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Five Armenians hostage in Russian school siege

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  • Five Armenians hostage in Russian school siege

    Five Armenians hostage in Russian school siege

    Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
    1 Sep 04

    [Presenter] Terrorists continue to hold 354 hostages in a school in
    [the North Ossetian town of] Beslan. There are 123 children among the
    hostages. By 0600 Yerevan time [0100 gmt], gunshots had been heard
    around the school. There are four Armenian children and one parent
    among the hostages. The surname of one of the children is Kalashyan. It
    is also known that one of the children is in the first form. The
    "Aylur" news programme maintains permanent contact with the Armenian
    diplomatic missions in Moscow and southern Russia. The head of the
    general consulate of the Armenian embassy in southern Russia, Ararat
    Gomtsyan, has offered the Russian Foreign Ministry his diplomatic
    mission's services to take part in the negotiations with the terrorist.

    [Ararat Gomtstyan, by telephone] For two days now, the terrorists have
    been holding 354 hostages in a school in the North Ossetian town of
    Beslan in the Russian Federation and putting forward their demands.

    There are about 32,000 residents in Beslan. The Armenian community
    here is small - about 350-400 people. There is also an Armenian
    community in Vladikavkaz. We have direct telephone contacts with their
    representatives in order to get all information that comes from there
    and also, we are working to do everything possible to resolve this
    problem peacefully and to achieve final results.

    We, the general consulate in North Ossetia [as heard] and the Armenian
    embassy in Moscow led by our ambassador Mr Smbatyan, are working with
    the law-enforcement agencies and the republic's authorities, who are in
    the town of Beslan, in order to learn and clarify the children's and
    their parents' condition. There are four Armenian schoolchildren,
    and one of them is in the first form. This is the preliminary
    situation. We can say that the condition of the schoolchildren,
    including the Armenian ones, is satisfactory. The negotiations are
    under way. I would like to add that our republic's president and our
    policy strongly condemn any manifestation of terrorism everywhere. We
    addressed the Russian Foreign Ministry and offered our support and
    assistance in setting up a delegation of representatives from all the
    diplomatic missions in North Ossetia and in holding negotiations and
    resolving this problem peacefully. Our representative is in Beslan
    at the moment and we maintain permanent telephone contact.
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