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Russia says it knows where "terrorist bases" are
By Sonia Oxley
MOSCOW, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Russia knows exactly where to find
"terrorist bases" in bordering countries and is ready to act alone
against them if its neighbours do not agree to help, Russia's top
general was quoted as saying on Friday.
General Yuri Baluyevsky did not specify exactly where these bases
were, but his comments were likely to worry neighbouring Georgia,
long suspected by Russia of harbouring rebels.
Earlier this week Baluyevsky threatened pre-emptive strikes on rebel
bases anywhere in the world after more than 300 hostages, half of
them children, died in an attack blamed on Chechen separatists on a
school in the town of Beslan.
"We have definite information about the location of terrorist bases
abroad," Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying.
"If we do not come to an understanding with those neighbouring
countries on whose territories the bases are located to take joint
action, I think we will receive the permission ... to take action,"
he said.
Russia, which has two military bases in Georgia, has repeatedly accused
Tbilisi of allowing Chechen rebels -- at war with Moscow for a decade
-- to operate from the Pankisi Gorge, which borders Chechnya.
Analysts say Armenia, Azerbaijan and the five Central Asian states
are also on Russia's black list.
Relations between Russia and Georgia worsened this year after Georgian
President Mikhail Saakashvili tried to reassert control over breakaway
regions which seek unity with Russia.
One of them, South Ossetia, wants to join North Ossetia, the Russian
region where the school siege took place.
"The Russian media and certain official circles have already begun
talking as if there are links between South Ossetia and events in
Beslan. The only link is that both Russia and Georgia have a common
enemy -- terrorism," Saakashvili said on television.
(Additional reporting by Niko Mchedlishvili in Tbilisi)
09/10/04 11:38 ET
By Sonia Oxley
MOSCOW, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Russia knows exactly where to find
"terrorist bases" in bordering countries and is ready to act alone
against them if its neighbours do not agree to help, Russia's top
general was quoted as saying on Friday.
General Yuri Baluyevsky did not specify exactly where these bases
were, but his comments were likely to worry neighbouring Georgia,
long suspected by Russia of harbouring rebels.
Earlier this week Baluyevsky threatened pre-emptive strikes on rebel
bases anywhere in the world after more than 300 hostages, half of
them children, died in an attack blamed on Chechen separatists on a
school in the town of Beslan.
"We have definite information about the location of terrorist bases
abroad," Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying.
"If we do not come to an understanding with those neighbouring
countries on whose territories the bases are located to take joint
action, I think we will receive the permission ... to take action,"
he said.
Russia, which has two military bases in Georgia, has repeatedly accused
Tbilisi of allowing Chechen rebels -- at war with Moscow for a decade
-- to operate from the Pankisi Gorge, which borders Chechnya.
Analysts say Armenia, Azerbaijan and the five Central Asian states
are also on Russia's black list.
Relations between Russia and Georgia worsened this year after Georgian
President Mikhail Saakashvili tried to reassert control over breakaway
regions which seek unity with Russia.
One of them, South Ossetia, wants to join North Ossetia, the Russian
region where the school siege took place.
"The Russian media and certain official circles have already begun
talking as if there are links between South Ossetia and events in
Beslan. The only link is that both Russia and Georgia have a common
enemy -- terrorism," Saakashvili said on television.
(Additional reporting by Niko Mchedlishvili in Tbilisi)
09/10/04 11:38 ET