Putin Tells Army To Take Tougher Line In Chechnya

President Vladimir Putin ordered his generals yesterday to draw up new measures to deal with the Chechen threat hours after the rebel republic's leader offered unconditional talks.

President Putin: 'Russia will never give in to blackmail' After Russia observed a minute's silence in memory of the Moscow theatre siege victims, Mr Putin addressed the nation. He said: "Russia will never make any deals with terrorists and will never give in to blackmail.

"If anyone tries to use such methods against our country Russia will retaliate with appropriate measures against terrorists and their ideological and financial backing wherever that may be."(Look out Saudia Arabia?)

His words reflected widespread popular rage after the Chechens' raid on the theatre, which left at least 115 hostages and 50 rebels dead.

Almost all the deaths were caused by an unknown gas pumped through the ventilation system to stop the gunmen detonating explosives.

The Chechens had been demanding a withdrawal of Russian troops from the Caucausian republic.

But Mr Putin made no reference to a renewed offer by Aslan Maskhadov, the fugitive Chechen leader, to hold "unconditional" talks on the status of the republic.

"We can only solve it politically," Akhmed Zakayev, a senior envoy of Mr Maskhadov, told the World Chechen Congress, which opened in Copenhagen despite Russian protests.

"President Maskhadov, as before, is ready without any preconditions to sit at the negotiating table. It is up to the Russian leadership," he said. But Russia is in little mood to negotiate with Mr Maskhadov, whom it describes as a terrorist.

Mr Putin's words were backed by news of a fresh operation in Chechnya to flush out pockets of rebels.

Despite the deaths of the hostages Mr Putin has come out of the crisis more popular than ever. Newspapers trumpeted the success of the raid and Muscovites praised his bravery and decisiveness.

There was virtually no criticism of the use of gas and few harsh words about the bungled operations after the raid.

The attack has handed Mr Putin the high moral ground in a propaganda war against Chechen separatists which he had appeared to be losing.

It has also given him carte blanche with the Russian people to initiate a more determined assault in Chechnya to try to wipe out rebel resistance.

In Moscow yesterday huge electronic billboards displayed part of Mr Putin's address to the nation last Saturday in which he called for national unity.

The careful mix of regret and quiet determination that Mr Putin has displayed has struck a chord with Russians across the social spectrum.

"We were unable to save them all," one read in pink letters on a black background. "Forgive us. Let the memory of the dead unite us."(I'm recalling when the Russians took Berlin in WW2)

Yulia Voronovich, a housewife, said in an upmarket shopping centre in Moscow: "In terms of the casualties it was a partial success. But in terms of the operation it was a resounding victory.

"For Putin personally it is a great success and I think all Russians realise that. If the special forces had not gone in I think all the hostages would have been killed."

The newspapers almost unanimously praised the special forces, in stark contrast with last week when letter columns were full of criticism of the government.

In Red Square, just re-opened to the public, a street trader, Georgi Blophin, 37, was selling paintings of traditional Russian winter scenes.

He said: "The special forces were perfect, though the medical rescue doesn't seem to have been very well organised. I think this was Putin's only choice, otherwise it would have been much worse."

But perhaps the greatest tribute to the president came from Nika Chernetsov, a 21-year-old, newly-wed student whose husband, Danuila, is still among the missing.

With tears welling up in her eyes she said: "There was only one possibility. They had to kill the terrorists and save as many people as possible.

"Even if it means I have had to sacrifice my husband I still say what they did was right."

Putin did the right thing. I told my wife a day before the seige ended that they should gas everyone in the building and then go in with gas masks and cart people out. I think all public buildings, prisons, airliners, and perhaps large private businesses, office buildings, and churches should be piped with gas. The sprinkler systems of buildings could be used where there are dry-pipe systems. On airliners, it should be able to be triggered remotely but while only on the ground (they could have it fixed so there has to be weight on the landing gear). Then when there are hostage situations, snipers, hijackings, prison riots, etc, just pump in the gas and rescue the good guys. I think a little work should be done on less lethal gases, however. I am so sorry that so many innocent people died in Moscow, but the alternative would have been 100% dead or terribly maimed. I could not care less about the terrorists.

Let's all learn a lesson from this. Putin is not showing any weakness; he's not showing any sense of guilt. He's telling it matter of factly, that the Russians will take out the terrorists.

If Israel had spoken with such a firm voice last March when the current wave of terror struck, it would now be over. This just demonstrates, very strongly, that the dissenters who express public doubt at odds with a righteous cause, only serve to prolong the agony for everybody.

And, Bush should make a similar strong statement to the U.N. It is now ultimatum time; if the U.N. refuses to act to support Bush's request, it is time to boot them out of the U.S. and the U.S. out of the U.N.

There are few times when the raw power of one's position should be visible. This is one of those times. It's time to talk softly, and swing that big stick of which Teddy Roosevelt was so fond.

Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2002. Page 5 The Moscow Times

Bugging Key in Hostage Battle
By Larisa Naumenko, Staff Writer

Security officials can listen in on uncoded conversations.

Notice a little exclamation mark or an open padlock on the display panel of your mobile phone over the weekend?

That was your handset telling you that your provider had stopped encrypting your conversations and text messages.

Mobile users reported seeing those symbols shortly after Chechen guerrillas took theatergoers hostage late Wednesday and reported those symbols disappearing not long after the 58-hour ordeal ended early Saturday.

Publicly, cellular operators won't admit that they shutdown their encryption systems at the request of federal security services to help them eavesdrop on targeted subjects during the standoff. But that's because they are forbidden to do so by law.

Privately, however, it is no secret that they did. But that, too, is because they are obliged to do so legally if requested.

According to the terms of their licenses, which are granted by the Communications Ministry, each cellular, fixed-line and paging operator is required to assist the security services in their operations if asked, said Yevgeny Itsikson, chief editor of Sotovik, a web site that studies the cellular phone market.

Once encoding is switched off, law enforcement officials can listen in on conversations under a regulation called SORM, which stands for Sistema Operativno-Rozysknykh Meropriyatii, or System for Operational- Investigative Activities.

Moscow's three largest cellular operators -- Vimpelcom, Mobile TeleSystems and Megafon -- said they are not allowed, under the terms of their license, to disclose any information about their cooperation with law enforcement bodies.

Vimpelcom spokesman Mikhail Umarov, for example, would only say: "We have done everything necessary to assist the security services according to [SORM]."

Both Vimpelcom and MTS on Thursday released statements saying they were taking "measures" to increase network capacity.

And on Monday, MTS spokeswoman Yeva Prokofyeva said that encoding was switched off "to increase the capacity of the network in the district surrounding the theater" -- a statement Itsikson categorically dismissed.

"Encoding systems have nothing to do with the number of voice channels available," Itsikson said.

It may never be known to what extent officers and agents utilized the window of opportunity, but it is clear is that hi-tech consumerism played a key role in resolving an old-fashioned hostage-taking inspired by a centuries-old conflict.

Moscow has gone from zero to 40 percent mobile penetration in just over 10 years, and reports from people involved in the ordeal suggest that the percentage was even higher among the hostages and hostage- takers, who allowed their victims to make numerous calls.

U.S. cable news station MSNBC quoted anonymous security officials involved in the crisis as saying that when President Vladimir Putin on Thursday declared that "foreign terrorist centers" were aiding the rebels, he was relying on information obtained by agents eavesdropping on their conversations.

MSNBC also reported that security officials credited the success of the raid on the bugging of the hostages' phone conversations, which gave them a clear idea of where the rebels were located inside the three-story theater and how extensive their arsenal was.

"The phones were our little secret," one official was quoted as saying.

"And through [listening in on] them we knew everything that was going on inside."

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