SHOTLIST:

1. Wide shot Russian President Vladimir Putin in emergency meeting with Nikolai Patrushev, head of the Federal Security Service, and Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov

2. Various close ups Patrushev and Gryzlov, pull out to wide shot meeting

3. Wide shot meeting

4. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Vladimir Putin, Russian President:

"The first information we had from the representatives of the terrorists who took the hostages in Moscow last night came from abroad. This reconfirms that this terrorist outrage can be considered one of the biggest to be carried out on a national as well as an international scale, and that it was planned in foreign terrorist centres. The plan was formed there and the executors of this plan were to be found there too. There's no doubt that these are the very same criminals who have terrorised Chechnya for years and who are today calling for an end to military action. These are the people who have sown death and destruction both inside and outside the boundaries of Chechnya and who want to spread the violence further. The main goal of our law enforcement agencies and special services in planning and carrying out any measures nevertheless should be directed at freeing the captives with the maximum guarantee of their safety."

5. Various close ups Patrushev and Gryzlov

STORYLINE:

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared on Thursday that the overriding goal of police and troops in the Moscow hostage crisis must be to free the hostages in a way that ensures their safety.

Putin made the statement at the opening of a meeting with Nikolai Patrushev, head of the Federal Security Service, and Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov, to discuss measures to end the hostage-taking that began when about 40 Chechen gunmen stormed a Moscow theatre on Wednesday night.

Putin called the raid a major terrorist attack on both a national and international scale, and contended that it had been planned abroad and led by the same people acting against Russian forces in Chechnya.

SHOTLIST:

APTN

1. Various of armoured personnel carriers and troops that are encircling the theatre

2. Mid shot of elite Russian troops

3. Close-up on APC driver in his seat

4. Various of elite troops standing-by and later moving into position

5. Ambulance drives by camera

6. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Valery Gribakin, Moscow police spokesman:

"Their demands remain the same - settlement in Chechnya."

7. Soldiers form human barricade

8. Wide of Police and bus near scene of siege

RTR

9. Theatre doors

10. Various of troops getting into positions

11. Mid of theatre

RTR

12. High shot of theatre under siege

13. Mid-shot of car park in front of the theatre

14. Convoy of security vehicles and buses drives towards the theatre

15. Troops walking down the street

16. Various of firemen working by manhole

17. Various of security with trained dogs

18. Troops milling about

19. Various of armoured car crews standing beside their vehicles

20. High shot of theatre

21. Wide of security vehicles and troops positioned at the end of the street with lights flashing

RTR

22. Ground-level shot of theatre

23. Various of security outside theatre

24. SOUNDBITE: (Russia) Konstantin, eyewitness:

"After the first scene of the second half of the show, masked people rushed into the hall and started shooting."

25. Various of security

26. SOUNDBITE: (Russia) Konstantin, eyewitness:

"We heard that the hostage-takers shouted 'Georgians, Abkhazians and Chechens among the audience can leave. I think, but can't be sure, that they also said all foreigners could leave as well if they had a foreign passport to show. Everyone else had to stay inside the hall. I escaped through the window on the third floor."

27. Security

28. Exterior of theatre

APTN

29. Various of security surrounding theatre where hostages are being held

30. Various of security pushing reporters away from area

RTR

31. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Valery Gribakin, Moscow police spokesman:

"According to released hostages' reports, there are about forty hostage-takers. Some of them are masked. They are of non-Slavic origin. Their first demands that we heard were for 'Settlement in Chechnya.'"

APTN

32. Close-up of theatre entrance

33. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Valery Gribakin, Moscow police spokesman:

"They are armed with automatic weapons... we hear that they've got explosives as well. We're working now with people they released trying to get more information."

34. Police at the scene

APTN

35. Police at the scene

36. Various of police officers filing past camera

37. Ambulance arrives at the scene

38. Police emergency lights flashing

39. Cutaway to crowd

40. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Husband of the hostage (no name provided):

"My wife is there - 19 row, place 34 if anyone wants to know. She went there with her friend. She told me the hostage takers with explosives demand the end of the war in Chechnya. And if police will try to storm (the building), they will blow up the whole place."

41. Police road block and armed soldier walking by

42. Various of soldier blocking the road

RTR

43. Various of Russian security troops moving forward in a line

44. Media pushed back by troops

45. Various of soldiers in riot gear running down the street

46. Close-up of troops forcing reporters away from the scene

47. Wide shot with armoured car in the distance

49. Cutaway to officers conferring

50. Police car drives past camera

51. Various of troops forming human barrier

52. Cutaway to onlookers

53. High-wide shot of the theatre

STORYLINE:

Ranks of crack Russian troops have encircled a popular Moscow theatre where about 40 well-armed Chechens were holding hundreds of people hostage on Thursday.

In the hours before dawn the elite forces, including members of the Alpha special forces unit, took up positions in a cordon around the building that the Chechens have threatened to blow up if the security forces try to storm it.

Russian authorities were attempting to open negotiations with the hostage-takers who several hours before had burst into the theatre, fired their weapons and demanded that Russia end the war in Chechnya.

The crackle of automatic gunfire rang out sporadically during the hostage-taking, which Russian military experts said was extremely well-planned, in a working class district in the Russian capital.

The drama in Moscow was a humiliation for President Vladimir Putin, who consistently claims that Russia has the situation in Chechnya, a mainly Muslim republic in southern Russia, under control.

Putin canceled a trip to Germany and Portugal on Thursday, his press spokesman, Alexei Gromov, told Interfax.

About 100 women and children had been released, Moscow police spokesman Valery Gribakin said.

Two pregnant women and some people who felt unwell also were freed.

The freed hostages were distraught, sobbing and shaking as they emerged.

Inside the theatre, frantic hostages called their families, television and radio stations on their cell phones.

Outside, desperate Muscovites waited in freezing rain in the dark for news of their relatives.

"The terrorists are demanding one thing - the end to the war in Chechnya," Gribakin said.

Gribakin, the police spokesman, said there were about 600 people inside the theatre when it was seized.

Russian news reports said three Germans and three British citizens were inside.

SHOTLIST:

RTR

1. High shot of theatre under siege

2. Mid-shot of car park in front of the theatre

3. Convoy of security vehicles and buses drives towards the theatre

4. Troops walking down the street

5. Wide of the convoy getting closer

6. Close-up of buses making their way towards scene of the hostage siege

7. Wide high shot from across the block

8. Various of firemen working by manhole

9. More vehicles approach the scene

10. Various of security with trained dogs

11. Troops milling about

12. Various of armoured car crews standing beside their vehicles

13. High shot of theatre

14. Wide of security vehicles and troops positioned at the end of the street with lights flashing

RTR

15. Ground-level shot of theatre

16. Various of security outside theatre

17. SOUNDBITE: (Russia) Konstantin, eyewitness:

"After the first scene of the second half of the show, masked people rushed into the hall and started shooting."

18. Various of security

19. SOUNDBITE: (Russia) Konstantin, eyewitness:

"We heard that the hostage-takers shouted 'Georgians, Abkhazians and Chechens among the audience can leave. I think, but can't be sure, that they also said all foreigners could leave as well if they had a foreign passport to show. Everyone else had to stay inside the hall. I escaped through the window on the third floor."

20. Security

21. Exterior of theatre

APTN

22. Various of the theatre where hostages are being held

23. Various of security pushing reporters away from area

RTR

24. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Valery Gribakin, Moscow police spokesman:

"According to released hostages' reports, there are about forty hostage-takers. Some of them are masked.

They are of non-Slavic origin. Their first demands that we heard were for 'Settlement in Chechnya.'"

APTN

25. Close-up of theatre entrance

26. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Valery Gribakov, Moscow police spokesman:

"They are armed with automatic weapons... we hear that they've got explosives as well. We're working now with people they released trying to get more information."

27. Police at the scene

APTN

28. Police at the scene

29. Various of police officers filing past camera

30. Ambulance arrives at the scene

31. Police emergency lights flashing

32. Cutaway to crowd

33. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Husband of the hostage (no name provided):

"My wife is there - 19 row, place 34 if anyone wants to know. She went there with her friend. She told me the hostage takers with explosives demand the end of the war in Chechnya. And if police will try to storm (the building), they will blow up the whole place."

34. Police road block and armed soldier walking by

35. Various of soldier blocking the road

RTR

36. Various of Russian security troops moving forward in a line

37. Media pushed back by troops

38. Various Wide of soldiers in riot gear running down the street

39. Wide of troops marshalling in the street

40. Close-up of troops forcing reporters away from the scene

41. Wide shot with armoured car in the distance

42. Cutaway to officers conferring

43. Police car drives past camera

44. Various of troops forming human barrier

45. Cutaway to onlookers

46. High-wide shot of the theatre

STORYLINE:

About 40 well-armed Chechens held hundreds of people hostage in a theatre early on Thursday and were threatening to shoot the audience and blow up the building if Russian security forces tried to storm their way in.

Russian authorities were attempting to open negotiations with the hostage-takers who several hours before had burst into the theatre, fired their weapons and demanded that Russia end the war in Chechnya.

The crackle of automatic gunfire rang out sporadically during the hostage-taking, which Russian military experts said was extremely well-planned, in a working class district in the Russian capital.

The drama in Moscow was a humiliation for President Vladimir Putin, who consistently claims that Russia has the situation in Chechnya, a mainly Muslim republic in southern Russia, under control.

Putin canceled a trip to Germany and Portugal on Thursday, his press spokesman, Alexei Gromov, told Interfax.

About 100 women and children had been released, Moscow police spokesman Valery Gribakin said. Two pregnant women and some people who felt unwell also were freed. The freed hostages were distraught, sobbing and shaking as they emerged.

Inside the theatre, frantic hostages called their families, television and radio stations on their cell phones.

Outside, desperate Muscovites waited in freezing rain in the dark for news of their relatives.

"The terrorists are demanding one thing - the end to the war in Chechnya," Gribakin said.

Gribakin, the police spokesman, said there were about 600 people inside the theatre when it was seized.

Russian news reports said three Germans and three British citizens were inside.

SHOTLIST:

APTN

1. Tracking shot of hostage negotiators holding white sheet, entering theatre

2. Tracking shot of children released from theatre walking towards police van (security officials in foreground)

3. Mid shot of police, media and police vehicles, children and woman carrying child getting into vehicle

RTR

4. Sergei Ignatchenko, Federal Security Service spokesman, walking to give statement

5. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Sergei Ignatchenko, Federal Security Service spokesman:

"At the moment contact has been made with the terrorists. Of them, one of the terrorists who introduced himself as Abu Said, made a statement. The main demands of the terrorists is the cessation of war in Chechnya. Those demands that they have announced before this time, they have fulfilled. Among the demands made by them were conversations with representatives of the international press. At this present moment, at the negotiations with the terrorists are a group including two representatives of the Red Cross, who are Swiss, the British correspondent (name unclear) and Iosif Kobzon (a parliament member and singer), who you all know. The main task facing the united headquarters, the united operation headquarters which consists of the Federal Security Service, the Interior Ministry, the prosecutors office and other government bodies, the task is to save the people - the captives. Therefore within the framework of this task, various measures are being taken including the main measure the carrying out of negotiations which is being worked on by specialist psychologists. In so far as the terrorists have said, Abu Said announced that (the terrorists) are approximately 50 people - 25 men, 25 women. They have explosives and mines and they are ready to go to any lengths. And that's all we can say at this moment."

6. Ignatchenko walking away

STORYLINE:

Some of the hundreds of people being held hostage by heavily armed Chechens in a Moscow theatre emerged Thursday afternoon, shortly after a group of four mediators bearing a white flag entered the building to seek an end to the standoff.

The Russian news agency Itar Tass reported that five hostages were released, including three children.

On Thursday the hostage-takers demanded to talk with Iosif Kobzon, a parliament member and singer who has performed songs lauding Chechnya, and with International Red Cross representatives.

The Chechen rebels stormed the theatre on Wednesday night and threatened to shoot the audience and blow up the building if Russian security forces tried to enter the building.

The attackers are demanding that Russia ends its war in Chechnya.

Russia has tried to rally support for its three-year war in the breakaway Chechnya by saying that Chechen rebels were part of international terrorist network and must be fought until the end.

SHOTLIST

RTR Material

1. Long shot (through tree branches) of released hostage Maria Shkolnikova walking, speaking on phone; Shkolnikova holds up her hands and letters, and walks towards building

APTN Material

2. Close shot of Shkolnikova trying to speak as she is jostled by crowd of journalists and relatives of hostages:

3. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Maria Shkolnikova, released hostage:

"There's a very difficult situation in there and we want.. don't jostle me (commotion). There are a lot of people in there who find themselves in a very difficult situation. They ask you earnestly that people pay attention to this Chechen problem, that people support the exit of troops from Chechnya. The people who are sitting there, who they are is unknown. These people are completely basing their hopes on people outside the hall. And here I have a declaration.. don't hold me, don't push me. (commotion)."

4. Close shot of Shkolnikova standing separate from crowd, pull out to wide shot

5. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Maria Shkolnikova, released hostage:

"Here's a declaration that the people inside (the hostages) wanted to give to our president, and everybody who is outside the hall. We earnestly ask that you pay attention to the problems of Chechnya. (inaudible) This is the letter written by the people (hostages) who are sitting in there: We are turning our attention to you, we captives in the theatre. We, men, youths, women and children ask you to take the reasonable decision to stop military actions in Chechnya. Enough of war. We want peace. You who are at the summit of power should solve these problems. You decide these questions, we only (see) them. Today we find ourselves in a situation of life and death -- Sorry I'm reading handwriting I don't know -- we have parents, brothers sisters and children. (Our) lives are on your consciences.. Our lives. (sighs) We ask you to solve this problem in a peaceful way, otherwise there will be too much blood spilt."

6. Shkolnikova stops reading from letter

7. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Maria Shkolnikova, released hostage:

"I just spoke now with with someone from the White House and asked to meet with the President. I spoke with (liberal politician Grigory) Yavlinksy, he had just landed from Tomsk, where he was at the funeral of the governor. We talked with all sorts of officials. They are supporting the resolution of this conflict by peaceful means. Because if this situation drags on, the people there (the gunmen) are very serious. And they won't wait a long time. A lot has changed in there. The people in there (the hostages) are in a very difficult position. We have been asking since this morning for doctors from the Red Cross but the doctors did not arrive. Instead there 20 superfluous officials arrived. We quickly need a doctor from the Red Cross in order to help a person who is a very bad way - you could count his life in minutes if he is not taken out. Please organise this is you hear me. I would like to tell you that these people (the gunmen) didn't come specifically to kill the people who are inside, they came in order to attract attention in the most extreme way possible. I don't agree with the methods that they are using. But in the situation that we find ourselves in, this should not be ignored."

8. Close shot of Shkolnikova as security officers direct her into building and police tell journalists the news conference is over

STORYLINE

A woman released from the Moscow theatre where Chechen gunmen have taken about 600 people captive has delivered a plea from the hostages to take their attacker's demands seriously.

Maria Shkolnikova told a crowd of journalists and the relatives of hostages waiting near the theatre that they were in of life or death situation.

Reading out from letters written by the hostages, she said that "our lives are on your consciences.. We ask you to solve this problem in a peaceful way, otherwise there will be too much blood spilt."

Shkolnikova was one of a handful of hostages freed on Thursday after negotiators entered the building bearing a white flag.

The assailants who stormed the theatre on Wednesday night have demanded a Russian military withdrawal from Chechnya and threatened to shoot the audience and blow-up the building if it is stormed by Russian security forces.

Shkolnikova left the theatre clutching several handwritten letters penned by the hostages. She described her talks with politicians and officials since leaving the theatre, and requested emergency medical treatment for at least one hostage who may be seriously ill.

The four negotiators who entered the theater met with six hostage-takers, all of them wearing masks, said Federal Security Service spokesman Sergei Ignatchenko. He said there were about 50 hostage takers.

Over the past decade Chechens or their sympathisers have been involved in a number of bold, often bloody hostage-taking situations in southern Russian provinces, especially in Dagestan.

Russian forces left Chechnya in 1996 after a disastrous two-year war but returned in 1999 after rebels raided a neighboring region and Russian authorities blamed rebels for a series of apartment bombings in Russia that killed more than 300 people.

SHOTLIST:

APTN

1. Wide shot of entrance to the theatre with hostages

2. Wide shot armed police taking up position near the theatre

3. Close shot police

4. Police positions

5. Mid shot police snipers

6. Police officer running

7. Ambulances arriving

8. Street near the theatre

RTR

9. Various drinks being taken into theatre

APTN

10. Mid shot Red Cross officers walking

11. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Maria Tarasenko, Russian Red Cross:

"There is little to say. We just deliver medicines for those who need them."

12. Street near the theatre with Interior Ministry troops

13. Armoured vehicle on the street

14. Police officers

15. Interior ministry troops marching

16. Troops

17. Wide shot troops walking

POOL

18. Wide shot Russian Interior Minister, Boris Gryzlov and Head of the Federal Security Service, Nikolai Patrushev

19. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Boris Gryzlov, Russian Interior Minister:

"The situation with hostages is difficult. That's the only word you can use. There are big problems with food and drinking water. Some hostages need medical help which they don't get and there are also other problems."

20. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Nikolai Patrushev, Head of the Federal Security Service:

"We are in discussions and we hope they bring results. First of all I'm talking about the release of hostages. If they're going to be released then the terrorists' lives are going to be guaranteed."

APTN

(Night shots)

21. Various of theatre

(Night shots)

22. Hostages being released

23. Close up Russian security forces

24. Wide of security forces moving across road

STORYLINE:

Gunmen holding hundreds of hostages in a Moscow theatre threatened to begin killing them at dawn on Saturday if their demands were not met, a spokeswoman for the musical that was interrupted by the raid said on Friday.

Daria Morgunova told The Associated Press that she was informed of the threat by one of the actors being held

hostage and that the call had come about 3 pm (1100 GMT) on Friday.

That was about two hours before Federal Security Service chief Nikolai Patrushev said the lives of the approximately

50 assailants would be guaranteed if they released all the hostages.

Throughout the crisis, which is approaching its third day, the gunmen have demanded Russian troops withdraw from the rebel republic of Chechnya.

They have also said they are ready to die - and take the hostages with them - if that demand is not met.

The gunmen released a total of 15 hostages, but an earlier reported promise to free all the estimated 75

foreigners among the captives went unfulfilled.

Meanwhile, officials from the Russian Red Cross continued their efforts on Friday afternoon to provide medicines for the hostages.

As the standoff continues, the Interior Ministry is sending more troops into the downtown area in the capital, although officials deny that they are planning an assault on the theatre.

At around 1800 gmt (9pm local) a further 4 hostages were released. A spokesman for the FSB confirmed the four were Azerbijani citizens.

SHOTLIST: NB: no slate at the start of story

RTR

1. Wide shot of theatre

2. Various of security outside theatre

3. SOUNDBITE (Russia) Konstantin, eyewitness of hostage-taking who escaped:

"After the first scene of the second half of the show, masked people rushed into the hall and started shooting."

4. Security

5. SOUNDBITE (Russia) Konstantin, eyewitness:

"We heard that the hostage-takers shouted 'Georgians, Abkhazians and Chechens among the audience can leave.' I think, but can't be sure, that they also said all foreigners could leave as well if they had a foreign passport to show. Everyone else had to stay inside the hall. I escaped through the window on the third floor."

6. Security

7. Exterior of theatre

APTN

8. Various of the theatre where hostages are being held

9. Various of security pushing reporters away from area

RTR

10. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Valery Gribakin, Moscow police spokesman:

"According to released hostages' reports, there are about forty hostage-takers. Some of them are masked.

They are of non-Slavic origin. Their first demands that we heard were for 'Settlement in Chechnya.'"

APTN

11. Close-up of theatre entrance

12. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Valery Gribakov, Moscow police spokesman:

"They are armed with automatic weapons... we hear that they've got explosives as well. We're working now with people they released trying to get more information."

13. Police at the scene

STORYLINE:

A group of armed Chechens demanding an end to the war in Chechnya seized a crowded Moscow theatre on Wednesday and took the audience of several hundred people captive, according to authorities in the Russian capital.

Reports said that when police and security forces surrounded the theatre, the attackers opened fired and threw a grenade.

Moscow police spokesman Valery Gribakin told reporters that up to 50 armed men and women who were of "non-Slavic" origin were inside the building.

According to Russian news reports, armed men and women wearing camouflage clothing arrived in jeeps just as the second act of a popular musical, "Nord-Ost," was about to begin at the theatre in a Moscow suburb.

Gribakin said there were about 600 people inside the theater when it was seized.

SHOTLIST:

NIGHT SHOTS

1. Wide shot of theatre

2. Released woman walking away from theatre entrance

3. Woman reaches security officials who escort her away

4. Wide shot of theatre

5. Ambulances drive toward theatre

6. Various of security forces unloading equipment from vehicles

7. Second released hostage walks through theatre car park

STORYLINE:

Around fifteen teenagers are believed to have been released from a Moscow theatre where hundreds of theatre-goers are being held captive by Chechen rebels.

Armed Chechens seized the theatre on Wednesday and took the entire audience captive but since then have released about 100 women and children, according to a Moscow police spokesman.

SHOTLIST:

1. Ambulance rushes to the scene lights flashing

2. Soldiers take up firing positions

3. Various of armoured cars moving into position with troops running past

4. Cutaway to waiting media and ambulance drives by

5. Various of emergency vehicles, lights flashing, moving in to receive the wounded

6. Cutaway to media scrum

7. Various of people, suspected to be hostages, running across the road

8. Troops running towards theatre

9. Various of troops milling around

10. Various of ambulances and troops waiting in the street

11. Various of medical vans heading away from the scene of the siege

12. Police cars move in

13. Various of troops and emergency personnel

14. Various close-ups of emergency vehicles rushing to the scene of the shoot-out

STORYLINE:

A bold pre-dawn raid by crack Russian commandoes has ended a tense four-day siege in the country's capital with what's believed to be a minimum loss of life among the 700 captives but fatal consequences for most of the hostage-takers.

Special forces stormed the theatre where Chechen gunmen were holding hundreds of hostages on Saturday, killing their leader and dozens of other gunmen and freeing most of the captives.

But Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Vasilyev said at the scene that some of the gunmen apparently had escaped into the sprawling Russian capital.

Dozens of bodies were seen being removed from the theatre in the working-class neighbourhood about 4 kilometres (2.7) miles southeast of the Kremlin. Some of the bodies appeared to be those of hostages.

Other people were loaded into buses, many of them appearing to be in shock or unconscious.

By storming the building, the special forces managed to prevent the captors from executing their threat to blow up the theatre and the estimated 700 hostages, Vasilyev said.

"Those kamikazes who threatened to blow themselves up were unable to," he said.

The assault on the building came on the fourth day of the crisis, after a night of heavy explosions and repeated bursts of gunfire.

Sergei Ignatchenko, spokesman for the Federal Security Service, said the operation to free the hostages began when the Chechen rebels began executing the captives.

President Vladimir Putin was informed and was following developments, Russian news agencies reported.

Earlier, officials said two hostages were killed and two injured and that the hostage-takers had begun to execute their captives.

Two women escaped as soldiers armed with assault rifles were seen moving toward the theatre, and two more ran from the building later while ambulances poured into the neighborhood where the crisis began on Wednesday evening.

The hostage-takers had earlier threatened to begin killing their captives at dawn on Saturday. After the two deaths, officials reached the captors by phone but then quickly said their negotiations had failed.

It's believed the leader of the gunmen, Movsar Barayev - a young warlord who inherited a gang of rebels from his late uncle, was killed in the assault.

SHOTLIST:

APTN

1. Various of police cordon

2. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Valery Gribakin, Moscow police spokesman:

"We still cannot establish contact with the hostage takers. Representatives of Moscow's Chechen diaspora volunteered to become hostages in exchange for the terrorists releasing children who they still hold. As far as we know (male) terrorists are taking their rest now while their women are on duty, so to speak."

3. Various of policemen

RTR

4. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Gennady Gudkov, Deputy Chairman of Gosduma Committee on Security:

"It's up to the terrorists to give their conditions and demands so that the situation can be resolved. (Reporter asks if they have mined the building) They are moving along the building and opening up parts of the floor."

APTN

5. Various of armoured personnel carriers and troops that are encircling the theatre

6. Mid-shot of elite Russian troops

7. Close-up on APC driver in his seat

8. Various of elite troops standing by and later moving into position

9. Ambulance drives by camera

10. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Valery Gribakin, Moscow police spokesman:

"Their demands remain the same - settlement in Chechnya."

11. Soldiers form human barricade

12. Wide of police and bus near scene of siege

RTR

13. Theatre doors

14. Various of troops getting into positions

15. Mid of theatre

RTR

16. Convoy of security vehicles and buses drives towards the theatre

17. Troops walking down the street

18. Troops milling about

19. Various of armoured car crews standing beside their vehicles

20. Wide of security vehicles and troops positioned at the end of the street with lights flashing

STORYLINE:

At least 40 heavily armed Chechens held hundreds of hungry, thirsty and exhausted people hostage in a theatre early on Thursday and were threatening to shoot the audience and blow up the building if Russian security forces tried to storm the theatre.

Russian authorities held talks with the hostage takers who had stormed into the theatre Wednesday night in the middle of a musical in an audacious and extremely well-planned attack.

The attackers fired automatic weapons and demanded Russia end the war in Chechnya.

The hostage takers told Aslanbek Aslakhanov, a deputy from Chechnya to the federal parliament who was serving as a mediator, that they wanted Russian troops to leave Chechnya and a cease-fire in the three-year old war, lawmaker Yuli Rybakov said.

Further efforts at talks failed, and police appealed via television to the hostage takers to answer their phones.

Rybakov said the hostage takers had automatic weapons, grenades, belts with explosives attached, mines and canisters with gasoline with them.

There was little water or food available for the hostages.

It was a bitter blow for President Vladimir Putin, who repeatedly has said Russia has the situation in Chechnya, a mainly Muslim republic in southern Russia, under control.

Putin scrapped a trip to Germany and then Portugal on Thursday, his press spokesman, Alexei Gromov, told the Russian news agency Interfax.

Russian security forces do not intend to storm the building unless the hostage takers start killing the hostages, said Gennady Gudkov, deputy chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Security. However, he said "It could be days" before the situation is resolved.

Members of the Chechen diaspora in Moscow volunteered to replace the hostages.

The crackle of automatic gunfire rang out on at least four separate occasions during the hostage-taking in a working class district in the Russian capital.

More than 100 women and children had been released, Moscow police spokesman Valery Gribakin said.

Two pregnant women and some people who felt unwell were also freed.

Inside the theatre, frantic hostages called their families, television and radio stations on their cell phones, which were running out of battery power early on Thursday.

Outside, desperate Muscovites waited outside in freezing rain for news of their relatives.

Gribakin said there were 40-50 armed attackers and about 600 people inside the theatre when it was seized.

There were three Germans, one Austrian, one Dutch citizen and three British nationals in the theatre.