Chechen Leader Claims Help From Russians in School Siege

NY Times
Sep. 01, 2005

The Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev, who masterminded last year's siege of School No. 1 in Beslan, asserted today that the takeover was made possible with the help of Russia's special services, who allowed the terrorists he sent there a safe passage near the school.

In an announcement on a Web site that frequently posts his statements and videos, Mr. Basayev said he had deceived Russian intelligence services, who believed his terrorists would attack a government center in the regional capital and thus cleared a route at the border in hopes of ambushing them along the way.

The statement was immediately denounced by the Russian authorities, who dismissed it as "total nonsense" and the assertions of a "child murderer."

"Investigators have no evidence suggesting that special services were in any way involved in the seizure," Russia's deputy prosecutor general, Nikolai Shepel, told the Interfax news agency.

But the statement, timed to appear in the news as residents of Beslan prepare for the one-year anniversary of the school seizure exploited the uncertainties and lingering questions surrounding the terrorist act.

There has been little public confidence in the federal investigations into the causes of the siege and the subsequent bungled Russian response. Mr. Basayev touched upon one of the questions that Beslan's grieving families have found the most perplexing and disturbing: how did a truck full of armed and bearded men, many in masks, make its way in daylight through a heavily policed region?

The Russian government has been unable to provide an answer that has satisfied the public.

According to Mr. Basayev's version, which is impossible to verify, Russia's special services had managed to plant an agent last year inside the Riyadus-Salakhin Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion of Chechen Martyrs, the terrorist group he commands.

But the mole, who was detected, Mr. Basayev said, was talked into becoming a double agent and deceiving Russia rather than the terror group.

The Russian special services, convinced that they had inside information on the group's plans, were then led to believe that the Chechans would attack a government center in Vladikavkaz, the capital of North Ossetia, on Sept. 6, and would conduct reconnaissance a few days before, Mr. Basayev said.

With Beslan situated not far from Vladikavkaz, the group took advantage of the ruse, according to Mr. Basayev.

"From Aug. 31 they opened a corridor for us for active collection of reconnaissance information and we used it to enter Beslan, having confused the time and the object of the attack," Mr. Basayev said.

He also claimed to have at least one "live participant of that operation who is ready to testify."

That claim was a second snub to the Russian authorities, who have insisted that 32 terrorists seized the school and all but one, who is now standing trial, were killed. Many survivors scoff at the official tally, and say that at least several more terrorists were present and either escaped or were captured and secretly held.

The school was seized last year on the morning of Sept. 1, when the Chechan terrorists took nearly 1,200 hostages. The siege ended in battle and fire on Sept. 3, with 331 people dead, including 186 children. More than 700 other people were wounded.

The statement attributed to Mr. Basayev appeared on www.kavkazcenter.com, an underground Web site that has often served as his mouthpiece. He has never disavowed any of the statements attributed to him on the Web site in the past.

Unraveling truth from fiction in Mr. Basayev's statements has often proved difficult since the rebel leader is prone to exaggeration, absurdities and lies. His past statements, however, have at times offered fresh details or evidence of his activities that have later been confirmed.