Children Freed in Moscow Hostage Crisis

Eight children, who had thought they had landed the parts of their lives when they were chosen to participate in the musical "North-East", were among those to have been brutally taken hostage by Chechen separatists on Wednesday in a Moscow musical theatre.

Two days later, on Friday morning, the children were released from the theatre were hundreds of people are still being held hostage by Chechen rebels.

Looking tired, frightened, but all in good health, the children were led away by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross, who had held negotiations with the rebels inside the building.

But depite the children's release, hopes for a quick resolution of the crisis have faded: On Thursday the body of the first hostage killed by Chechen separatists was removed from the building.

Meanwhile, two 18-year-old women made a dramatic escape as medical workers entered into the theater. One was injured after the hostage-takers fired grenades from bazookas at the women, but the other escaped without injury.

Hundreds of hostages – reports on the exact number varied from 700 to nearly 1,000 – were still being held by the Chechen separatists who had burst into the theatre Wednesday night, firing shots and yelling “Stop the war in Chechnya.”

The Reuters news agency reported that 150 hostages had been released on Wednesday night and a handful more were released Thursday morning.

The Chechens refused on Thursday morning, however, to release several dozen Western hostages -- including seven Germans, four Americans, four Canadians and two Austrians – after diplomats called to witness their release arrived too late.

“We had an arrangement that the foreigners would be released after embassy representatives got involved (in negotiations). All the conditions had been met,” Alexander Machevsky, spokesman for the crisis cell handling the case, told Reuters.

“The representatives arrived at the operations center but unfortunately they didn't get there on time and the agreement was broken,” he added.

On Thursday morning, the Chechen separatists held an inconclusive round of telephone negotiations with Russian officials, according to a report from one of the hostages. The Chechens had demanded that Russian troops withdraw from their homeland within seven days.

Details about the apparent shooting of one hostage were unclear, though officials in Moscow confirmed the report.

Analysis of terror

Gasan Gusejnov, an expert on ethnic conflics in the former Soviet Union and who has taught about Chechen history and politics at the Heinrich Heine University in Dusseldorf, said there are two clear directions among Chechen rebels: Those who act locally and are campaigning for an independent Chechen state and those who are involved with international terrorist groups.

Gusejnov said he believes the Moscow kidnappers belong to Chechen separatists. “I don’t think they are connected directly with the Taliban,” he said. “I’m sure there’s no connection. But I am quite sure it’s a strong coup against Putin.”

In his first public statement on the hostage situation, Putin by contrast said on Thursday that he believed the kidnapping was planned in “foreign terrorist centers.”

Putin calls off Berlin visit

Putin had planned to visit German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder on Thursday to discuss the Iraq situation, but cancelled the trip because of the hostage crisis.

Putin also canceled a plans to attend a summit of Asia-Pacific nations in Mexico, and said Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov would take his place.

Many European leaders contacted Putin on Thursday with messages of support and condemnations of terrorists. Schröder expressed hope for a "fast, peaceful end" to the hostage situation.

Portuguese Foreign Minister Antonio Martins da Cruz, acting president of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said in a statement: “No political motivation can justify the use of force against innocent civilians. Extremism and fanaticism can only contribute to worsen the prospects for a political settlement of conflicts and tensions.”

In Moscow, meanwhile, the hostage-taking left residents scared and angry. Outside the theater, Reuters reported that one older man shouted at police: “Is this going to be a second Budennovsk?” In 1995, 120 people died when Chechens raided a hospital in the southern Russian town.

Confusion reined as the hostage-takers decided to release children and Muslims from the group. Relatives of the people inside the theater gathered outside in hopes of seeing their loved ones, but most were disappointed.

Religion in Chechnya

While the form of Islam practiced in Chechnya – Sufism – is the mystical, contemplative part of this religion, Gusejnov said that religion has been instrumentalized in the region since the end of the 1980s.

“They were under strong influence from missionaries from Saudi Arabia and at the same time, Islam allows them to recruit lots of representatives of different ethnic groups for their goals,” he said.