Chechen President Denies Links with Bin Laden - interviewCondemning the 11 September terrorist attacks on the U.S. as "truly barbarous" and "madness," Aslan Maskhadov told RFE/RL's Russian Service on 11 October that all attempts by the Russian leadership and Russian intelligence to demonstrate that Osama bin Laden is "the godfather of the Chechen resistance" have failed. He pointed out that the conflict between the Chechen people and Moscow dates back 400 years, long before bin Laden was born, adding that he has no connections either with bin Laden or his Al-Qaeda organization.
Maskhadov also denied that any fighters under his command are currently fighting in Abkhazia. He explained that given that "the main aim of the Russian special services is to provoke a clash between Chechens and Georgians at any cost in order to create a pretext for involving Russian troops and keeping the military base in Vaziani," he had issued specific instructions that no Chechens were to attack Russian military facilities in any of the three South Caucasus states. But at the same time, Maskhadov did not rule out the possibility that "Gelaev or a handful of shortsighted people manipulated by Moscow" might be involved in the current Abkhaz fighting.
Asked whether there has been any progress towards peace talks, Maskhadov confirmed that "contacts have been made" between his representatives and those of the Russian leadership. But he added that for the Chechens, the main conditions for peace talks is that they should be mediated by a third party, although he did not suggest who or what organization might assume that function. At the same time, Maskhadov warned that the Chechens "will never agree to lay down their arms, because today we are being constantly convinced that the weapons in the hands of our fighters...are the sole guarantee of our people's security." And if and when the two sides do come to the negotiating table, Maskhadov said that the first issue on the agenda should be defining relations between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic Ichkeria. Only resolving that key problem, Maskhadov said, can ensure that there will not be yet another war. (Liz Fuller)
The whole interview in Russian conducted by Andrey Shariy is available here.
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