A hero policeman who rescued a six-month-old girl from a terrorist siege of a school in Russia has met the girl 17 years later in an emotional reunion.
Elbrus Gogichaev was invited to Alyona Tskaeva's graduation ceremony after he carried her to safety from the infamous attack on Beslan school number one.
A total of 334 people were killed, including 186 children, when Chechen Islamist terrorists took over the school in 2004 and held everyone inside hostage.
Alyona’s mother Fatima was trapped inside with her three children during the three-day siege.
On the second day, the terrorists allowed babies to be released from the school.
So Fatima handed her baby to Gogichaev, a special forces policeman, who cradled Alyona to safety.
Fatima then ran back inside to care for her other two children, Makharbek, three, and Kristina, six.
Incredibly Fatima was able to throw Makharbek out of a smashed window, along with other children.
But she and her third child Kristina were killed in the explosions and gunfire of the siege's third and final day.
Alyona and Makharbek were raised by their widowed father Ruslan Tskaev.
Now, 17 years later, Alyona has been reunited with the retired policeman, whom she calls Uncle Elbrus, for a very different school occasion.
They met and embraced outside the school gates, where he was heard to say: "Everything will be fine with you, Alyonka (Alyona).“
The two spoke and posed for a photograph, but the shy former officer declined to speak to reporters.
Local police officers feel guilty about their failure to save so many women and children in the siege.
Some in Russia believe police action contributed to the high number of civilian casualties.
Ahead of the graduation, Gogichaev had told friends: "I really want to see her, but I am afraid to remember all that horror."
The 32 terrorists were killed during the siege, while 700 people were injured.
