Basayev's group numbers 'maximum of 200-300'

The statement of notorious Chechen field commander Shamil Basayev published by Chechen separatist websites in which he claimed responsibility for the terror attack in the North Osetian town of Beslan, two crashes of passenger planes and terror attack in Moscow has not come as a surprise for people in the Chechen republic. Virtually all actions against federal forces and military and civilian objects both in Chechnya and beyond its borders are usually connected with the name of Shamil Basayev and the Shakhid brigade Riyadus Salihiin led by him.

"I think Basayev, Maskhadov and other field commanders have managed to introduce their people into different republican security agencies," a source in the Chechen Interior Ministry said to the Caucasian Knot correspondent. "Neither Basayev and Maskhadov nor anybody else would have been able to hide themselves from the federals and officers of local security agencies on the territory of about 180x120 square kilometers without support from the outside. They have sponsors and "friends" not only abroad but here. In Chechnya and in Russia. All operations to capture and neutralize them failed because they get to know about our plans in advance."

"Supplies are still provided for Basayev through the channels of international terrorist organizations, though he denies this fact," the officer said. At the same time, Chechen law enforcement agencies call the mention of "7 thousand rebels" in his recent statement a bluff. "The maximum of 200-300 people can really stand behind Basayev. He has neither financial resources to maintain a huge mass of people nor places where he can hide such an army. His words about some "funds allotted from the Russian budget" are the same bluff as the number of rebels mentioned by him."

"I don't justify Basayev's methods, but there'll be no lack of young men ready to avenge their relatives and loved ones until federal forces and officers of local security agencies act arbitrarily in Chechnya. Terrorists and Shakhids are begotten not by Basayev but by the Kremlin's policy towards the Chechens and other North Caucasian peoples," 49-year-old Aldan, a former teacher at a Grozny institution of higher education, said.