GROZNY. April 16 (Interfax) - There are no serious signs indicating that prominent North Caucasus warlord Doku Umarov is alive, head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov said.
"Since the moment an airstrike was carried out upon this area [the Sunzha district of Ingushetia], there have been no serious signs indicating that Umarov is alive," Kadyrov told journalists.
"The allegations that he called somewhere should not be taken seriously, because the voice could have been faked," he said.
It was reported earlier that Umarov called Radio Liberty during a live program after it had been reported that he might have been killed in the operation in Ingushetia.
"We know that Abdullayev [Supyan Abdullayev, who was killed in the operation in Ingushetia], the main ideologist of the militants in the North Caucasus, is always near Umarov. This is evident from intelligence we have been receiving for a long time. In other words, Abdullayev is where Umarov. Other people from his entourage" were also killed in the operation, Kadyrov said.
However, if it is proven legally that Umarov is alive, "this gives every reason to hope that he will be captured alive and will stand trial," Kadyrov said.
"We would like this very much, because he is behind a string of crimes. This would lead to solving a lot of grave crimes," he said.
"The people whose relatives were slain would be happy more to see him in the dock than to know that he was hunted down and eliminated somewhere," he said.
Since it has not been proven legally whether Umarov's remains are among those killed in the operation in Ingushetia, "a search for him in the Chechen republic has not been stopped for a minute," he said.
A large-scale operation against a group of militants was conducted in a mountainous forest area in the Sunzha district of Ingushetia on March 28. It was reported that Umarov could have been among those killed.
Ingush head Yunus-Bek Yevkurov said on April 8 that no information was available proving or denying that Umarov had been killed in the operation. "There is no information on this score so far. Investigative bodies are working," he said.
A number of websites hosted by North Caucasus separatists insisted on April 8 that Umarov was alive. Radio Liberty journalists also claimed that Umarov called them during a live radio program.
On April 13, Russian presidential envoy for international cooperation in combating terrorism and transnational crime Anatoly Safonov suggested that Umarov was probably alive. "As far as I know, not all necessary medical tests and other procedures have yet been completed, but some indirect information suggests it is more likely that [Umarov] is alive than not," Safonov said on Russia Today television channel.
http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=237127
