SLEPTSOVSK, Russia, 29 October — Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov warned Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday that more attacks like the bloody Moscow hostage siege were inevitable unless he seeks a peace settlement.
"There is no military solution," he said in a telephone interview with AFP as Putin vowed no deal with "terrorists", while his officials dodged questions about a lethal mystery gas used to end the Moscow theater siege.
"You will never be able to crush the Chechen people and bring them to their knees. There is one reasonable, correct step — to sit down at the negotiating table.
"All the rest is death, blood, hostages and the death of absolutely innocent people," added Maskhadov, in his first public statement since Chechen rebels seized more than 700 people in the theater last week.
The president of the breakaway republic firmly denied any involvement in the hostage-taking.
"We condemn and have always condemned such actions and they cannot be justified. We have always striven to conduct ourselves honorably in our fight for national liberation," he said.
"Ordinary people, both here and there, are not guilty," added Maskhadov.
In Moscow, Russian officials denied the use of "sarin or other poison gases" to neutralize Chechen rebels, but refused to give precise details.
The purpose of the special forces raid on the Moscow theater Saturday "was not to kill everyone, and so the use of sarin or any other poison gas can be ruled out," the Russian presidency’s top medical official Viktor Fominykh told reporters.
"Consequently, it is not essential to know its composition exactly in order to provide treatment," Fominykh said.
He said he had "no objective information" about the nature of the gas pumped into the theater to neutralize the 50-strong Chechen commando group.
Countries whose nationals were among the hostages, including the United States and Germany, have asked for information regarding the gas but have been met with silence.
Doctors speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP that the rescued hostages were being treated with naxalone, a product used for the treatment of secondary respiratory ailments.
Naxalone is commonly used in post-anesthesia operations and in the treatment of after-effects of morphine and alcohol intake.
The drug was injected into the bodies of hostages lying asleep inside the theater in the immediate aftermath of the special forces attack, one doctor said.
