He ordered the Budyonnovsk hospital raid, Beslan school massacre and was responsible for numerous terrorists attacks on security forces in and around Chechnya and also masterminded the 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis and the 2004 Russian aircraft bombings. ABC News described him as "one of the most-wanted terrorists in the world." Despite his aura, he has been described in international media as "almost unassuming in the flesh", being "of medium height, with a bushy beard and high forehead worthy of a Moscow intellectual, and a quiet voice."