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Putin has new terror plans
04/07/2006 19:13 - (SA)
Moscow - Russia's President Vladimir Putin
asked parliament on Tuesday for the right to send soldiers and
special forces anywhere in the world to fight terrorists.
His request to the federation council (upper house of
parliament) came nine days after militants killed four Russian
hostages they had taken in Iraq.
Russian security services last week offered a $10m reward for the capture of the Islamist insurgents after Putin
ordered that they be hunted down and "eliminated".
According to a Kremlin statement, Putin requested the right
to defend "the human rights and freedoms of citizens, the
sovereignty of the Russian Federation, its independence and
state integrity", by using security forces outside Russia. Constitution:
Under the constitution, he is duty-bound to ask the
federation council, which usually does his bidding, for
permission before sending troops abroad.
Federation council speaker Sergei Mironov said two days ago
the chamber was ready to permit Putin to use special forces and
the agents of the GRU army intelligence service outside Russia.
Moscow threatened to send war planes to bomb terrorist bases
worldwide after Chechen rebels took 1 300 hostages in a school
in the town of Beslan in 2004. A total of 330 people - half of them
children - died after a three-day siege.
At the time, it did not specify what countries it accused of
harbouring militants - and no air strikes were forthcoming -
although it has previously accused Georgia of doing too little
to stop Chechen guerrillas from crossing its territory.
In 2004, two Russian agents were jailed in Qatar for killing
Chechen separatist leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev with a car bomb
on Kremlin orders. After conviction, Qatar sent the two agents
back to Russia.
- Reuters
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