Chechen rebels who seized more than 800 hostages in a Moscow theatre are reported to have had more than 100 other suicide attackers on standby in Moscow.
According to a Russian reports, they were ready to carry out attacks around the capital if authorities refused to meet their demands.
Russian security services are said to have released a recording of a telephone conversation between terrorists.
According to Interfax news agency, the tape reveals an unidentified terrorist saying their agents had Russian passports showing official permission to live in Moscow and were ready to go into action if the Kremlin refused to negotiate with the hostage-takers.
But an aide to President Mr Vladimir Putin said the claim about 100 accomplices outside the building could be false. The hostage-takers were aware that their conversations were tapped and could be deliberately bluffing.
But he said the authorities had spotted one member of a security cordon around the theatre building who was found to be an informant for the terrorists.
The 58-hour hostage crisis ended Saturday when the Russian commandos pumped incapacitating gas into the theatre and stormed it, killing 41 hostage-takers and freeing most of their victims. At least 119 hostages have died, most due to gas poisoning.
PA