 According to Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), Chechen militant leader Shamil Basaev is hiding abroad, FSB public relations chief Sergei Ignatchenko said. "The secret services are aware that Basaev very often goes abroad and periodically comes to Chechnya", he said. Found in the territory of the North Caucasian region, Arab mercenaries carefully guard him and sometimes put him into hideouts abroad, he said. It is known that Basaev leads a secret way of life, Ignatchenko told RIA Novosti. "He has gunned down his entourage twice to preserve secrecy," Ignatchenko said. Sources say that Basaev has been getting medical treatment abroad for one year, showed up in North Caucasian republics, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria but not Chechnya. "Most of the time he is abroad, where he has taken all his close relatives," Ignatchenko said. Basaev has bank accounts abroad, where sums for committing terrorist acts are transferred. "Terrorist activities in Chechnya have long become a profitable business for Basaev," Ignatchenko stressed. |