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'Russians are terrorists'
04/08/2005 15:00 - (SA)
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| An image captured from TV showing a child escaping the Beslan school massacre which shocked the world. (AP) |
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Washington - Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev said he might be a "terrorist" in a rare interview aired on United States television, but added all Russians share blame for the deaths of 318 hostages in a school.
"Okay, I admit, I'm a bad guy. A bandit, a terrorist," he said.
"But what would you call them?" Basayev said of Russians attempting to put down his secessionist movement.
The interview, which infuriated the Russian authorities who summoned the top US diplomat in Moscow to protest, was shown on ABC network's Nightline programme late on Thursday.
Basayev, who has a $10m bounty on his head, gave the interview in the Chechen mountains where his forces are hunted by Russian troops. He admitted responsibility for the Beslan school siege but said he did not feel like a hunted man and that he was chasing Russian forces.
Shocked
Basayev said he was "shocked" by the hostage-seizure on September 1 last year, which ended with the deaths of 318 people including 186 children.
"I swear, I never expected that. I never thought (Russian President Vladimir) Putin was so bloodthirsty, that he would manifest his thirst for blood. I didn't think he would."
Basayev claimed Russians shot a hostage-taker whose foot was on a so-called dead-man switch. When the rebel fell, the switch triggered the fatal bomb.
"It's not the children who are responsible," he said. "Responsibility is with the whole Russian nation, which with silent approval gives a yes."
"Well, you can ask why I did it. To stop the killing of thousands and thousands more of Chechen children, Chechen women and the elderly. Look at the facts. They are being kidnapped, taken away, murdered."
'Russians are terrorists'
Basayev said the Russians "are the terrorists. There's a struggle going on for our national independence." He claimed Russian authorities shot down planes that had been hijacked by Chechen activists. Moscow says the planes were blown up by Chechens.
The rebel leader also told how he had no fear for his own safety.
"I am not wanted. I myself am trying to find these terrorists. I'm looking for them in all of Russia, and I will keep looking, and I'll keep finding them and I'll keep on punishing them. So don't tell me they are trying to find me - I am trying to find them," said the rebel leader.
"Honestly, I'm telling you, not in the least do I feel there's a hunt for me. But I'm a fighter, I'm at war - I can die anytime, even now. I could have died several times this year."
Basayev defended his methods, including the 2002 siege in a Moscow theatre in which 129 hostages and 41 Chechen rebels who held them captive lost their lives.
"In Chechnya and everywhere else, I use methods that are reasonable and acceptable," he said.
Attempted assassinations
Russian journalist Andrei Babitsky, who conducted the interview, said Basayev had told him he covers the stump of his amputated leg with a special silicone sock and that one of the socks that he got from abroad was saturated with poison.
"They tried to poison me twice this year, there were many skirmishes, but my time's not up. My time will come and I won't need the Russian army to die, I'll just die anyway."
Basayev said his movement is not primarily religious.
"It's first and foremost a struggle for freedom. If I'm not a free man, I can't live my faith."
Russian authorities summoned the US charge d'affaires in Moscow to protest the ABC programme while the Russian embassy in Washington called the broadcast "scandalous." The US State Department said ABC was free, under the US Constitution, to air the interview.
Nightline presenter Ted Koppel said he would not allow pressure to influence editorial decisions.
Babitsky also described conditions in which Basayev lives and his own fears about carrying out the interview.
The rebels eat mainly instant soups and canned food. "During the two days I was there they lit a fire only once and only for five minutes. I'm still puzzled how they managed to boil two cups of water and make tea so fast," he said.
All are sick
"They're all very sick. They sleep on barren ground. Tuberculosis is very widespread, and it makes itself apparent very quickly if you spend nights on naked ground."
Babitsky said he would face criticism for having carried out the interview without telling the authorities first.
"I know how in Chechnya, and not only in Chechnya, the special services work, functionaries of the interior ministry, how many people disappear without a trace how many people undergo horrendous, unbelievable, inhuman torture.
"I think I'd subject myself to torture if I contacted the Federal Security Service. I think it's unwise and illogical to voluntarily, voluntarily choose such a fate for yourself," he said.
- AFP
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