Chechen attackers holding hundreds of hostages in a Moscow theatre have refused to release their foreign captives as they had earlier promised, a Kremlin spokesman said.The hostage-takers went back on their promise after diplomats, who were to be present for the release of the foreigners, arrived late, Alexander Machevsky told reporters on Thursday in front of the Moscow theater where up to 1,000 hostages were being held.

"They are refusing to release the foreigners because the agreements have not been honored," Machevsky said.

Earlier the chechen fighters were preparing to release around 30 foreigners they took hostage in a Moscow theatre among several hundred captives, the Chechen separatist web site kavkaz.org quoted the deputy head of the Chechen commando group as saying Thursday.

The Austrian and German ambassadors and diplomats from several other countries have gathered in front of the theater and are waiting for the release of their fellow citizens.

"We were asked to be there at 09:00 am. We are here to recover our fellow citizens. We hope they will be handed back to us," Austrian Ambassador Franz Cede said without elaborating further.

At least 30 foreigners were among the hundreds of hostages seized late Tuesday in Moscow by Chechen attackers demanding an end to the war in Chechnya, Russian police said.

The foreign hostages included citizens from Britain, Austria, Australia, the Netherlands and Germany, an official with the police crisis unit dealing with the hostage taking said.

A US citizen was also among the hostages, the RIA Novosti news agency quoted the US embassy in Moscow as saying.
The British Embassy in Moscow confirmed to AFP that three British citizens were among the captives.

There were also one Austrian, two Dutch citizens, three Germans, these countries' authorities said, and the Australian foreign affairs and trade department said two Australian nationals were among the hostages.

Bulgarian authorities said one Bulgarian was being held in the theater, while the Georgian embassy added two Georgians to the list.

Fifteen Ukrainians and Four Azerbaijanis were also among the hostages, the RIA Novosti news agency quoted these countries' embassies as saying.

One of the hostages, Marya Shkolnikova told the Echo of Moscow radio by mobile phone that there were as many as 62 foreign nationals among the hostages, including Dutch, Bulgarians, Canadians, Australians, Lithuanians, Moldovans, Yugoslavs, Belarusians, Turkmens, Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Georgians, Americans, Germans, Britons, Swiss and Ukrainians.

PHOTO CAPTION

An unidentified man is led away by Russian security personnel after he left a theatre in Moscow in which about 40 Chechen fighters armed with guns and grenades are holding hundreds of theatre-goers hostage, October 24, 2002. Some hostages who were freed said the group, including several women with some wearing masks and strapped with explosives, burst into the theatre in southeast Moscow firing shots into the ceiling and shouting 'Stop the war in Chechnya. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin