…WHILE FSB CLAIMS SAUDI-BASED ISLAMISTS AID CHECHENS.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) has detailed alleged financial support for international terrorists fighting in Chechnya. According to the FSB, one clandestine source for the financing of international mercenaries fighting in Chechnya is the international Islamic charitable organization Al-Haramein, which gives financial support to Islamic extremists throughout the world. The group, which is headquartered in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh and has been working out of Azerbaijan, sent hard currency to the “Kavkaz” Wahhabi Muslim centers located in the Dagestani capital of Makhachakala and the town of Karamakhi, located in Dagestan’s Buinaksk region, the FSB said. According to the FSB, Al-Haramein’s aim in financing the Dagestani Wahhabis was to overthrow the existing constitutional order and establish an “Islamic state” encompassing Chechnya and Dagestan.

The Russian security service also claimed that some of the money from the Saudi group was deposited in the personal bank accounts of rebel field commanders in Chechnya, including Khattab and Shamil Basaev, whose families have already been taken out of Chechnya to countries of the Near and Middle East. According to the FSB, Al-Haramein emissaries have been placed near every major Chechen field commander, including Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov. It is interesting to note that the Azerbaijani authorities have not denied that Al-Haramein has operated on their territory, saying that a representative office of the Saudi-based group was closed in Baku around two months ago (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, May 20).

VIKTOR KALUZHNY REMOVED AS FUEL AND ENERGY MINISTER.