Chechen militants asked to enter talks before August 1
15/07/2006 10:11 MOSCOW, July 15 (RIA Novosti) - Members of illegal armed formations in Chechnya have been invited to enter negotiations with local or federal authorities, the head of the Federal Security Service said Saturday.
FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev, who also chairs the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, said in a statement addressed to militants: "We invite you, with a guarantee of objective and impartial consideration of all circumstances of your activities through illegal armed formations, to cease involvement in criminal groups, put down your arms, and come over to the side of the people."
The elimination of militant leaders and the infamous terrorist Shamil Basayev has provided a chance for those who want to return to peaceful life, Patrushev said.
News that Basayev, who claimed responsibility for the 2004 Beslan school massacre and other atrocities, had died broke on Monday when the FSB head said the terrorist had been killed during the night in a special operation in the North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia.
As well as the September 2004 Beslan school siege in the southern Russian republic of North Ossetia, which led to the deaths of 331 people including 186 children, Basayev also claimed responsibility for masterminding the 2002 Dubrovka Theatre siege in Moscow, which claimed the lives of 130 people, and led an attack on a hospital in the southern city of Budyonnovsk, where terrorists took more than 1,500 hostages for five days, in June 1999.
Patrushev said, "Basayev organized explosions in residential buildings, the murder of children in Beslan, the terrorist act at Dubrovka, and numerous attempts on the lives of Muslim leaders, authorities, police, and civilians, and got his just deserts."
Those who were deceived by Basayev, and dragged into criminal activity, now have a choice - to stop their actions or be cursed by their own people, the FSB chairman said.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
