In an effort to prevent the notorious rebel leaders from materializing their plots, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has offered a reward of 300 million roubles (about $10 million, on current rates) to anyone who will provide information on the men's whereabouts. The FSB will cooperate even with rebel suspects, and is ready to provide potential informants from this milieu with security guarantees, our interviewees said. They predict that quite a few Chechen militants will likely turn themselves in, as "warlords like Maskhadov and Basayev have lost absolutely all human traits, leaving the rank-and-file disenfranchised with their leaders' glamour as fighters for the so-called independent Ichkeria."
Tensions are said to be running high between Chechen rebels and foreign mercenaries following the school siege in the North Ossetian town of Beslan. It was foreigners who masterminded the attack and chose the target, recruiting desperadoes from among the local militants to translate the hideous plot into reality, officials at the Russian Central Command say.
