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No mau-mauing---for today anyway. We'll see tomorrow.

U.S. Ambassador praises Russian handling of hostage crisis
NATIONAL » :: Oct 26, 2002 Posted: 16:21 Moscow time (12:21 GMT)

MOSCOW - U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow
on Saturday congratulated the Russian
authorities for their handling of the hostage crisis
at a Moscow theater and praised them for limiting
the loss of life. "We are relieved the hostage
crisis has come to an end," the ambassador told journalists outside embassy. "We
congratulate the Russian authorities for their success in limiting the loss of innocent
life."

Russian special forces stormed the theater where Chechen gunmen were holding
hundreds of hostages before dawn Saturday, killing their leader and dozens of other
gunmen and freeing more than 700 captives. Sixty-seven hostages died in the crisis,
a top official said. No foreigners were among the hostages who were killed during the
crisis, which began Wednesday night, Russian news agencies reported, citing
diplomats at foreign missions in Moscow.

Vershbow said there were four Americans among the hostages, three citizens and a
green card holder. "As far as the American hostages are concerned, we sent consular
officials to all the hospitals where the hostages were taken," Vershbow said. "We are
in the process of establishing their welfare and whereabouts and providing for them
to receive medical care at the U.S. Embassy if they wish."

He said American security officials, including the FBI, did not take part in the
operation to free the hostages, but said they had consulted with the Russian forces
throughout the crisis. "This hostage taking was clearly a terrorist act," Vershbow said.
"The United States condemns terrorism in the strongest possible terms wherever it
occurs. There can be no justification for kidnapping and killing innocent civilians," he
said. /The Associated Press/

Oh wait. The Germans are doing the dirty work today:

German government says political solution urgent in
Chechnya
NATIONAL » :: Oct 26, 2002 Posted: 19:06 Moscow time (15:06 GMT)

BERLIN - The German government on Saturday
expressed relief over the ending of the hostage
crisis at a Moscow theater, and the country's
foreign minister said a "political solution" to the
war in Chechnya was more urgent than ever.

"The hostage-taking in Moscow once again shows that terrorism is justified by
nothing and that the threat it poses to our societies cannot be accepted," Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder said in a statement after Russian special forces stormed the
theater.

More than 700 captives were freed, but Russian authorities said 67 hostages died in
the crisis, which began Wednesday. Among those freed were two Germans, who were
receiving treatment in a Moscow hospital, according to the Foreign Ministry in Berlin.

Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said the German government was "dismayed that,
once again, many innocent people have become the victims of international
terrorism."

"The (German) government has long pushed for a peaceful solution to the conflict in
Chechnya," he added in a statement. "A political solution is needed more urgently
than ever." /The Associated Press/