GELAEV TAKES CREDIT…

During a brief telephone conversation with a reporter from Agence France Presse, Ruslan Gelaev, who claimed that he was located in Chechnya close to Ingushetia, took responsibility for the raid. “We said we would strike where we were not expected,” he recalled. “The operation has begun.” On the eve of the attack on Galashki, Gelaev had said that the separatists would “continue to fight until not only our country but all the nations of the Caucasus are freed from the double-headed eagle [of Russia].” Despite this assertion, Gelaev emphasized, “I am a supporter of negotiations [with Moscow],” adding, however, that peace talks would constitute a “long and difficult process” (Agence France Presse, September 26). On September 30, Gazeta.ru reported that radio intercepts had confirmed that Ruslan Gelaev had himself been seriously wounded in the course of the recent fighting.