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MASKHADOV'S ELIMINATION NOT TO INFLUENCE SITUATION IN CHECHNYA

RIA Novosti

BERLIN, March 10 (RIA Novosti's Taras Lariokhin) - Russian President's authorized representative in the Southern Federal District Dmitry Kozak believes that the elimination of Aslan Maskhadov will not influence the situation in Chechnya.

I think the situation [in the republic] will not change for the worse or for the better after Maskhadov's death, Mr. Kozak said at a press conference in Berlin.

"He [Maskhadov] was a formal leader and did not control terrorist gangs," he noted.

In his opinion, Maskhadov was "a weak politician" and could not influence the developments, however, he broke the law and should have been brought to trial.

"Nobody ordered to eliminate Maskhadov. The law enforcement bodies had to arrest the criminal," Mr. Kozak stressed adding that he knew no details of the operation.

According to him, other Chechen terrorist leader Shamil Basayev will be arrested sooner or later. The fact that he is still at large means that the law enforcement system is ineffective, Dmitry Kozak said.

Mr. Kozak visited Berlin to discuss bilateral cooperation in the education and health care spheres. He met with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fishcer. At issue was the situation in Chechnya, Mr. Kozak reported. "We have discussed political solution of the problem, in particular, creation of conditions for peaceful life but not the possibility of talks with Basayev," he noted.