Source: Kavkaz-Tsentr news agency web site in Russian 3 Feb 03
3 February: The Russian FSB [Federal Security Service] says that it has in its hands proof of the involvement of President Maskhadov in the Dubrovka events [Moscow theatre siege]. This claim was made on Sunday [2 February] on
the Russia TV channel.
[Passage omitted: Russia TV showed video footage of Movsar Barayev, who led the siege, at a meeting with Maskhadov and other Chechen commanders]
As for the Dubrovka events, it is known that Shamil Basayev, head of the military committee of the State Defence Committee - Majlis ul-Shura, has taken upon himself full responsibility for this military act and has said that he did not inform President Maskhadov about the special operation being
prepared on enemy territory.
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BBC Monitoring Russian FSB says new tape proves Chechen rebel leader's guilt Source: RTR Russia TV, Moscow, in Russian 1700 gmt 2 Feb 03
The Russian Federal Security service [FSB] has said a video tape recently obtained in Chechnya proves that last's operation to seize hundreds of hostages in Moscow was planned with the participation of Chechen rebel president Aslan Maskhadov. Russia TV channel showed clips from the video recording of a meeting, said to have been held at a rebel training camp in August 2002. An FSB spokesman, presenting the tape, said the meeting was attended by Maskhadov, the hostage-takers' leader Movsar Barayev, and several others, including prominent Islamic spiritual leader Abu Omar. The following
is text of report shown by Russia TV on 2 February. Video notes and subheadings have been inserted editorially.
[Presenter] Virtually at the same time as news came from London [about possible extradition of Chechen rebel envoy Akhmed Zakayev], the results of a special operation carried out in Chechnya became known. Proof was found there that Aslan Maskhadov had indeed known about preparations for taking hostages
in Dubrovka [street in Moscow, where hundreds of people were taken hostage at a theatre in late October 2002]. For the first time we are showing you a [video] recording which shows Maskhadov and Barayev together discussing preparations for the terrorist act. This unique footage forms part of Andrey
Medvedev's report.
[Video, captioned Moscow, October 2002, pans hostages in the theatre, zooms on one of the hostage-takers.]
[Voice off camera] Can I film you like that? You used to be very handsome with the beard, and now you are very ugly.
[Medvedev, commenting] With the beard - that remark was about summer 2002. This footage was filmed at a rebel camp in the mountains. [Another video, captioned Chechnya, August 2002, shows Barayev and a bearded young man pretending to shoot.] Movsar Barayev and explosives expert Yassir are not practising firing but rather fooling around. Asked to do so by the cameraman, Yassir addresses his compatriots. [Video now shows Yassir speaking into camera.]
[Yassir, speaking in Arabic, Russian translation overlaid] We are living freely in the mountains of Chechnya. Fighters leave when they want and come back when they want. We are fighting together in the path of Allah. We shall
fight until the last Day of Judgment.
[Barayev, shown speaking into camera in Russian, and pointing at Yassir] He has more hardware that Russian plants have ever produced. [Both laugh]
Conference footage
[Correspondent] Let me remind you that after the Dubrovka events Aslan Maskhadov claimed he did not even know Barayev personally. It turns out this
is not so. Here they are together at the same camp. [Poor-quality video shows men who appear to be Maskhadov and Barayev sitting side by side.] But even this is not the most interesting bit. Of the greatest importance is the footage of a conference held by the rebels.
[Sergey Ignatchenko, deputy chief of the Russian Federal Security Service public relations centre, pointing at figures on a TV screen] Here is Maskhadov, [rebel commander Shamil] Basayev, here is Yassir and there is Barayev. They are being introduced here, a man is reporting who they are, and saying they would take part in the terrorist act that is being prepared.
[Correspondent, over video of the meeting, captioned Chechnya, August 2002] On Maskhadov's left is field commander (?Saif) Islam, who led one of the courses at the Kavkaz terrorist training camp [Circled on video]. He took commands directly from [late Jordanian-born rebel leader] Khattab. Another participant in the meeting is probably the most important figure: Shaykh Abu
Omar [Circled on video].
[Ignatchenko] He is very well known in the Arab world, in the Muslim Brotherhood organization. At one time he represented in this country the Al-Haramayn organization, known from when we exposed it in the year 2000. The organization was engaged in funding terrorism on Chechen territory. In the spiritual hierarchy, He is more senior than anyone else present here.
[Correspondent] Even higher than Maskhadov?
[Ignatchenko] He is higher than Maskhadov. He is the spiritual leader, who blesses people to carry out terrorist acts.
[Correspondent] And this man here [point at TV screen] appears to be introducing Barayev.
[Ignatchenko] Yes. At this moment he is reporting on who Barayev is, how many terrorist acts he has carried out.
[Voice-over in Russian of unidentified man shown on the video of the meeting] Here is Movsar Barayev. He is a group commander. We need to discuss some questions and plans for next month.
[Correspondent] Since 1996, Abu Omar has been rather a virtual-reality figure for Russian counterintelligence: everyone has heard of him, there have been radio intercepts of his calls, but no-one has seen his face. It was Omar who
created Wahhabi enclaves in Dagestan, in the villages of Karamakhi and Chaban-makhi. [Video, captioned Chechnya, 1996, showed several men shaking hands, entering the building with the sign Karamakhi administration, Buynakskiy District, Dagestan]
[Zaur Akavov, shown on police video of interrogation, dated 3 July 2002] He does not belong to anyone's detachment. He is always accompanied by two or three men. There was a short man by his side-
[Voice off camera, presumably interrogator] Who are those two or three men? Bodyguards?
[Akavov] Well, yes, they are like bodyguards or guides. Mostly he is accompanied by two or three Chechens who know Arabic well.
[Correspondent] Shaykh Abu Omar does not fund all the operations of the Chechen rebels but only high-profile terrorist acts. He very rarely speaks to simple field commanders. The fact that Barayev and Yassir, not ranked among the most senior rebels, are present at the same conference as Abu Omar, is a
rarity. [Video shows a different meeting in the camp, rebels studying maps.]
In the opinion of counterintelligence officers, however, it is understandable.
[Ignatchenko] Since they were to play the leading part in the terrorist act,
this is quite justifiable. You can see that they have a map in front of them
and they are discussing the strategy and tactics of the planned terrorist act.
Address to rebels
[Correspondent] A few days before the theatre in Moscow was seized, on 18 October 2002, Aslan Maskhadov made an address to the rebels. He was asked if
there was going to be a repeat of [a hostage-taking operation in] Budennovsk, which the rebels dubbed Operation Jihad.
[Maskhadov, video captioned 18 October 2002] I am convinced - I have no doubt - that in the final stage we shall definitely carry out an even more unique operation similar to Jihad.
[Correspondent] During the three days spent at the Dubrovka theatre, Movsar Barayev and Yassir phoned dozens of times to those who ordered and led the terrorist act. Maskhadov was not among those they called, but it is now known for certain that he was watching the events carefully. At least, in the view
of the FSB staff, this recording proves that it was none other than Maskhadov who was responsible for the operation. It is enough to observe how thoroughly he notes down all the directions from the Arab commanders [Video showed the meeting; Maskhadov, sitting over a map, writing in his notebook].
This recording is unlikely to have been made to report back to someone. Abu Omar is too well known a terrorist, so sponsors would have been quite happy with a verbal report from him about the conference. It is more likely to have been made for the personal archive of one of the participants. Yet now that it has fallen into the hands of counterintelligence officers, this recording
has turned into a document whose authenticity cannot be doubted.