Chechen rationalizes attacks; Putin criticizes West

By David Holley
Los Angeles Times

Warlord Shamil Basayev vows to keep fighting.

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

Chechen guerrilla leader Shamil Basayev issued a statement in which he took responsibility for a series of recent attacks, coldly listed how much they cost, and tried to justify the most recent one — a bloody school takeover in the southern Russian town of Beslan — by comparing it to the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki near the end of World War II.

"We will fight as we know how and in accordance with our rules. We have no big choice. They offered war to us, and we will fight it until victory," Basayev declared. The fiercely worded statement was posted on a rebel-linked Web site and appeared to be genuine, although there was no way to verify it.

Putin, reiterating warnings by lower officials, implied that pre-emptive attacks on terrorist bases abroad might be launched soon.

	Vladimir Putin warned of a possible attack.

"We in Russia are engaged in serious preparations at the moment to act against terrorists in a preventive manner," he told an international meeting of mayors. "These steps will proceed in strict compliance with the law, constitutional standards and the principles of international law. ... The frontline of this war thrust upon us may run through each street and each house. There is no rear or neutral zone in this war."

Putin also accused the West of "double standards in the attitude toward terrorism," an apparent reference to Western calls for Russia to find a political solution in Chechnya, as well as the granting of asylum by the United States and Britain to figures from the more moderate wing of the Chechen separatists.

"There continue to be attempts to divide terrorists into 'ours' and 'others,' into 'moderates' and 'radicals,' " he said. "By no means should one assume that by indulging terrorists we will gain something, that they will leave us alone. A patronizing and indulgent attitude to the murderers amounts to complicity in terror."

Chechens exercised self-rule in their Caucasus republic after defeating Russian troops in a 1994-96 war. Russian forces returned in 1999 after a series of apartment bombings blamed on Chechen separatists.

Basayev also lashed out at international criticism. "Today, when the whole world 'with outrage' demands that we stop, we find this ridiculous and ask: 'What have you done for us that we obey you?' " he wrote. "We ask George Bush: 'Was the nuclear bombardment of Hiroshima and Nagasaki a barbaric and brutal act, and how many children were killed there?' "

In perhaps the most chilling and caustic part of Basayev's statement, he took responsibility for other recent attacks. Basayev described the Aug. 24 suicide bombings of two airliners, killing all 90 on board, and another suicide bombing a week later that killed 10 bystanders near a Moscow subway station, as a protest against the Aug. 29 election of Kremlin-backed Alu Alkhanov as Chechen president: "That was us casting our votes ... for the Kremlin's wimp No. 1 from Chechnya, Alkhanov."

Basayev described the school takeover in Beslan as the "North-West operation," drawing a parallel to the October 2002 siege of a Moscow theater at which the musical "North-East" was being performed. That standoff, also seen as linked to Basayev, ended with 129 hostages' deaths.

"The plane blasts cost me $4,000 ... and the North-West operation 8,000 euros [$9,700]," Basayev said. "The weapons, vehicle and explosives which were used — all spoils of war. We only had to pay for food and equipment."

While acknowledging that two of the militants who seized the Beslan school were Arab mercenaries, Basayev dismissed Russian assertions that his activities are financed by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

"I am not acquainted with bin Laden," Basayev said. "I have never received money from him but I would never refuse such money. This year I received from abroad only $18,000."

He added sarcastically, "My main financial source is the Russian budget."

Basayev also sought to cast the school attack as rightful vengeance for alleged Russian atrocities in Chechnya.

"We regret what happened in Beslan. It's simply that the war, which Putin declared on us five years ago, which has destroyed more than 40,000 Chechen children and crippled more than 5,000 of them, has gone back to where it started from," he wrote.

Casualty figures in Chechnya vary widely, though many estimates say about 80,000 civilians — 40 percent of them children — died in the first Chechen war. Countless more have been killed since the conflict exploded again in 1999.

Vladimir Kolesnikov, a deputy prosecutor in the Russian prosecutor general's office, reacted angrily, telling the Russian news agency Interfax: "When are we going to respect ourselves and stop publishing any rubbish by those scoundrels and subhumans? I am ashamed and disgusted to comment on their evil deeds and asinine tall tales."

Material from The Associated Press

and Chicago Tribune is included

in this report.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

E-mail this article

Print this article

Search archive

More nation & world headlines...