 | | He's a weasely-looking guy, isn't he? |
Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov has ordered all Chechen fighters to observe a ceasefire in their separatist war against Russian troops in February, a rebel Web site reported on Wednesday.
Site www.kavkazcenter.com published a statement from Shamil Basayev, Russia's most wanted man and the organiser of last year's Beslan hostage-taking, which ordered all fighters to refrain from any offensive operations until Feb. 22. But Basayev was quoted by The Times newspaper in London as saying he still considered Russian citizens fair targets for future fighting. The newspaper also quoted him as saying in a Channel 4 television interview to be broadcast later on Thursday that there were plans for more operations of the kind that killed more than 330 people at the hostage-taking at the school in Belsan.
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Basayev's statement on the Web site said Maskhadov had ordered his followers not to carry out diversionary attacks in Chechnya or in the rest of Russia, attacks on Russian bases, Russian convoys or vehicles, or on "traitors or unbelievers". Kremlin officials were not immediately available to comment on the report of the ceasefire since they're out looking for him . The statement said fighters should "continue mining approaches to their bases and to continue operations to destroy people or machinery of the enemy forces who are spying or attacking mountainous forested areas". The Web site said Maskhadov gave the order on Jan. 14 as a gesture of goodwill but did not elaborate. Several of his relatives have been kidnapped in the last two months, but it was unclear if their disappearances were linked to the ceasefire. "We do not react to Kavkazcenter. This is not an official organ," said a spokesman for Dmitry Kozak, Russian President Vladimir Putin's representative in the North Caucasus region. |