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Russian leader threatens strikes on terrorist bases


Zalina Tetov speaks to her 10-year-old son Azamat on Wednesday in a children's hospital in Moscow.Zalina Tetov speaks to her 10-year-old son Azamat on Wednesday in a children's hospital in Moscow.
 (Associated PressAssociated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Kim Murphy Los Angeles Times

MOSCOW – Russia’s top military commander threatened Wednesday to launch preventive strikes on terrorist bases “in any region of the world,” raising questions about how far Moscow will go to hunt down suspected Chechen separatists believed responsible for killing more than 400 people in three terrorist attacks the last two weeks.

Russia also announced a $10 million reward for the “neutralization” of Chechnya’s top two rebel leaders, Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev. Maskhadov, at least, has vigorously denied involvement and condemned the hostage-taking.

Both of the Russian statements marked a stepped-up attempt by the Kremlin to counter U.S. calls for political settlement with Chechen separatists and to assuage the grief of a public still reeling from last week’s deaths of 335 hostages at a school in southern Russia.

“Military steps are an extreme measure in the fight against terrorism,” Col. Gen. Yury Baluyevsky, the Russian armed forces chief, said after meeting with NATO commanders. “Our position on pre-emptive strikes has been stated before, but I will repeat it: We will take steps to liquidate terror bases in any region.”

He added that Russia did not plan to use nuclear forces in such strikes.

The statement caused unease in neighboring Georgia. Over the years, Russia has accused Georgia of allowing Chechen rebels to take shelter in the remote gorges along its northern border.

A spokesman for Maskhadov in London predicted that Russia would step up attempts to assassinate Chechens abroad.

“Mr. Baluyevsky seems to have made it perfectly clear to everybody today that Russia will now begin to hunt down and destroy separatists and terrorists wherever they are,” said Akhmad Zakayev.

Former senior Chechen official Zelimkhan Yandarbieyev died in a car bombing in February in Qatar. Two Russian agents were convicted in the killing, though Moscow has denied involvement.

Russia’s announcements may have been targeted in part at countering continued U.S. statements supporting a political settlement with Chechen separatists. On Tuesday, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Washington’s “view on the overall situation has not changed” in wake of the hostage crisis. That is, he said, ultimately “there must be a political settlement” over Chechnya.

Such remarks have clearly irritated Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, who has rejected the idea.

“Why don’t you meet Osama bin Laden, invite him to Brussels or to the White House and engage in talks, ask him what he wants and give it to him so he leaves you in peace?” he asked foreign journalists Monday.

Pressed to clarify the U.S. stance Wednesday, Boucher said the United States does not encourage talks with “terrorists.” But he did not say which Chechens the United States would support talks with.

“A group of people who are clearly terrorists took over a school and murdered men, women and especially children. That’s not a political act,” he said.

Russia was critical of the United States when Washington in 2002 announced its own policy of pre-emptive strikes against perceived threats.

Moscow also strongly opposed the U.S. war in Iraq. But the Kremlin has since updated its own military protocol to allow for preventive strikes, and Wednesday’s announcement did not represent a policy shift.