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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Beslan hard boyz poorly led |
| 2005-06-28 |
| Russian forces who tried to free hostages from a school in Beslan last year were poorly led and an inquiry into the causes of the bloodbath that ended the siege will absolve those in command, an official said on Tuesday. Stanislav Kesayev heads a probe into the tragedy for the North Ossetian regional government and, in a wide-ranging interview with Vremya Novostei daily, said top officials had not taken responsibility for the siege. His comments echoed criticism of the government voiced by Beslan residents, who say no officials have been punished for failing to stop the rebel hostage raid which killed 330 people -- half of them children -- last September. "It would be funny if it wasn't so sad," he said, saying officials like Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov should have come down to head the operation like in previous cases when Chechen rebels have taken hundreds of hostages. He said the largely peaceful end to the 1995 siege in the village of Budyonnovsk, also caused by rebels loyal to warlord Shamil Basayev, showed what could have been done. The gunmen were then allowed to leave in return for freeing the hostages. "(Then-premier Viktor) Chernomyrdin stood up to Basayev in Budyonnovsk. Of course, it was bad there but the results were better. But we didn't see Fradkov. In Beslan there was a complete lack of coordination." The regional probe has been condemned by prosecutors, but Kesayev said the official investigation had mislaid evidence and was refusing to investigate troops' use of tanks and flame-throwers that witnesses say caused many of the deaths. "The investigation does not want to know this. There are too many bodies. And it isn't clear who's to blame," he said. Officials at the time said the rebels had made no demands, but later admitted they had wanted troops out of Chechnya and peace talks with now-dead rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov. Peace talks have long been anathema to Moscow, which calls all Chechen rebels terrorists, and Kesayev suggested troops could have provoked the siege to stop Maskhadov coming to Beslan and gaining the credit for freeing the hostages. "Maskhadov promised and guaranteed that he could be there by the end of September 3 ... but then the chain was broken," he said. "And behind this are questions you don't even want to think about." Tuesday was also due to see another session of the trial of the only surviving hostage-taker from the siege, which started in May, but the hearing was postponed until Thursday. Many former hostages and bereaved relatives say Nurpashi Kulayev is being made a scapegoat for the tragedy, and the officials who should be punished will escape by blaming everything on him. Kesayev agreed. "Nurpashi Kulayev will die, then no one will ask anything any more. There's an old Italian film called 'the case is closed, forget about it'," he said. "It is obvious that in the investigation there have been clear discrepancies." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |