Russian, Chechen officials dismiss report of rebel cease-fire

MOSCOW -- Russian and Chechen officials dismissed a reported rebel announcement of a unilateral cease-fire as a bluff Thursday, while rumors swirled that militant leader Shamil Basayev was killed in a clash with foreign mercenaries.

A British TV channel, meanwhile, went ahead with a broadcast of a taped interview with Basayev on Thursday night, drawing a furious rebuke from Russia.

"We perceive such an action as the latest step in informational support of terrorists active in the North Caucasus," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry called the broadcast "an irresponsible step in disseminating to a wide viewership the views and threats of a bandit," who is wanted by Interpol and on the list of the counterterrorist committee of the United Nations' Security Council.

It also said it "runs counter to the efforts of the international community in fighting terrorism," adding that Moscow had called on British authorities to stop the broadcast.

A Web site linked to the rebels, Kavkaz Center, reported Wednesday that Aslan Maskhadov, president of Chechnya during its de-facto independence in the late 1990s, had signed an order last month for all offensive actions to be halted in February in Chechnya and bordering areas as "a display of good will."

The Web site said Basayev ordered all rebels under his command to halt attacks until Feb. 22 -- the day before the anniversary of Stalin-era mass deportation of Chechens to Central Asia. Feb. 23 is also the day Russians honor the nation's armed forces.

Akhmed Zakayev, Maskhadov's London-based envoy, told The Associated Press that the rebel leader had aimed his declaration at the Russian people, because "we have no hope that today's leadership would desire or be capable of reaching peace in Chechnya."

The Russian headquarters for military operations in Chechnya claimed the statements attributed to Basayev and Maskhadov were "fictitious."

Top officials in Chechnya's Kremlin-backed government, including regional President Alu Alkhanov, also dismissed the cease-fire calls as untrue.

Margot Light, a Russia specialist at the London School of Economics, also cast doubt on the report. "One of Maskhadov's problems is that he has no control over the warlords ... therefore the claim that is being made is not very credible."

The Interfax news agency quoted Col. Gen. Vladimir Bulgakov, deputy commander in chief of the Russian Land Forces, as saying rebel attacks were continuing on its motorcades and checkpoints.

Russian prosecutors said Thursday they had formally charged Maskhadov and Basayev with organizing terrorist acts, including the school hostage-taking in Beslan last year and attacks in the republic of Ingushetia.

Interfax later reported rumors in Abkhazia, the breakaway Georgian region where Basayev had fought in 1992-93, that he had been killed in a clash with foreign mercenaries in northern Chechnya. Russian authorities had no reaction to the report. Basayev frequently has been reported killed in the past, only to surface and claim responsibility for terrorist acts.

Basayev has claimed responsibility for some of Russia's most shocking terrorist acts, including the seizure of more than 1,000 hostages at the school in Beslan, which ended with the deaths of more than 330 people, and for attacks on police in June in Ingushetia, which borders Chechnya.

Basayev was quoted in the interview with Britain's Channel 4 News as saying that the separatist rebels were planning more "Beslan-type operations."

In the interview, conducted at an undisclosed location, Basayev also said he was willing to call a cease-fire and open talks with Moscow, but only after the complete withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya.

Channel 4 defended its broadcast, saying it was handling it with "extreme care and seriousness."

"We recognize of course that Shamil Basayev's views will be regarded worldwide as repugnant, but we reject utterly any notion that we are being irresponsible. It is simply not the case that the running of such material can be equated with condoning it," the broadcaster said.

Rebels fought Russian troops to a standstill in a 20-month war that ended in 1996. Russian forces returned to Chechnya in 1999, taking firm control of its north, but they have been unable to purge rebels from the capital Grozny or the mountainous south.