ZAKAEV CONDEMNS HOSTAGE-TAKING…

Akhmed Zakaev, the London-based representative of the underground government of Aslan Maskhadov, released a statement on November 1 condemning the terrorist warlord Shamil Basaev. As reported by the Newsru.com website, Zakaev sharply rejected a recent statement purportedly from Basaev claiming that the separatist guerrillas have a moral right to conduct terrorist attacks against peaceful Russian civilians. Zakaev insisted that hostage taking, like other deliberate attacks on civilians, constitutes a “war crime” subject to penalties under the Geneva Convention. “The fact that the Russian side systematically violates that Convention cannot justify criminal actions by our own side,” he said. In effect, Zakaev thus admitted in Maskhadov’s name, as Newsru.com put it, “that they cannot control Basaev.”