Chechen leader's death a boost for Putin

MOSCOW - Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov has been killed by Russian security forces, authorities said, giving a boost to President Vladimir Putin's hardline campaign to crush the separatist rebellion in Chechnya.

The 53-year-old Maskhadov, who had battled Russian troops in his North Caucasus homeland for more than a decade, was killed in a village just north of the regional capital Grozny, security chiefs said.

Russian television showed the grey-haired Maskhadov lying, bare-chested, on his back in a pool of blood, with his arms spread out on either side. There was what appeared to be a bullet mark in his left cheek.

Chechen rebels acknowledged his death was a great blow but would not halt the separatist cause. Maskhadov's envoy Akhmed Zakayev told Reuters in London the rebels would name a successor within days, but he gave no hint as to who this would be.

"A special operation was carried out by us in the village of Tolstoy-Yurt as a result of which the international terrorist and leader of the rebel group Aslan Maskhadov was killed," FSB Security Service chief Nikolai Patrushev told Putin.

Tolstoy-Yurt is 20 km north of Grozny.

The armed campaign led by Maskhadov brought bombings to the very heart of Russia. But many commentators viewed him as a moderate leader and a possible negotiator with the Kremlin though this view was rejected by Moscow.

The phlegmatic Putin, shown on television with Patrushev, appeared to take news of Maskhadov's death calmly, telling his security chief to double-check the identity of the body.

But the demise of Maskhadov, who had a US$10 million($13.76 million) bounty on his head after being linked by Russian forces to a string of deadly rebel attacks, was welcome news for the Kremlin chief who has suffered many setbacks in pursuing a tough line in Chechnya.

Ten months ago the Kremlin-backed president of the rebel region, Akhmad Kadyrov, was assassinated in a bomb attack and a low-level war continues to take Russian and Chechen lives daily.

Putin said once Maskhadov's death was confirmed FSB troops involved in the operation should receive a state award.

Authorities blamed Maskhadov for operations including an attack on a Moscow theatre, a bombing near the Kremlin and a massacre last year at a school in the south Russian town of Beslan. At least 326 hostages -- half of them children -- died at the school in Beslan.

He himself however denied links to many of the high-profile Chechen operations, blaming Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev.

Maskhadov was elected president of Chechnya during a three-year period in the late 1990s when the region enjoyed de facto independence.

With the death of Maskhadov, Russian forces will be eager now to capture or kill Basayev, who claimed responsibility for Beslan and is regarded as Russia's Public Enemy No 1.

Army spokesman Ilya Shabalkin told Russian news agencies that Maskhadov had been hiding in a reinforced cellar when he was killed.

Moscow has also linked Maskhadov and Basayev to groups that conducted attacks such as the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Maskhadov repeatedly called for talks with Moscow on Chechen demands for independence, but the Kremlin refused to negotiate.

Last month he ordered a three-week ceasefire by his men in what he said was a gesture to show his desire for peace. Observers said the fact the truce held showed he was in command of his forces.

Russian leaders, fearing a breakaway by Chechnya could trigger secession moves by other regions in the sprawling federation, have fought two wars in Chechnya.

Tens of thousands were killed on both sides in the first conflict from 1994-96, when Maskhadov was commander-in-chief of rebel forces. Putin sent troops back into the territory in late 1999 to cement his image as a strong leader ahead of his election as president in 2000.

- REUTERS