(Itar-Tass) -- A total of 119 militants have agreed to lay down arms and give themselves up to the authorities following a call from the chief of the national anti-terrorist center, director of the federal security service FSB Nikolai Patrushev, Chechnya's deputy prosecutor, Nikolai Kalugin, said on Thursday. Criminal charges were dropped against 42 of the surrendered militants. One former militant who asked for amnesty continues to be investigated on the suspicion of kidnapping a local resident. The criminal case against him was opened back in 2000. The surrendered militants handed in to the authorities three machine-guns, two handguns, 14 automatic rifles and 13 grenade launchers. All firearms are undergoing forensic examination.
| Here's the lesson: Had they managed to kill Shamil three or four years ago, the Russers wouldn't be at this point now; the war would probably be grinding on. Instead, they got Khattab. Then al-Walid. Then Maskhadov. Then Sadulayev. And finally Shamil. By the time they banged Shamil, there was no one left to take his place. All the dead cannon fodder didn't count for much, but all the dead commanders did. All the Chechens are left with now is Count Dooku and some Arabs nobody's ever heard of. |