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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Russians offer free plastic surgery to Basayev informants |
| 2005-03-17 |
| Stepping up the hunt for their biggest enemy, Russia's security services said Wednesday they would pay for plastic surgery for anyone who gives information leading to the killing or capture of Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, on top of the $10 million reward already promised. Meanwhile, a top prosecutor told The Associated Press that a leader of the militants who took part in the seizure of more than 1,000 hostages at a school in the town of Beslan in September had implicated the late rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov in the attack, which left more than 330 people dead. Russian authorities said Tuesday they had paid an unprecedented $10 million bounty to people who betrayed Maskhadov. Officials said Maskhadov was killed last week in a raid by Russian special forces. They reaffirmed that an identical sum would be paid for information leading to the death or arrest of Basayev, the Kremlin's No. 1 foe. A spokesman for the Federal Security Service, the main successor agency to the KGB, said the informers — who did not have to be Russian or even live in Russia — would be offered a new identity and place of residence, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. "The law enforcement agencies guarantee their safety, with the option of taking a new passport, changing their residence, and if necessary, undergoing plastic surgery to change their features," said spokesman Sergei Ignatchenko. Pursuing militant leaders, Russian military and law enforcement authorities have struggled to penetrate the closely knit clan structure in the breakaway southern territory of Chechnya, where a guerrilla conflict has raged for much of the past decade. Analysts have warned that informers risk reprisals. Basayev, a radical Islamic warlord who claimed responsibility for the Beslan school seizure and other terror attacks, is now seen as the most powerful rebel figure in Chechnya. Nikolai Shepel, the chief prosecutor for the southern Russian region that includes Chechnya, told the AP that one of the leaders of the school seizure, who used the nom de guerre Colonel, had provided evidence implicating Maskhadov during his telephone talks with the authorities. "They said that the negotiations on liberating the hostages or some other negotiations could be conducted only with Maskhadov, that they would follow commands only from Maskhadov and Basayev," Shepel said in an interview. Maskhadov had repeatedly denied any part in the raid on the school. Russian authorities have, however, insisted he was involved and deemed him an unworthy partner for talks. "We assert that he was liquidated ... not as an ex-president, as a political figure, but as a terrorist who was on a wanted list," Shepel said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |