Beslan: Chechen warlord blamed

2004-09-11 09:15

Moscow - Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov says Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basayev directed the hostage-taking raid on a school in Beslan, southern Russia, last week.

"I know for certain, that Shamil Basayev directly managed this operation," Lavrov said, according to his ministry's script from an interview with the Al-Jazeera satellite channel.

He did not provide evidence of the statement.

Other Russian officials had said evidence linked Basayev to the school attack, but Lavrov's statement was the clearest accusation against the prominent rebel leader.

Lavrov also said Russian officials' statements that there were Arabs among the attackers were being confirmed, but that there was no reason to doubt them.

So far, officials have not provided evidence publicly to support claims that about 10 of the hostage-takers were Arabs.

"The information that there were Arabs is being corroborated, as is information there were representatives of other nationalities, including, as I understand, Russians, a Ukrainian, Chechens, Ingush," he said.

Lavrov said identifying bodies after the "bloody drama" that ended the three-day standoff at a school in the North Ossetia region was "not so simple".

Various nationalities involved

But, there was no reason to question statements that the attackers came from various ethnic groups.

He said that "to express bewilderment about this is strange, at the very least".

"If it's a fact that there were people of various nationalities among the terrorists, that means that's the way it is."

Basayev has been involved in or claimed responsibility for hostage raids and other attacks outside Chechnya during a decade of war and chaos in the region.

Lavrov also laid indirect blame for the school seizure and other attacks on Aslan Maskhadov, the rebel leader who was elected president of Chechnya in 1997.

He pointed to statements in which Maskhadov has been cited as condemning terrorist attacks, but warning they would continue if Russia's policy in Chechnya and the North Caucasus didn't change.

'Like negotiating with bin Laden'

"This is direct incitement of terrorism, if not verification of the fact that he has directed all this," Lavrov said.

He said any calls from the West for dialogue with Maskhadov, or others like him, could not be accepted.

Such negotiations would not end the war in Chechnya and would "mean the defeat of Russia in the war against terrorism", Lavrov said.

He added that talks with Maskhadov would be like European leaders negotiating with Osama bin Laden.

- AP