Russia's Putin Ready for Contacts over Moscow Hostage Crisis

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, October 26, 2002

Russia's Putin Ready for Contacts over Moscow Hostage Crisis

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Friday that he is ready for all contacts over hostage-taking crisis in which Chechen rebels are holding 700 people in a Moscow theater.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Friday that he is ready for all contacts over hostage-taking crisis in which Chechen rebels are holding 700 people in a Moscow theater.

The authorities "are open to any contacts. All my proposals remain in force," Putin told a meeting with leaders of Russian State Duma factions.

"It would be most correct to speak about joint and coordinated approaches to the solution of one task -- the preservation of lives of people, who remain in the theater building," Putin said. Putin described hostage situation very grave.

Everyone involved in the negotiations with the terrorists must keep to the rules, Putin said. "It does not matter who they are --deputies, the press or average citizens," he noted.

"First and foremost, we need a sober and objective assessment of the events and balanced and precise actions targeted at the assistance to people and the preservation of their lives," Putin said.

"The people, who have taken hostages and called for the termination of the war in Chechnya, and those behind their backs fear further settlement and stabilization in the republic," Putin said. They want to thwart this process, he remarked.

Putin called for "an end to any sorts of political statements and debates" on the hostage situation in Moscow.

"They are inappropriate and harmful, especially when it is a matter of sufferings of hundreds of innocent people," he said.

"It is important to estimate the value of every pronounced wordand every step made, because the lives of our citizens may depend on them," he stressed.

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