MOSCOW - Russia prepares to bury its dead Tuesday
from the Moscow theater siege, its leaders anxious to portray
the Chechen conflict that fueled it as another front in the
international war on terrorism.
"Russia will make no deals with terrorists and will not
give in to any blackmail," Russian news agencies quoted
President Vladimir Putin as telling government ministers.
Putin said Moscow would respond in "appropriate" fashion to
any threat to use weapons of mass destruction against Russia.
Mainstream separatist Chechen leaders, who accuse Russian
forces of brutality away from the world's gaze in their mostly
Muslim southern region, disowned the Chechen theater
hostage-takers as "terrorists" Monday.
They again offered to sit down for talks with Moscow -- an
offer the Russian government has in the past largely refused
and which Putin showed no sign of taking up now.
Of 117 captives who died in the siege, all but two were
killed by a mysterious gas pumped into the theater by security
forces in an attempt to incapacitate the 50 or so Chechens
holding more than 750 hostage, before Russian forces stormed
in.
Angry questions about the nature of the knock-out agent
grew louder. But Putin came out guns blazing, making no
reference to the gas, which Russian authorities have refused to
identify, and vowing not to deal with terrorists or succumb to
threats.
Leaders of the United States and Britain came out in
support of Moscow's siege tactics, saying Putin had little
choice.
British Prime Minster Tony Blair told his parliament there
were "no easy, no risk-free, no safe solutions" to what he
described as "this latest outrage of terrorism from Chechnya."
The United States said it had asked Russia to explain the
special forces' assault on the theater and to identify the gas.
But a spokesman quoted President Bush as saying he blamed
terrorists for the deaths, not the Russian government.
French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin's emphasis
appeared different. "France has always said and says it again
today: the only solution to these warring tensions is political
dialogue," he said. "Violence only breeds violence."
SEARCH FOR VICTIMS
Britons and Americans were among the hostages. U.S. embassy
officials said they had found what they believed to be the body
of one U.S. citizen but were awaiting final identification.
They found another American who was in a stable condition
in a hospital and a U.S. permanent resident who was
recuperating from injuries, a State Department spokesman said.
Interfax news agency quoted Moscow city officials as saying
the first victims' funerals were expected to take place on
Tuesday. Rossiya television said Moscow authorities would
organize the burials, and pay compensation of 100,000 roubles
($3,151) to victims' families and 50,000 roubles to survivors.
Frustrated relatives of former hostages maintained a vigil
outside hospitals, laden with flowers and gifts, desperately
hoping for news. Of more than 600 in hospital Sunday, about
half were home by Monday, medical staff told Russian media.
The siege began Wednesday evening when Chechen separatists
seized a packed Moscow theater as the second act of a musical
began. They demanded an end to the war in their separatist
homeland and the withdrawal of Russian troops.
Chechens, who have chafed at Russian rule for two
centuries, complain they are an oppressed minority inside
Russia. Moscow, which first sent in troops in 1994, sees an
independent Chechnya as destabilizing the sensitive Caucasus
region and setting an unwelcome precedent for other disaffected
ethnic groups.
Troops stormed the theater after using the mystery gas to
stop the "suicide squad" detonating explosives strapped to
their bodies and rigged throughout the building.
Tuesday's edition of Izvestia daily quoted an official from
the FSB security service as saying a policeman suspected of
aiding the guerrillas being questioned.
He was believed to have been in touch with their leader,
Movsar Barayev, by mobile telephone during the siege and had
fed him information from staff headquarters.
CHECHENS SAY THEY WANT TALKS
Deni Teps, chairman of a World Chechen Congress which
opened in Copenhagen Monday to Russian protests, told Reuters
the mainstream rebel leadership condemned the hostage-takers.
"Of course no talks with terrorists should be possible," he
said. "We don't accept the point of view that the Chechen
government is any way linked with terrorists."
Fugitive Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov has also condemned
the incident. The former Soviet army colonel was elected in
1997 after defeating Russian forces. But he struggled to stamp
his authority on warlords and radical Islamists before being
pushed into hiding when Putin sent troops in again in 1999.
"President Maskhadov, as before, is ready without any
preconditions to sit at the negotiating table. It is up to the
Russian leadership," a senior aide, Akhmed Zakayev, said.
But Putin's grim comments appeared to slam the door on any
talks and strengthen the hand of hawks in his administration.