Possible Test of Nerve Gas?

[Annie]

I wonder if it's being reported here?

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=2439242005

Nerve-gas fears after 45 fall sick
MARGARET NEIGHBOUR

AT LEAST 45 people, most of them children, have been hospitalised in the Russian region of Chechnya with an illness that doctors say might be nerve-gas poisoning.

Pupils, teachers and workers began reporting breathing trouble and headaches on Friday at a school in the town of Starogladovskaya, emergency workers said.

As of yesterday, 38 children and seven teachers had been hospitalised, said Oleg Ugnivenko, a spokesman for emergency situations ministry. Preliminary investigation points to an unspecified kind of nerve gas, said emergency workers and Chechen government officials.

Separatist rebels, who have been fighting Russian forces in Chechnya for most of the past decade, have committed a series of terrorist attacks in Chechnya and other parts of Russia, including the seizure of hostages in a school in Beslan in 2004.

The Chechen prosecutor general, Valery Kuznetsov, was reported yesterday as saying that "to speak about a terrorist act is premature" but "all possibilities are being considered".

• Residents of a far eastern Russian city stocked up on water yesterday before the arrival of a toxic chemical slick that might force authorities to shut off water and central heating, despite subzero temperatures.

The chemicals that spilled last month from a factory explosion upriver in China were expected to reach Khabarovsk by today. Hot water supplies might have to be suspended for up to seven days and cold water for three days.

"We hope we can deal with the situation but we have to prepare ourselves for a cutoff of water supplies," said the regional governor, Viktor Ishaev.

 

[Annie]

Nope, only Stratfor, which is hardly MSM. Found this in Moscow Times, though one will note, it's AP:

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/12/21/031.html

35 Chechens Hospitalized

ROSTOV-ON-DON -- More than 35 people, most of them children, in Chechnya have been hospitalized with illness that preliminary diagnosis indicates could be nerve-gas poisoning, officials said Tuesday.

The ill include students, teachers and workers at a middle school in the town of Starogladovskaya, said Vladimir Gerasin, a spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry's office for southern Russia. Preliminary investigation points to an unspecified kind of nerve gas, Gerasin and Chechen administration officials said.

Chechen Prosecutor Valery Kuznetsov said that "to speak about a terrorist act is premature." (AP)