One Austrian citizen among hostages in Moscow

According to the Austrian Foreign Ministry, an Austrian woman is reported to be among the hostages taken at the Moscow Theatre Center. She is of Russian origin, Valter Stoyan from the Austrian Foreign Ministry, who's following the developments in the Russian capital, informed RIA Novosti.

According to him, the Austrian hostage was born in Moscow, however she had been working and living in Austria for a long time and had obtained the Austrian citizenship. She came to Moscow to visit her relatives.

The Australian Embassy in Russia, and first of all Austrian Ambassador Franz Cede, are seeking to provide for the release of the Austrian woman, who had been taken hostage by the Chechen terrorists, Said Stoyan. So far, there have been no signs of terrorists abusing the Austrian citizen physically.

At present, the terrorists are holding 500 people in the building of the theatre centre in Dubrovka, taken hostage on October 23rd during the performance of the Nord-Ost musical. 711 tickets had been sold for the show.

One of the hostages said that there are 62 foreign citizens in the building. They are from Australia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Georgia, Latvia, Moldavia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkmenistan, United States, Ukraine and Yugoslavia.