President sticks to tough line and rejects talks with 'terrorists'

President Vladimir Putin has ruled out negotiations with terrorists in a rebuff to the Chechen President, who renewed an offer for unconditional talks in the aftermath of the Moscow theatre siege.

Speaking on a day of mourning for the 117 hostages who died in the assault by Russian special forces, Mr Putin stuck to the tough line he has always advocated, emphasising that the threat to Russia comes from "international terrorism".

Mr Putin has apologised to the families of those who died. In an apparent reference to the ability of the Chechen hostage-takers to reach central Moscow, he said in a speech on national television: "We have paid a heavy price for the weakness of the state." But he added: "Russia will make no deals with terrorists and will not give in to any blackmail."

Mr Putin's policy effectively continues to shut out the elected Chechen President, Aslan Maskhadov, who has been marginalised by Islamic radicals in Chechnya after failing to negotiate a political solution with Moscow.

Mr Maskhadov's personal envoy, Ahmed Zakayev, said yesterday that "President Maskhadov is ready without any preconditions to sit at the negotiating table. It is up to the Russian leadership."

President Putin failed to mention the toxic gas which poisoned the hostages, prompting anguished reactions from their families and criticism from doctors who are in the dark about possible antidotes.

More than 400 former hostages were in hospital last night, 45 in a critical condition, after being exposed to the gas on Saturday. Up to 50 hostage-takers were shot dead after succumbing to the fumes, but the gas proved so toxic that it claimed the lives of all but two of the hostages who died.

Questions were raised about Russian authorities' failure to prepare medical facilities near the scene.

The Russians say they feared the Chechens might have several of their own men or women posing as hostages who would still be able to trigger a bomb, so they treated all hostages as potentially dangerous. This explains why hostages were initially sealed off in hospitals and interrogated.

"The special forces went into the theatre without respirators," said a security expert, Pavel Felgenhauer. "This means there was an antidote. Why didn't they give it to the people?"

A cavalcade of ambulances arrived at the theatre after the storming, but took more than two hours to ferry victims to hospitals. "In the case of gas poisoning like this, time is of the essence," said a Russian doctor who treated hostages. "Many died during the delay, many more suffered irreversible damage. They might have been saved if immediate treatment were implemented."

Russia's Ministry of Emergency Services, which has won international praise for its ability to deploy sophisticated field hospitals to disaster areas, was not even on the scene.