Military

DATE=10/24/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-295665

TITLE=RUSSIA / HOSTAGES (L-3RD UPDATE)

BYLINE=REBECCA SANTANA

DATELINE=MOSCOW

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

/// UPDATES CR 2-295652 ///

INTRO: Russian authorities say two women have escaped from a theater in Moscow, where Chechen separatists demanding an end to the war in Chechnya have been holding hundreds of people hostage. V-O-A's Rebecca Santana has more from the Russian capital on the standoff, which has already claimed one victim.

TEXT: Russian officials say two 18-year-old women escaped by jumping out of a second story window of the building where the hostages are being held. The Chechen gunmen fired during the incident, and a Russian police officer was slightly injured.

Earlier, a Russian official from the Federal Security Service confirmed one victim had died. Officials say she was shot Wednesday evening while trying to escape after gunmen stormed the building.

It was not clear when she died, but Russian officials Wednesday carried a body out on a stretcher, covered with a piece of cloth.

Shortly after the body was brought out, several explosions were heard in the area of the theater, but their origin was not known.

Earlier Thursday, the heavily armed Chechens released a few hostages, after threatening to blow up the theater, if Russian police tried to storm the building.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said his main priority is making sure the hostages get out safely.

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President Putin blamed the incident on criminals who he said have spread death and destruction in Chechnya and now want to spread it further.

President Putin canceled plans to attend the Asia-Pacific summit in Mexico this weekend, because of the crisis at home.

The hostage crisis began Wednesday evening, when about 40 heavily armed men and women stormed into a theater in southeastern Moscow during a performance.

The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television network broadcast a tape Thursday it said was of some of the hostage-takers, who said they were willing to sacrifice their lives for an independent Chechnya.

Many of the hostages have used their mobile phones to call the media and say they have little to eat and are exhausted. Russian lawmaker Irina Khakamada entered the theater where the hostages are held and spoke with some of the hostage-takers. She later spoke with Russia's T-V-S television.

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Ms. Khakamada said the hostage-takers did not let her see the hostages, but she was told there are some people in bad condition who need medical attention.

Witnesses say when the gunmen entered the building they fired automatic weapons and demanded an end to the war in Russia's breakaway region of Chechnya.

Separatists have been fighting Russian troops for the past three years in Chechnya.

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In 1999, a series of apartment bombings killed about 300 people. Russian officials blamed the bombings on Chechen separatists, and cited the bombings as a reason to send troops into Chechnya.

This is the second military campaign Russia has waged in Chechnya since the fall of the Soviet Union. Russian forces invaded Chechnya in 1994, only to withdraw in 1996 in a harsh defeat. (Signed)

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