MOSCOW, 2 November — Russia’s public enemy No. 1, Chechen fighter Shamil Basayev, claimed responsibility yesterday for the deadly Moscow hostage-taking and absolved Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov of involvement in the operation. In a statement issued on the rebel kavkaz.org website, Basayev asked “forgiveness from him (Maskhadov) and my fellow fighters for that fact that I hid the planning and carrying out of this operation from them.” His comments came after the Kremlin accused Maskhadov, who was elected president of Chechnya in 1997 shortly after the republic gained de facto independence from Russia following a 1994-1996 war, of helping plan last week’s Moscow theater attack. Some 119 civilians and 50 Chechen hostage-takers died in the three-day siege, which struck at the very heart of Vladimir Putin’s presidency and ended in a bloody Saturday dawn raid by Russian crack troops. (AFP)
