Rebel envoy urges Putin to enter into talks

An envoy of Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov appealed to President Vladimir Putin to enter into negotiations in an interview with AFP Monday during which he condemned the bloody school hostage-taking in southern Russia as a "monstrous act".
Maskhadov, who was elected as president of Chechnya in 1997 during its short-lived de facto independence after the first 1994-96 Chechen war, has traditionally been seen as a moderate force in the splintered separatist movement although he has now moved closer to radical elements.
He has denied any responsibility for the hostage crisis in the North Ossetian town of Beslan, the world's most deadly in recent history, which ended in the deaths of almost 340 adults and children.
"We condemn this monstrous act by these hostage-takers. Any violence against civilians is unacceptable, whatever one's political aims, there can be no justification for that. These are not our methods," said Zakayev by telephone from London, where he has been granted political asylum.
"Our position from the first day of the second Chechen war has not changed. We are ready to abandon the armed struggle and take the path of political dialogue, without any preconditions," he added.
The Maskhadov envoy, however, expressed pessimism that Putin would be ready to reverse his hard-line refusal to enter into talks with rebels in Chechnya, where he ordered in troops in October 1999 in what was billed as a lightening "anti-terrorist operation".
"The Russian leadership, which is trying to resolve a political conflict through force, has not changed its stance, judging from Putin's address to the nation" on Saturday when the Russian president vowed to toughen security in response to the wave of terror attacks by Chechen militants, Zakayev said.
"The escalation of the war is continuing to gather pace and spreading through the Caucasus. Such type of acts only strengthen the hand of those who push for the use of force in resolving the Chechen conflict," he added.
Russian security officials have linked radical Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev to the militants who took 1,000 hostages at the Beslan school.
Zakayev declined to point the finger at Basayev but insisted that he too had to be drawn into a political process.
"If we want to obtain stability and security guarantees for everyone, for Chechens and Russians and all citizens, we have to speak to all sides and draw them into political dialogue. We have to attract not only Shamil Basayev but everyone to a political process," the rebel envoy said.