Video RUSSIA: CHECHNYA: CHECHEN REBEL SALMAN RADUYEV PRESS CONFERENCE

Russian/Nat


A man claiming to be a notorious Chechen rebel commander whom the Russians had reported dead stepped forward Thursday, claiming Dzhokhar Dudayev is alive as well and claiming responsibility for bombings in Moscow.


The man identifying himself as Salman Raduyev said at a news conference that he had just returned to Chechnya after undergoing medical treatment in Germany.


Footage of the news conference outside the eastern Chechen town of Gudermes showed a man who sounded just like Raduyev but looked substantially different from the commander who met with the press earlier this year.


It was impossible to tell conclusively if it was him.


Raduyev, a 28-year-old relative of Dudayev, led a hostage-taking raid on the southern town of Kizlyar in January in which he seized hundreds of civilians and then negotiated safe passage back to Chechnya.


Russian forces stopped his guerrillas and dozens of hostages at the border village of Pervomaiskaya, prompting clashes that killed dozens of people.


But Raduyev managed to escape along with many hostages whom he later released.


Russian media reported in March that Raduyev had died of head wounds suffered in a shootout with fellow rebels.


Chechen rebel officials denied it, but Raduyev has not been seen in public since.


The man claiming to be Raduyev, wearing dark glasses, said that he lost an eye and had to have plastic surgery as a result of his injuries.


SOUNDBITE: (Russian)

"The bullet totally destroyed my upper jaw, I didn't have a nose and I lost an eye. My face was practically disfigured. Our friends helped out and got me through Belorussia to Germany, that's no longer a secret."

SUPER CAPTION: "Salman Raduyev"


He also claimed that Dudayev, who according to Russian officials, rebel leaders and his own wife, was killed in a Russian air raid April 21, is alive and hospitalized at an unspecified location.


SOUNDBITE: (Russian)

"I swear by Allah that Dzhokhar Dudayev is alive. I swear by Allah that the rest is a matter of time and some of our people were hasty in thinking him dead but that is by Allah's will. I received an order from him that I will fulfill at all cost and Russia will yet pay for their assassination attempt. The Russians gave out false information about his death.

SUPER CAPTION: "Salman Raduyev"


Raduyev also said the two trolleybus explosions that injured 33 people in Moscow last week were staged by Chechen rebels, the first one "in honor of my return".


Rebel leaders have vehemently denied involvement.


SOUNDBITE: (Russian)

"They promised to give me a present on my return. I don't know which of the explosions it was and wouldn't like to say but I told them to create the greatest possible explosion without causing death. Let it be a warning. The first trolleybus bomb was exploded intentionally after everyone had left the bus to show that we are capable of such explosions and that it will be one of our methods of waging war."

SUPER CAPTION: "Salman Raduyev"


Spokesmen for Russia's Defense Ministry and the Federal Security Service said in Moscow that they knew nothing of the news conference and declined comment.


A German Foreign Ministry official said on condition of anonymity that it was unlikely Raduyev has stayed in Germany, as the authorities there closely follow Chechen

movements in and out of the country.




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