group. It turned out that the leader of this gang was a person who had been baking and selling tandoor bread in the area of Bishkek's "Rabochiy Gorodok" for three years. The location was very busy because his baked goods were the tastiest. In ordinary life, he was considered a responsive and quite normal person.
- How can such people be recognized? What should be done?
- The fight against terrorism is not only the responsibility of special services but also of every citizen. Without public involvement, any special service is nothing. Its representatives come from the people, and therefore they should rely on them in ensuring the country's security to prevent extreme and emergency situations related to the risk of peaceful people being taken hostage, rather than discussing how to avoid it.
There needs to be a coordinated effort from all state and public structures to educate children, youth, and the general population. Society must collectively develop a strong immunity to any manifestations of terrorism - religious or otherwise. The primary role falls on the institution of the family. Blaming everything on the state is not acceptable. It is the family that first notices when something strange is happening with one of its members, when a person begins to behave inadequately. If such behavior suddenly appears, it is time to think and take action. After all, terrorist organizations consist not only of impoverished individuals and marginalized people.
- Can educational institutions help in this matter?
- The school is the second institution after the family that establishes the rules of life in society. The need to introduce the teaching of the fundamentals of all world traditional religions in all schools has long been overdue. In these lessons, it is necessary to model in children's minds a clear understanding of the necessity of peaceful coexistence of religions, especially in our multi-confessional country. What is wrong with a person from school age understanding what is truth and what is not? After all, the devil, as we know, always takes the unsteady souls. I have personally encountered people who identified themselves as Muslims - even performing the Hajj in Mecca - but did not really understand whether they were Shia or Sunni. What can we say about children and teenagers today, who practically have no immunity against recruiters and preachers of religious extremism?
By the way, we have planned to hold the II International Anti-Terrorism Forum in Bishkek next spring - the first was in Volgograd, where we will definitely raise these issues before the expert community and state structures.
In conclusion of our conversation, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all employees of the State National Security Committee - both active and those who are retired - on the upcoming holiday - the Day of the Formation of State Security Bodies!
