01 February 2005, 23:48
Taramov denies reports about Basayev's death
On January 31, Russian mass media spread information about the death of Shamil Basayev referring to representatives of the Chechen diaspora in Azerbaijan. The terrorist leader was said to have been killed in a clash in a mountainous district of Chechnya in January 2005. According to one version, Basayev was killed in a combat between rebels, which occurred because of the barefaced misappropriation of money. The other variant is that federal special operations soldiers destroyed Basayev in a clash.
Chechen human rights activist Mairbek Taramov has given his comments on these reports to the Caucasian Knot correspondent. "I have no information on Shamil Basayev's death. Russian special services spread such reports purposefully, in order to cause chaos in the ranks of the Chechen resistance," Mr Taramov said.
Author: Zaur Rasulzade, CK correspondent
