By Mandy Suhr

Staff Writer

An extensive search continues in North Ossetia, Russia, for the man who seized and later released nearly 20 hostages in Vladikavkaz. The offender escaped with a car and money he received after making bomb threats in the capital city.

Governmental minister, Vladimir Rubayev may be in this man's custody as Russian police pour their energies into finding and arresting the suspect.

A masked man, armed with grenades, entered a children's clinic in North Ossetia, Russia, announcing that everyone in the building was a hostage. The unidentified man had more than a dozen hostages in his hands.

Police reports indicate that 18 individuals, including four children, who had been held hostage by the man for an undisclosed amount of time, were later released. The motive behind the man's actions are unclear, but reports have indicated that he may have been ``severely drunk'' as he committed his crimes.

Unfortunately, the crisis continued after the discharge of the hostages because the man proceeded to threaten to blow up nearby blocks of flats. The man began to make demands, and according to the Itar-Tass news agency, he originally demanded five million rubbles and an aircraft. The man's request was instead met with two million rubbles (the equivalent of nearly 70,000 American dollars) and a car.

The drama took a devastating turn when the man, after receiving the money and car, abducted government minister Vladimir Rubayev and made his escape in the Lada car that he had been given. Mr. Rubayev, North Ossetia's Deputy Interior Minister, had been sent to the scene to negotiate with the man in order to bring an end to the crisis. Instead, it still carries on, as the manhunt for the criminal and for the minister continues. An unconfirmed news report from the Russian national television channel said that Mr. Rubayev had been released, so the state of the minister's freedom is unknown at this time.

Whether or not Mr. Rubayev remains in the man's custody, the search for this criminal and the Lada car persists. Police hunts have begun in search of the suspect, and roadblocks have been set up throughout the city of Vladikavkaz, where the crisis took place.

According to the BBC, at one point, it appeared as if the man had been captured. Various Russian news agencies reported that the man had indeed been apprehended, but it was later discovered that this information was false. Russia's TV6 channel reported this disappointing news: ``It has now become clear that the operation to arrest the criminal is still going on.''

Ossetia is one of the smallest, most densely populated and multi-cultural republics in the Russian Federation, according to the Government of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania. The Census of 1989 showed that the population of 646,000 inhabitants represents about 100 different nationalities in approximately 8,000 square kilometers.

The BBC described Ossetia as ``a republic in the turbulent North Caucuses region [that] borders the war-ravaged Chechnya.'' Ossetia is a rather unstable republic, so dealing with a crisis such as this.

For the time being, the citizens of the tumultuous republic of Ossetia and all of Russia anxiously await the capture and arrest of the man responsible for the drama that has taken place in the capital city of Vladikavkaz.

In addition, the people hope to hear a positive, confirmed report in regards to the release and safety of Minister Vladimir Rubayev as the chase for the Lada and the entire dramatic saga continue.