Security chiefs began two days of meetings Monday to discuss how to tighten security in and around the Kremlin after a gunman hijacked a tour bus just steps from the fortress walls, holding 27 hostages for ransom for nearly 10 hours before being shot dead.


Saturday night's hijacking, in which no hostages were injured, developed a grim vaudeville aspect toward late into the night as a Russian beauty queen arrived by limousine to offer her crown in exchange for a hostage, and Mayor Yury Luzhkov turned out to speak to the press.


But for the security agencies that protect the Kremlin, the gunman's brazen hijacking just a few hundred yards from the gate used by President Boris Yeltsin brought the threat of terrorism uncomfortably close to home.


"Clearly the issue of guarding the Kremlin and surrounding grounds is not being left unattended and will be discussed by the Kremlin guard and the President's Security Service," Sergei Medvedev, presidential spokesman said Monday, Itar-Tass reported.


The Interior Ministry and Federal Security Service, which successfully stormed the bus in the early hours of Sunday morning, also met to discuss the issue Monday, Medvedev said.


Tour guides tried to play down the hijacking Monday. Marina Ovchinnikova, who works for Rostour, said she had not told her German tourists about the incident. "I don't want them to know a thing, because even the way things are, there are not many foreigners willing to come over here."


Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov, in an interview on NTV's program "Itogi " on Sunday night, said there was little the security services could do to prevent a repetition.


"It is impossible in practice to post a militiaman to protect every single bus, every single citizen. There is no widespread spying, times have changed. The Kremlin is freely accessible," he said.


But he added that the security services were satisfied with the way the operation was handled.


The lone masked gunman had seized his hostages with striking ease at 5.30 pm Saturday afternoon. Apparently carrying a bomb in his bag, he took control of a tourist bus on Red Square, right by the Kremlin's Spassky Gate.


He waited until the South Korean tourists returned to their bus near St. Basil's Cathedral and jumped on board after them.


He aimed a pistol at the group and shouted "draw the curtain," according to Yoon Dong-hyon, one of the hostages who spoke to South Korean correspondents after his release.


"We thought it was a joke and all laughed," Yoon was quoted as saying by South Korea's Yonhap news agency, Reuters reported.


"Then the guy fired a warning shot towards the ceiling. We realized it was serious and gestured to vendors around the bus that we were in danger but they thought we were saying hello," he was quoted as saying.


The bus was surrounded by police in about 20 minutes, he said. The hijacker, speaking to the tourists through their Russian speaking guide, assured them they would not be hurt if he got a ransom of $10 million, Yoon said.


"He let us smoke and sleep," said Yoon, who was among the hostages released early on.


He also showed them a package he was carrying and said it was a bomb that he would set off if the hostages did not cooperate, Yoon said.


The gunman forced the Russian driver of the bus to drive halfway across the bridge leading south from Red Square and there began the nearly ten-hour seige. Dozens of police cars, their blue lights flashing, as well as vans and ambulances drew up on the bridge.


Heavily armed OMON riot police stood guard in ranks. An unmarked Ford transit van drew up, the crack troops of the Alpha brigade visible inside in their heavy armor and khaki green helmets.


Every floodlight was on full beam, lighting up the red walls and towers of the Kremlin with unusual intensity. Two snipers crouched high on the parapet of the southernmost Kremlin tower.


South Korean diplomatic cars came and went. As negotiations began, the temperature dropped and a cold sleet set in.


Partygoers tripped by in and out of the nearby Rossiya hotel, gaping at the unexpected drama. A group of German businessmen scratched their heads, wondering how to get back to the Baltschug Hotel across the barricaded bridge.


The negotiations seemed to be working. Nine women were released after several hours and then another group at midnight.


In the end, just seven hostages were left on the bus, five tourists, their guide and the Russian driver. The gunman had dropped his demand for $1 million, some of which had been handed over in return for hostages. Itogi reported that Most Bank opened up especially to provide the necessary bank notes.


Mayor Yury Luzhkov later explained: "We did our best to bring the number of hostages in the bus to a minimum. The terrorist was given money step by step in return for freeing another group of people."The hijacker also demanded a getaway car to take him and the driver to an airport but in the end he never left the bridge alive.


As the suspense dragged on, the evening took a surreal turn. The newly crowned Miss Russia appeared in a limousine, offering her diamond crown in return for the hostage's lives.


"There is a belief that beauty can save the world, so I came to show my support," said 17-year-old Yelena Bazina.


Her arrival put an end to the waiting. While two negotiators brought money to the door of the bus, one threw in stun grenades and Alpha troops, in a lightening raid, pulled up in a truck and leaped in through the windows.


A flash of stun grenades lit up the bus and sky. A burst of automatic gunfire scattered the people around the bus. Smoke billowed out of the windows and the hostages, shaken and dazed, but unhurt, were hauled out.


As for the gunman, he still had not been identified Monday, an FSB spokeswoman said. He had been carrying no identification, and according to Interfax was shot three times in the head. A fingerprint search also drew a blank, meaning he had no criminal record. Luzhkov said he was probably from one of the southern republics.