Four Soviet gunmen who seized a busload of children in southern Russia and then traded them for a $3.3 million ransom and a plane to Israel were sent home Saturday with the airplane crew they held hostage. The four hijackers left in two planes with the eight-member Aeroflot crew that brought them to Israel and a 19-member Soviet delegation that arrived Saturday to arrange the return, officials said. Preparations for the departure were shown live on Israel television, with soldiers guarding the runway at Ben-Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv. The Soviet Union's Tass news agency later reported that the planes landed at Moscow's Sheremetyevo-1 airport at about 6 p.m. EST. Tass said the ransom money was returned to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union had requested extradition of the hijackers, but ultimately Israel deported them as illegal immigrants. Foreign Ministry spokesman Alon Liel said this helped ``shorten the process.'' As a condition for returning the hijackers, Israel received assurances the four men would not face the death penalty, Liel said. Israel radio reported that one of the hijackers requested political asylum in Israel, but Liel said he could not confirm that. Originally, there were believed to be five hijackers. However, it was determined that the wife of one of the hijackers was not part of the plot. Tass identified her as a hostage. Lt. Gen. Dan Shomron, Israeli army chief of staff, called the hijackers Friday ``simple criminals with a lot of money who wanted to flee the Soviet Union.'' The saga began Thursday, when the four gunmen seized a bus carrying 30 schoolchildren on an excursion in Ordzhonikidze, a city 900 miles southeast of Moscow in the Russian Republic. After hours of negotiations, the gunmen traded the children for an Aeroflot jetliner out of the country, a flight crew of eight and a ransom of $3.3 million. A teacher on the bus, Natalya Efimova, told state-run Soviet television that one of the gunmen announced to the children, ``I will release anyone who will burn his red scarf.'' The teacher said the children, who wear the scarves as part of their school uniforms, stuffed them in their pockets to reduce the provocation. The Aeroflot jet landed in Israel Friday evening and the Soviets surrendered soon afterward. They were immediately taken to a prison near Tel Aviv. The released crew spent the night in a Tel Aviv hotel. The deportation Saturday ended two days of unusual diplomatic contacts, during which U.S. officials played a role in getting the hijackers to Israel and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze thanked the Israelis for returning them. Liel said Shevardnadze met with an Israeli consular delegation in Moscow on Saturday ``to express the thanks and deep appreciation of the Soviet government and Soviet people regarding the noble way the government of Israel has dealt with this barbaric act.'' Relations between the two nations have gradually been warming over the past few years. Moscow severed diplomatic ties in 1967 after Israel captured land from its Arab allies during the Middle East war. Israel television quoted Foreign Minister Shimon Peres as saying he hoped Israel's handling of the incident would lead to greater understanding between his country and the Soviet Union. Early in the drama, the United States acted as an intermediary to help the two nations compensate for the lack of formal diplomatic ties, Defense Ministry spokesman Eitan Haber said. Two of the Soviets were sent back on the Ilyushin-76 that brought them to Israel. The other three were returned in a Tupolev airliner that brought the Soviet delegation to Tel Aviv on Saturday. Soviet officials also were given the ransom money and the weapons carried by the hostages after signing a receipt for them, Israel television reported. Army radio said the five were taken blindfolded from Abu Kabir jail in Tel Aviv to Ben-Gurion about two hours before their departure. In Moscow, Vitaly A. Ponomarev, deputy KGB chief, identified the ringleader of the group as 38-year-old Pavel L. Yakshiants. Ponomarev said the man was a drug-user who first asked to go to Pakistan.
