In a bid to prove Chechen rebels’ links to international terrorism, the Kremlin yesterday displayed the passports of an Algerian, three Turks and a German who were among 17 militants killed by Russian special forces. A spokesman for President Vladimir Putin said the militants were killed Nov. 23 near the Chechen village of Serzhen-Yurt. They included Algerian Mohamed Kadour; Turkish citizens Halim Oz, Mustafa Salli and Naim Dag; and German citizen Thomas Carl Fischer.
| Goodbye to all of you. Give our regards to Himmler. Mind the heat. |
The Kremlin has repeatedly said rebels in Chechnya have close links with al-Qaida and other international terrorist groups.
Putin rejected Western pressure to launch peace talks with rebel leaders, calling them international terrorists who must be eliminated.
| Thereby showing that Putin isn't an idiot, like the Washington Post... |
Putin spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky accused the ex- Soviet republic of Georgia, which borders Chechnya to the south, of serving as a "passageway" for the rebels. Copies of the foreigners’ passports distributed by Yastrzhembsky had a 2001 Georgian visa for the Algerian and 2002 visas for the Turks and the German. He said the third Turkish citizen had crossed the Georgian border in August. Georgia’s acting President Nino Burdzhanadze, who arrived yesterday on a visit to Russia, said Georgian authorities had tightened border controls since the time the visas were issued.
| I doubt if they could have gotten any looser... |
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