Posted on 11/27/2004 10:07:52 PM PST by FairOpinion
MOSCOW (AP) - The head of a parliamentary commission investigating the September massacre at a school in southern Russia said there is evidence of involvement by a foreign intelligence agency, Interfax news agency reported Saturday.
The statement was the latest of several in which Russian officials and politicians have alleged foreigners were involved in the Sept. 1-3 attack on a school in the southern town Beslan, which ended in bloody chaos and left more than 330 people dead, many of them children.
"For the moment, the evidence that we have of this involvement is indirect, so I consider it premature to name exactly which special service it is," Interfax quoted commission head Alexander Torshin saying.
Russians refer to intelligence and security agencies as special services.
Torshin, deputy speaker of the Federation Council, Russia's upper house, said: "When we gather enough convincing evidence, we won't hide it."
Russian officials initially said the attackers killed at the school included nine or 10 Arabs but never provided any proof. Shamil Basayev, a Chechen warlord who claimed responsibility for the raid, said his militants who seized the school included two Arabs.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) and other officials have cast the school seizure as part of a war against Russia by international terrorists - not a product of the Kremlin's military campaign in Chechnya (news - web sites).
Many Russian officials have accused foreign countries, particularly in the West, of double standards on terrorism. In a televised address after the attack, Putin suggested some Cold War throwbacks in the West who are bent on weakening Russia aid terrorists.
I think that country better make its final arrangements.
My guess: Iran or Syria.
I think it's Chechnya.
Al Qaeda has been reportedly working in Chechnya, so I think it's possible that some totally misguided people in the Chechnian government thought it would be a good idea to use the terrorists to attack Russia.
The Russian Government has repeatedly insisted that al-Qaeda has links with the rebels fighting in Chechnya.
Officials suggested this week that some foreign fighters might have been among the rebels involved in the seizing of hundreds of hostages at a Moscow theatre.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2372971.stm
First country that comes to mind is France.
I smell pogrom.
France would certainly be an interesting possibility.
But if they had anything to do with this, Chirac is not long for this world, and people better hurry up and take pictures of the masterpieces in the Louvre, because soon they won't even know where Paris was.
Russia isn't going to be going to the UN and asking for sanctions against France.
I think it's Chechnya too.
Whichever country it is, should receive a Russian Nuke as payback.
I agree.
Chechnya, while a major al Queda training and recruitment center, has a government that is part of Russia. It does not have a foreign intelligence agency.
Ping
Let's just hope they don't say it's the Joos.
My guess is that it has to be Iran. But this won't mix well with Russian politics because Iran is a buyer of technology and weapons. They will eventually drop this entire angle and just move on.
Whichever country it is, should receive a Russian Nuke as payback.
Yea, if I lived in that country, I'd be packing and on the next flight out!
Jack
Chechnya had nothing to do with the Cold War. He's also suggesting it's someone from the West. My guess would be france since they want to be a superpower.
Could these be thought of as the West?
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