|
Chechens say fight goes on, Basayev and Count Dooku in the running
Chechen separatists vowed to press on with their fight for independence after guerrilla leader Aslan Maskhadov was killed in what the Kremlin saw as a coup for President Vladimir Putin's hardline policies in the region."It is a very big loss but it is not a death blow to us, as Putin thinks," said Maskhadov's London-based envoy Akhmed Zakayev. He said a successor would be named within days. Maskhadov, 53, one of Russia's two most wanted men, was killed on Tuesday in an operation by the FSB security service in a village north of the Chechen region's capital Grozny, officials said. The Kremlin, which had accused Maskhadov of masterminding a series of deadly attacks on civilian targets, including last year's Beslan school siege, hailed his death as a success for its policies. But some political analysts, who saw him as a moderate leader with whom the Kremlin could negotiate, said Maskhadov's death was a blow to any chance of peace in the region. Zakayev, Maskhadov's main envoy in the West, signalled the killing could trigger revenge attacks. "Aslan Maskhadov will be much more dangerous for the Kremlin leadership in death than he could have been even in life, when he was calling for peaceful dialogue," said Zakayev. Maskhadov had repeatedly invited Moscow to hold talks with him but the Russian leadership refused, saying it did not negotiate with terrorists. "Instead of the weak argument that (the Kremlin) has nothing to discuss with Maskhadov ... there is now an overwhelming conclusion: there really isn't anyone to negotiate with anymore," said the Izvestia newspaper. Rebel field commanders Shamil Basayev and Doku Umarov were the most likely candidates to succeed Maskhadov as head of the self-proclaimed independent Chechen republic, said daily Kommersant. "Both commanders, in contrast to Aslan Maskhadov's declared desire for talks with Moscow, are well-known for their uncompromising and aggressive position towards Moscow," the newspaper said. Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-03-09 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=58435 |