Most important – to prevent victims among hostages

During his press-conference at the airport “Kazan” Tatarstan President Mintimer Shaimiev called hostage taking by a group of terrorist in Moscow a long-to-heal bleeding wound of the Russian Federation.

As a matter of fact this wound springs from attempts to solve the Chechen problem by force, said the Tatarstan leader. I am seriously worried by the fact that there are young women among the Chechens. If it has got so far, I think it is not enough to try to explain the situation by Islamic fanaticism. It means that the motivation of the behavior of these people includes many other factors which unfortunately have been accumulating during all these years. The most important is to prevent bloodshed, victims above all among the hostages. According to M.Shaimiev, there should be a search of all ways, all forms, as the terrorist are apparently ready for anything.