 Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, in a rare interview with a Russian newspaper published on Monday, urged Russian authorities to start peace talks. A government official in Moscow quickly condemned the Kommersant daily for "publishing an interview with a bandit". Maskhadov's offer of peace talks follows his order last week of a ceasefire by his forces in what he called a gesture of good will aimed at ending the decade-old conflict in the North Caucasus province.
| I'm cautiously starting to hope that Shamil really is dead... |
There has been no official reaction from the Kremlin to the ceasefire offer, but leaders of Chechnya's pro-Moscow government rejected it, calling it is a cynical ploy to stall for time while Maskhadov's forces regroup. "I hope for a reasonable reaction," Maskhadov told Kommersant, just days after Moscow criticised the British government for not blocking the airing on local television of an interview with another Chechen rebel leader, Shamil Basayev. |