THE Chechen rebel leader who masterminded the Beslan school siege last autumn plans more such operations, despite his apparent remorse over the deaths of more than 330 people half of them children in the North Ossetia attack. In his first interview since that bloodbath, Shamil Basayev says that he is in a state of shock over what happened, but blames the Russians for precipitating the bloody end of the siege. Mr Basayev, Russia's most wanted man with a $10 million bounty on his head for numerous attacks, said he is willing to stand trial for his actions, but does not renounce his war with the Kremlin or attacks on Russian civilians.The interview, to be broadcast on Channel 4 News tonight, was obtained after months of negotiations through intermediaries. It was filmed by Mr Basayev's entourage at an undisclosed location last month and the video given to a journalist in the Middle East. Mr Basayev said that he originally planned to seize one or possibly two schools simultaneously in either Moscow or St Petersburg, but lack of funds forced him to pick North Ossetia, a "Russia garrison in the North Caucasus", and thus the root of all things bad in war-torn Chechnya, with the 'silent consent of (the North Ossetian) population.'
He says his intention was to offer the Russian leadership no chance of achieving a "bloodless resolution" to the siege, forcing it to stop the "genocide of the Chechen people". He says he never thought the Russian leadership would be willing to oversee the death of children, but says that he was "cruelly mistaken" and that he was "not delighted by what happened there". He claims that the collapse of the roof of the school gym was the result of flame-throwers used by Russian special forces, not explosives placed by the hostage-takers.