The newspaper further concludes that the shootings had been instigated by the federal forces, which were trying to infiltrate the theater thereby instigating the rebels to drastic action. "According to the hostages, a man in bloodied clothing came into the theater's main hall at about midnight Friday, saying he had burst through police cordons to find his son, Roman. When the boy was not found in the hall, the hostage takers dragged the man into the lobby and apparently killed him. The Chechens suspected him of being a Federal Security Service agent."

The Times concludes that the rebels were correct in their suspicions. "One of the hostages, who did not want to be named, said Sunday that FSB officers confirmed to him in private conversations in the hospital that the man was a secret service agent."

In a leading article in the Moscow Times, Boris Kagarlitsky similarly confirms that "law enforcement officials admitted that the raid had been planned in advance, and that they had intentionally taunted the gunmen with "leaks" about the upcoming attack in an attempt to keep the gunmen off-balance (and thereby goad them into starting a fight). It appears that the gunmen did open fire on the hostages, but only after the raid was already underway, when people panicked and some likely tried to escape."