Moscow Will Offer Amnesty to Rebels
By Simon Saradzhyan
Staff Writer

Federal Security Service chief Nikolai Patrushev announced Tuesday that the government would offer amnesty to rebel fighters in the North Caucasus in an apparent attempt to thin the ranks of insurgent and terrorist groups in the area following the death of notorious warlord Shamil Basayev.

Patrushev told reporters that the National Anti-Terrorist Committee, which he chairs, was drafting an amnesty bill intended to provide fighters "who have been deceived by the ringleaders and lured into criminal activity" with "the chance to return to a peaceful life."

The committee, which includes Russia's top law enforcement officers and other key ministers, would send the amnesty bill to the Kremlin for approval before submitting it to the State Duma, Patrushev said.

The FSB chief did not specify which crimes would be covered by the amnesty. Instead, he reiterated his call for rebels in Chechnya and the other North Caucasus republics to lay down their arms by Aug. 1.

Recent intelligence suggests that most of the rebels are debating whether to fight on or to surrender, said Colonel General Anatoly Yedelev, commander of the federal anti-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus.

Moscow has granted amnesty to rebels in the North Caucasus in the past, but the rebels have never responded by surrendering en masse. They have preferred to negotiate directly, first with representatives of the late Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov and now with his son Ramzan Kadyrov, the current prime minister.

The Kadyrovs defected from the rebel side and swore allegiance to Moscow during the second Chechen war. Their allies, who switched sides with them or followed later, fill the police force and security services in the region.

If the government's latest amnesty covers the most serious crimes, it could prove more successful in enticing large number of fighters to surrender, given that Basayev and the head of the rebel movement, Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev, have been killed in the last month.

Basayev was not just a symbol of the insurgency in the North Caucasus, but also channeled finances from supporters abroad to rebel units in addition to leading important operations. His heir apparent, Doku Umarov, lacks Basayev's clout both among rebel groups in the area and their backers abroad.

Ramzan Kadyrov said Tuesday that at least 13 fighters from Umarov's group planned to surrender, along with several former field commanders who had been lying low in Turkey and Azerbaijan, Interfax reported.

Patrushev said Basayev had been planning a major terrorist attack to disrupt the G8 summit, which was held in St. Petersburg over the weekend. The FSB chief had earlier claimed that the planned attack was intended merely to "put pressure" on the Kremlin.

The FSB claims credit for killing Basayev, who died when a truckload of rockets exploded in Ingushetia last Wednesday, blowing his body to pieces. The rebels insist Basayev's death was an accident.

Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said last week that he was so confident charred remains found next to the truck belonged to Basayev that no identification of the body was necessary. The authorities' attempts to positively identify the remains have so far failed, however, Kommersant reported Tuesday.

The authorities have no record of Basayev's fingerprints and have been unable to locate any of the warlord's close relatives in order to perform a DNA match, Kommersant reported, citing a source involved in the investigation. Basayev's parents and younger brother are dead. His older brother is now in Turkey, and his wife and children have also left Russia, the newspaper reported.

Under Russian law, Basayev cannot be proclaimed dead, and the many investigations into his terrorist activities cannot be closed, until his remains are positively identified.

Chechen Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov said Tuesday that 297 rebels had been detained and another 32 killed in the region since the beginning of 2006, Interfax reported. The fighters have pulled off just seven terrorist attacks during the period, compared to 17 in the same period last year, Alkhanov said.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/07/19/011.html