Putin pledges to save lives of hostages (Appeasement: "no alternative to dialogue" says FSB head)

Xinhuanet ^ | 09.02.04

[ohioconservative]

MOSCOW, Sept. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday in his first public remarks on the hostage-taking crisis in southern Russia that saving the lives of the hostages is the main goal.

"Our main purpose in the current situation is, of course, to save the lives and protect the health of those who have found themselves taken hostage. All activity of our forces engaged in releasing the hostages will be concentrated on and aimed at resolving exclusively this problem," Putin said in meeting with King Abdallah II of Jordan in the Kremlin.

A group of heavily armed militants seized a secondary school inthe North Ossetia republic Wednesday. The attackers are holding 354 hostages, including some 130 children, the republic's spokesman Lev Dzugayev said Thursday.

The hostage-taking raid has left 12 people dead, and the numberof the wounded is being ascertained, North Ossetian Interior Minister Kazbek Dzantiyev said.

A Federal Security Service (FSB) official said Russia is currently ruling out using its armed forces to free the hostages, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

"There is no alternative to dialogue. We have to expect a long and tense negotiation process," said Valery Andreyev, head of the FSB department for North Ossetian affairs.

Putin denounced the series of terrorist attacks that took place in Russia over the past days, saying "all actions have been aimed not only against particular Russian citizens but also against Russia in general," the Interfax news agency reported.

He said the hostage-taking event in North Ossetia is "horrible," not only because children are among those seized but also the action could blow up the already fragile religious situation in the region.

"We will do our utmost not to allow such developments," he said.

[ohioconservative]

When are they going to understand that dialogue with terrorists merely breeds more terrorists?

[sharktrager]

Actually, the Russian response is generally only behind Israel in it's aggression.

However, with several hundred children involved, they have got to move carefully.

Usually they negotiate long enough to plan an attack. In this case, I expect that to take longer than usual. I also expect many of the children will die, unfortunately.

[trebb]

Putin is in a hard place - it will be interesting to see how he handles it. I would be inclined to do whatever it took to save the hostages in this particular case, then turn around and go balls-to-the-wall against the Islamic Chechen terrorists. I'm sure it will cause them to become more like Hamas and just start killing instead of hostage-taking, but it will clarify their status as vermin to be wiped out without a second thought.