MOSCOW, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- More than 24 hours have passed since Chechen separatists some 700 people hostage in a Moscow theater, and the crisis is still unfolding.
The separatists -- about 25 men in combat uniforms and 25 women in Islamic-style veils, all bearing automatic weapons and many with explosives strapped to their bodies -- mined the building and have threatened to blow it up if special forces attempt to storm the theater.
Russian politicians, foreign diplomats and a famous Russian singer have attempted to negotiate with the hostage-takers, winning the release of a woman, several children and an ill man who was later hospitalized.
But most of the 700 people taken hostage, including at least 43 foreigners from 15 countries -- and at least 30 children -- are spending the second night in captivity.
One woman was shot dead while trying to escape from the rebels, an official spokesman said Thursday.
The body of the woman, who was in her 20s, was handed over to security services but it remained unidentified, as she did not carry identification.
The hostage-takers, who have identified themselves as "suicide commandos of the 29th division," are led by Movsad Barayev, the nephew of Chechen warlord Arbi Barayev, who was reportedly killed by Russian federal forces in Chechnya last year.
They are demanding an immediate end to the war in Chechnya and the withdrawal of Russian federal forces from the separatist republic within a week.
The rebels say they ready to die for their cause, and have threatened to execute hostages if their demands are not met.
A rebel-controlled Web site said that the group had issued an ultimatum that gave the Kremlin seven days to withdraw troops from Chechnya or risk a massacre in Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has termed the continuing war as the only means to stamp out the rebels, said "we will not give in to provocation."
Following a meeting with Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, Putin said he had decided against imposing a state of emergency in the Russian capital.
The Russian leader said accused "foreign terrorist centers" of masterminding and backing the well-planned on Wednesday evening attack by Chechen rebels on a Moscow theater.
Putin discussed available options with Federal Security Service chief Nikolai Patrushev and Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov, stressing the need to ensure that the hostages' lives were not endangered.
"The main goal of our law enforcement agencies and special services in planning and conducting any operations should be freeing the hostages while ensuring their safety," he told his aides.
Putin canceled official visits to Germany and Portugal, as well as a trip to Mexico where he had planned to discuss the Iraqi crisis with U.S. President George W. Bush on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Mexico.
The Kremlin announced that Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov would represent Russia in Putin's place.
Bush and Putin held a telephone conversation Thursday, with the U.S. president offering his support to Russia amid the continuing hostage crisis, U.S. ambassador to Moscow Alexander Verhsbow said.
He said the hostages being held include three U.S. citizens and a U.S. resident with a green card, as well as Britons, Germans, Austrians, Dutch, Australians, Swiss, and one Canadian, among others.
During the day, the rebels released several more women and children hostages, as well as a man identified as a British citizen who had fallen ill.
Two young Russian women managed to escape from the building by jumping from a window to freedom, a special security service official said Thursday. One of the women was slightly injured.
Several hostages used their mobile telephones to call relatives and confirm reports the rebels had mined the theater, which is in southeast Moscow, to prevent security forces from storming the building.
Hostages, terrified that the security services might attempt such an operation, appealed to Putin to accept the demands and end the war in Chechnya.
One of the hostages, Maria Shkolnikova, was allowed to read a statement to television crews.
"We ask you to make a reasonable decision and end the war in Chechnya. Enough wars, we want peace.
"Today we are hanging between life and death. You have our lives on your conscience," the address to Putin said.
"Please find a peaceful solution or blood will be spilled," Shkolnikova pleaded.
Former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev also urged the Kremlin on Thursday to pledge a political solution to the crisis in separatist Chechnya in return for the release of the hostages and a guarantee of safe passage to another country for the gunmen.
Aslanbek Aslakhanov, a legislator representing Chechnya in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, had earlier entered the building in a bid to negotiate the release of some of the hostages.
He held several telephone conversations with the rebels, but with no result.
The rebels said that they would not negotiate with Russians but would talk to foreign ambassadors and representatives of the International Red Cross.
The Austrian, German, Hungarian, Bulgarian and Latvian ambassadors arrived at the scene and were ready to negotiate the release of all foreign nationals still held hostage, but the rebels changed their minds and said they would not let the foreigners go.
Two FBI representatives in Moscow were also at the scene as consultants, TV networks reported.
Russian security forces surrounded the theater, but made no efforts to storm it.
The rebels have released 39 women and children, but are refusing to release any more. The hostages have been split up into groups, with men, women, children and foreigners separated.
Dr. Leonid Roshal, a physician who had been allowed into the building, said that many of the hostages were unwell but that there was a general feeling of calm and resignation, rather than panic.
"On the whole, the situation is calm," he told the NTV network.
"Two or three women were nervous and needed medical help. People needed eye drops, cough medicine, tranquilizers, but there are enough medical supplies here now to last the night," he said.
Roshal said the hostages were being given water and chocolate, but no food, more than 24 hours after the crisis began, and the separatists are also not eating.
The hostage-taking incident began at about 9 p.m. local time Wednesday when armed men arrived in jeeps, entered the theater and disrupted the second act of a performance of a Russian musical hit called "Nord-Ost" by firing automatic weapons.
Women freed because they were married to Georgians or Muslims, and those who had managed to escape, said the rebels warned the audience they would mine the building.
The rebels told the hostages: "We are engaged in war."
