| The U.S. Department of State’s Colin Powell has toughened measures against three more Chechen separatist organizations it deems terrorist, placing them on the so-called terrorist exclusion list, the State Department said in a press release Thursday. The move places three organizations — the Islamic International Brigade, the Riyadus-Salikhin Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion of Chechen Martyrs, and the Special Purpose Islamic Regiment — on the terrorist exclusion list. It means that members of the groups and those providing them with material support are barred from the United States. The groups were already declared terrorist in February of 2003, meaning that the bank accounts linked to the organizations were subject to be frozen, and that they were deemed a danger to the United States and its citizens. In a statement, the State Department had recognized the groups as involved in the siege of over 800 hostages in the Dubrovka theater in 2002. The current list toughens restrictions on the groups, barring their sponsors from the United States. |