Chechen rebel commander Shamil Basayev has claimed responsibility for organizing and carrying out the recent siege of a theatre in Moscow. In a statement published by the Chechen rebel web site Kavkaz-Tsentr, Basayev said that the hostage-taking was carried out by a unit under his direct command - the Riyadus-Salikhin. Basayev vowed to carry the war beyond Chechnya's borders, throughout Russia, and said that the next team sent to Moscow would not be taking hostages and would try to destroy as much of the enemy as possible. He said that Chechen rebel President Aslan Maskhadov had no knowledge of the Moscow operation, and asked Maskhadov to accept his resignation from all posts except commander of the Riyadus-Salikhin battalion. The following is the text of the report by Kavkaz-Tsentr news agency web site:
1 November: Statement by the head of the Military Committee of the Majlis ul-Shura of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria [CRI], Abdullah Shamil Abu Idris [Basayev], in connection with incident in Moscow on 23-26 October 2002.
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
Praise be to the God of the Worlds, Who created us as Muslims and showed us mercy through jihad on His direct path. Peace and blessings onto [the Prophet] Muhammad, his family, his companions and all those who follow him on the straight path to Judgment Day.
A reconnaissance and sabotage unit of martyrs - Riyadus-Salikhin - carried out a successful military operation in the very lair of the enemy, in his heart - Moscow. The operation was aimed at stopping the war and halting the genocide of Chechen people, and if it failed as such it should at least have shown to the entire world that the Russian leadership can destroy without hesitation and regret its own citizens in the centre of Moscow by using the most brutal methods. Its aim was to give all Russians a first-hand insight into all the charms of the war unleashed by Russia and take it back to where it originated from.
However, we unfortunately did not attain our main goal - an end to the war and genocide of the Chechen people. I hope that we managed to implement most of the set tasks and we thank God for His aid and the mercy He has shown us.
About 40 martyrs participated in this special military operation, sacrificing their lives for the Faith, Honour, Freedom and Independence of the Motherland. They linked their destiny to God and let God give us the strength, courage and faith to also end our life's road with dignity, on the path of God and for the sake of God. God is Great!
The Russians have a good proverb: we were killed by what we were fighting for.
Thank God, today we managed to take this war back to where it came from. We brought the war back to the enemy's lair. However, it turned out surprisingly that this was not an aggressor at all, not the country fighting a war. It turned out that these were innocent civilians who had gone to the theatre for recreation.
In this regard, you have to ask yourself: who are the more than 3,000 children aged under 10, who died during the three years of the brutal and bloody war in Chechnya? Who are the more than 4,000 children who lost their legs, arms, eyes, who ended up paralysed? Who are the missing 3,500 people who have been abducted from their homes or detained in the streets by the Russian occupiers and whose fate remains a mystery? Who are the 200,000 slain women, elderly, ill, children and men? Who are they?
This military sabotage action manifested not only the slavish and brutal indifference of the Russian population, but also the despicable hypocrisy of the so-called world community. The whole world condemned this action for three days. The whole world offered its condolences to the Russians. This war would have ceased long ago if they had shown at least one tenth of this condemnation to the innocent victims of the bloody war in Chechnya, and what happened in Moscow would not have happened.
Our martyrs came to Moscow not to seek support, public opinion or sympathy. They came to end the war or become martyrs. They came with the motto "Victory or Paradise" and I hope that they attained paradise. People without any demands, who will not be taking anyone hostage, will come next time. They will come, and their main goal will be to destroy the enemy and deal the most severe blown onto him.
Inshallah, sooner or later, like it or not, the Russian people and leadership will have to end this bloody slaughter. They will have to stop this war, agree to peace and get off our land. Sooner or later we will achieve victory, but as long as there is one single Russian soldier on Chechen land, this war will go on, and from now on it will take place both here, on Chechen territory, and throughout Russia - the aggressor country.
I request that the president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and Amir of the State Defence Committee - Majlis ul-Shura of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Aslan Maskhadov, accept my resignation from all posts I occupy and forgive me and my comrades-in-arms for not disclosing the preparation and implementation of this combat operation.
I also officially renounce the plenary powers of amir of the Majlis of the Muslims of Ichkeria and Dagestan and amir of the International Brigade, as well as all other posts except for amir of the Riyadus-Salikhin reconnaissance and sabotage battalion of shahids [martyrs]. I also disclaim all my commitments except for my commitments to the families of the shahids.
I call on all mojahedin and all Chechens to further unite around the president of the CRI, Aslan Maskhadov, and the mojahedin leadership. I appeal to all shahids to join the ranks of the Riyadus-Salikhin reconnaissance and sabotage battalion of shahids. There is a very good, and what is more important, true Chechen saying: war can only be stopped by war. So Allah help us. Victory or Paradise - both are beautiful. Allahu Akbar!
Amir of the Riyadus-Salikhin reconnaissance and sabotage battalion of Chechen martyrs
Abdullah Shamil Abu Idris
Kavkaz-Tsentr note: The text of this statement was forwarded to the editorial office by the head of the Chechen State TV and Radio Company of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Shamkhan, who himself wrote down Shamil Abu Idris' statement from an audio tape, which had been recorded by the Chechen commander. There have been no reports yet on whether Maskhadov has accepted his deputy's resignation or not.
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