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Putin agrees to siege probe
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-11 09:17
President Vladimir Putin has agreed to a parliamentary investigation in an
apparent response to public criticism over last week's deadly school hostage
siege.
Previously Putin had only said an internal investigation would be held into
the crisis, which left more than 330 hostages dead -- about half of them
children.
The proposal to form a commission was made Friday by Sergei Mironov, speaker
of the upper house of Russia's parliament. The Federal Council largely follows
Putin's lead.
"We are thoroughly interested in receiving a complete, objective picture of
the tragic events connected with the seizure of the hostages," Putin told
Mironov in a meeting shown on Russian television, The Associated Press reported.
According to reports of meetings Putin held with visiting Western scholars,
the Kremlin leader had earlier ruled out a public inquiry in favor of the
internal review.
The parliamentary commission could constitute a relatively independent and
public review of the crisis, AP said.
Meanwhile, North Ossetia's parliament has approved a new prime minister to
head the government, which was dismissed in the wake of angry demonstrations
over authorities' failure to prevent the attack.
Alan Boradzov, the republic's former transportation minister, was nominated
by President Alexander Dzasokhov, who dismissed the regional government but did
not step down himself, AP reported.
Last week's siege in the North Ossetian town of Beslan, which ended in a
deadly barrage of gunfire and explosions, has raised serious questions about the
effectiveness of Russia's law-enforcement and security forces.
On Thursday, officials said six of the roughly 30 terrorists who seized the
school had been identified as being from Chechnya.
Another four were from neighboring Ingushetia, officials told AP on condition
of anonymity.
Ingushetia is between North Ossetia and Chechnya, and the presence of Ingush
raiders threatens to inflame long-standing tensions between Ingush and
Ossetians.
However, none of the 10 terrorists identified so far are Arabs, despite
Moscow's assertion that about a third of the attackers were from Arab countries.
Putin and Russian investigators have said about 10 of the attackers were
Arabs, though authorities have not publicly provided evidence of the assertion,
AP said.
Officials have said the battle against rebels fighting for Chechen
independence is part of the international war on terrorism, and Russia's foreign
minister accused Western countries of displaying double standards by granting
asylum to Chechen separatist figures.
Sergey Lavrov's comments reflect Russian anger over what Moscow sees as the
West's receptiveness to the rebels.
Akhmed Zakayev is among those who Moscow would like to see extradited. An
envoy for Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, Zakayev was granted
political asylum in the UK last year.
The Kremlin also was angered when Washington granted asylum to Ilyas
Akhmadov, who was foreign minister under Maskhadov during Chechnya's de-facto
independence in the late 1990s.
To underscore the point that Russia is fighting a wider war, Lavrov met
Thursday with Rudolph Giuliani, who was mayor of New York City when the
September 11, 2001 attacks took place.
"When our Western partners urge us to rethink our policy and tactics in
Chechnya, I would advise them not to interfere in Russian internal matters --
which they do by granting asylum to terrorists who are directly to blame for the
tragedy of the Chechen people," Lavrov said after the meeting.
Also Thursday, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder backed Putin's view that
Russia is a victim of international terrorism.
In a joint statement, Schroeder and Putin likened the school siege and other
recent deadly attacks to September 11 and the Madrid train bombings. They said
the school siege marked "a new dimension of the threat posed to all humankind by
international terrorism."
The Kremlin has rejected criticism that its Chechnya policies have bolstered
support for the insurgents, instead claiming that international terrorist groups
including al Qaeda are training the militants.
The official death toll from the Beslan hostage siege -- in which terrorists
took 1,200 people hostage -- rose to 329 on Thursday with the death of another
victim, North Ossetia's Deputy Health Minister Teimuraz Revazov said.
Officials have said 30 attackers and 11 members of the security forces also
were killed.
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