Basayev
said that he had written a letter to Putin that the rebels carrying out
the operation had passed on through intermediaries.
In
it, he said he offered
Russia
security from terror acts in exchange for
Chechnya's independence.
“’We
are offering you a reasonable peace on a mutually favorable principle --
independence in return for security,’” Basayev said he wrote in his
letter.
He
said that 33 persons, including two women, had carried out the Beslan
hostage taking, which had cost him 8,000 euros (9,600 dollars) to
organize.
“We
didn't have enough money to carry it out in
Moscow,” he said.
The
group comprised 14 Chechens, nine Ingush, three ethnic Russians, two
Arabs, two Ossetians, and three other non-ethnic Russians, Basayev said,
according to the Internet site.
No
Al-Qaeda Link
|
|
Chechen children face the worst at the hands of Russian security forces |
Basayev
further denied
Moscow's assertions that he and his men were linked to Al-Qaeda, according to
the lengthy message.
“I
do not personally know (Osama) bin Laden,” he said. “I don't receive
money from him, though I wouldn't refuse the offer.”
Basayev
also claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed 10 people
at a
Moscow
subway stop on August 31, the day before the Beslan hostage taking, and
for the downing of two airplanes that occurred a week prior and killed
90 people.
The
plane attacks had previously been claimed by an Islamic group calling
itself the Islambouli Brigades in a statement posted on a website.
Basayev,
whom photos show with a black bushy beard, shaved head and ever-present
military fatigues, has claimed responsibility for some of the most
spectacular attacks on Russian soil.
In
the middle of the first Russo-Chechen war in June 1995, he and his men
took 1,500 people hostage at a hospital in Budyonnovsk in southern
Russia. Some 150 people died as a result of the siege, most of them killed by
bullets from Russian soldiers.
In
October 2002, his men took more than 800 people hostage at a theater in
Moscow.
Some
130 hostages were killed, most from a deadly gas that Russian forces
pumped into the theater in a raid to free the hostages.
The
small mountainous republic pf
Chechnya
has been ravaged by conflict since 1994, with just three years of
relative peace after the first Russian invasion of the region ended in
August 1996 and the second began in October 1999.
At
least 100,000 Chechen civilians and 10,000 Russian troops are estimated
to have been killed in both invasions, but human rights groups have said
the real numbers could be much higher.
Human
rights groups have accused Russian soldiers of committing aggressions
and abuses in
Chechnya
in the two invasions.
International
human rights watchdogs said in a joint
statement released in April that rape, torture and extrajudicial
executions by Russian troops have become everyday occurrences in
Chechnya.
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