Shamil Basayev, the warlord behind last year's bloody school siege in Beslan, was named second-in-command of Chechnya's rebel government yesterday in a sign of the separatists' growing radicalism.Since fleeing to the forests after Russian troops reclaimed control of Grozny in 2000, Chechen rebels have maintained what they claim is a legitimate cabinet. Basayev was named to the post by Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev, the rebels' president, who succeeded Aslan Maskhadov, killed by special forces in March.
Maskhadov, who was seen as a relative moderate, had marginalised Basayev and promised to prosecute him for the Beslan massacre if he retook Chechnya from the current pro-Moscow administration.
Basayev admitted in an interview with an American television station last month that he was a terrorist, but claimed his actions were justified by Russian suppression.
| "It ain't me, it's them!" |
The late Maskhadov had condemned terrorist acts and had given the rebels a veneer of respectability. "From a PR point of view, giving Shamil this role is a great mistake that will only make Moscow happy," said one Chechen resident of Moscow, who once knew the warlord. "But he has always wanted to be part of a legitimate administration and he genuinely believes that's what this is."
| 'cause legit gummints always go tramping around in the woods to keep from being helizapped. |
A spokesman for the pro-Moscow administration in Grozny ridiculed the rebels' cabinet arrangements, saying: "They can make him president of the universe if they want. It's just laughable."
The rebels' leader, Sadulayev, a Muslim cleric, also appointed Akhmed Zakayev, Maskhadov's former envoy in London, to the post of culture minister in his new cabinet. Mr Zakayev, who has said in the past that Basayev should not be an "official representative of the Chechen people", did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.
| Chechen culture minister? |