Word: basayev
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Russian authorities say the attack on the theater was meticulously planned and well-funded (costing some $60,000, Chechens familiar with guerrilla operations assert). It was sanctioned by top Chechen commanders, including the well-known Shamil Basayev, according to both Chechen and Russian sources. The same Chechen sources say the rebels' titular leader, Aslan Maskhadov, who distanced himself from the operation, was probably not consulted: most guerrillas feel he is irrelevant. Planning a raid like this takes six to eight weeks, a Chechen close to the guerrillas says. Another Chechen with experience in such operations thinks Movsar's people brought...
...center," its roots more likely lie in a long-established tradition among Chechen insurgents of mounting dramatic terror strikes aimed at tilting the balance of power back in their favor. The latest siege is reminiscent of the hostage drama at Budennovsk in 1995, when Chechen rebels led by Shamil Basayev seized a Russian hospital in order, he later said, to make Russians suffer the way Chechens had suffered. Although 166 hostages died when the very same Russian anti-terrorism unit that is currently surrounding the Moscow theater stormed the Buddenovsk hospital, Basayev and his men escaped. And soon afterwards, Moscow...
...Kerimov is, like Putin, a graduate of Leningrad University. He and his colleagues are hardly wild-eyed secessionists. "I hated Maskhadov, Basayev, Khattab," he said, referring to Aslan Maskhadov, the President of independent Chechnya, and his most controversial commanders. "Now I am ready to pray to them." Other lecturers just want to leave. In 1944 the Soviets deported all Chechens to Central Asia. Thousands died, and the survivors were allowed home only in 1957. This time, said Kerimov's colleague Said Yushaev, the Russians want to force Chechens to go, "like the [Jewish] diaspora...
...daily toll on the Russian forces there continues. Moscow's grip on Chechnya is not as strong as it would like. If I were to guess, though, I'd say these hijackers are not likely to have been sent by Khattab or Shamil Basayev, the best-known leaders of the rebel forces. Those guys have had plenty of opportunity for grandstanding acts of terror throughout Russia, but it hasn't really been their style for the most part. They're more focused on the daily grind of guerrilla warfare, making the Russian forces pay a heavy price for being...
...killed or wounded when a large contingent of rebels found themselves trapped on a minefield and were then cut to pieces by Russian artillery. A number of top Chechen leaders were reportedly killed in the fierce fighting to break through the Russian lines, and the rebels' top commander, Shamil Basayev, was reported to have been badly wounded when his car detonated a mine. Both sides now have paid a heavy price in the battle for Grozny - but that's never stopped them from fighting...