Shamil Basayev, the elusive and nihilistic leader of many of Chechnya's guerrillas and terrorists, claimed late Saturday that a group of his saboteurs had set fire to one of Moscow's most important opera and ballet theaters. He said the possibility of more such operations was growing each day. The Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater, second in stature only to the Bolshoi Theater, was severely damaged by a fire on Friday. Its cause, still under investigation, has not been announced. A fire official said on Russian television that arson had not been ruled out.Mr. Basayev, who said last year that he organized the seizure of the public school in Beslan that ended with more than 330 deaths, is Russia's most wanted man. Bald, bearded and prone to sneering wisecracks and chilling acts of violence, Mr. Basayev, who lost a foot when he stepped on a land mine in 2000, has often spoken through a separatist Web site, www. kavkazcenter.com. Last Friday, the Web site claimed to have received an e-mail message from Mr. Basayev in which he said his Islamic saboteurs were behind a power failure earlier in the week that had left millions here without electricity. The Kremlin dismissed the claim as unfounded.
Late Saturday, in another posting on the Web site, Mr. Basayev said "a report was received today from one of our sabotage groups who have been given the task of destroying economic, political, administrative and cultural propagandist centers" in Russia, especially in Moscow. The group, he said, burned down the theater. He also claimed to have assembled many supporters of his jihad, including Muslims from unspecified nations, Russians and numerous "non-Muslim sympathizers." The veracity of the message could not be independently confirmed.