MOSCOW, Sept 26 (AFP) - The pro-independence leader of Russia's mainly Muslim republic of Chechnya reacted coolly Wednesday to a US statement calling on him to break off all contact with the Saudi-born extremist Osama bin Laden, clearly implying that there were no contacts to break off.
A spokesman for Aslan Maskhadov, the main rebel leader in the breakaway republic, said that the appeal made earlier in the day by White House spokesman Ari Fleischer posed "no problem."
"As regards the call from the White House, I can assure you that the (Chechen) leaders see no problem whatsoever," said spokesman Mairbek Vachagaev. He refused to say anything else.
Speaking earlier in Washington, Fleischer called on Chechnya's pro-independence leaders to "immediately and unconditionally" break off all contacts with bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network, which Washington blames for the September 11 terror attacks in the United States.
Fleischer denied that the appeal was part of a softer line on Russia's bloody campaign in the province as part of a deal to secure Moscow's support for a global war on terror in the wake of the attacks.
"No such conclusion should be reached," said the spokesman, who added that US President George W. Bush believed that "the only solution in Chechnya is a political solution."
The Kremlin's advisor on the Chechen conflict, Sergey Yastrzhembsky, welcomed the US declaration.
He said it was a "demonstration of a better understanding in the US that the normalisation of the situation in Chechnya is directly linked to the struggle against international terrorism."
Yastrzhembsky said it also confirmed what Moscow had said many times before: "That's to say, that there are direct links between international terrorist groups -- in particular the bin Laden organisation -- and Chechen fighters."