Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, December 27, 1993                   TAG: 9312270076
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW                                LENGTH: Short

RUSSIAN KIDNAPPERS CAUGHT

The report did not say whether all four of the kidnappers had been captured, or whether all the ransom was recovered.

If convicted, the kidnappers will face a death sentence.

The four kidnappers flew Sunday night to a small village in the southern Russian region of Dagestan in the Caucusus mountains and abandoned the helicopter, the report said.

The two pilots of the military helicopter then flew it to Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, it said.

The flight to Makhachkala, on the shore of the Caspian Sea, was the latest leg of a tense and circuitous journey that began on Thursday when the gunmen seized about a dozen schoolchildren.

The kidnappers released a few hostages at a time over the next few days as authorities met their demands - ranging from a radio to the ransom.

The gunmen claimed at one time to be suffering from AIDS and demanded free passage to Iran for treatment. But First Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets, who headed the effort to end the crisis, said that appeared to be a smoke screen.

"During the operation, we concluded that they simply wanted to disappear in an unknown direction together with the money they have received. It seems that they counted on accomplices on the territory of Russia," he said on Russian television.