use of children reportedly triggered clash , page-4

Angry Putin Rules Out Chechen Talks as Crowds Rally

1 hour, 27 minutes ago

By Richard Ayton and Elizabeth Piper

BESLAN, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) rejected any dialogue with Chechen separatists, blamed for at least 335 deaths in the school hostage siege, as thousands prepared to rally against terrorism in Moscow.


"Why don't you meet Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), invite him to Brussels or to the White House and engage in talks, ask him what he wants and give it to him so he leaves you in peace?" Putin was quoted on Tuesday by Britain's Guardian newspaper as saying.


"You find it possible to set some limitations in your dealings with these bastards, so why should we talk to people who are child-killers?" Putin told foreign journalists and academics late on Monday, as he ruled out a public inquiry.


At least 100,000 people are expected at a Moscow rally later on Tuesday to denounce terrorism, bolstering Putin against critics of the authorities' handling of the bloody siege.


The European Union (news - web sites) has long advocated a political solution to the 10-year separatist war in Chechnya (news - web sites) which has left the tiny province in tatters.


The southern town of Beslan buried more of the 335 people -- half of them children -- killed during a chaotic operation to free them from captors demanding independence for Chechnya.


The ruins of School No.1, where more than 1,000 hostages were held for 53 hours last week, has turned into a memorial, where funeral processions stop on their way to a new cemetery for the victims and where people come to lay flowers.


"I saw little ones die," said hospital nurse Svetlana in Beslan. "I saw them come in covered in blood. They were babies.


"Why did this happen to us? If people cared about each other a bit more and did not have to struggle like we do every day, we might have been able to stop the terrorists."


KREMLIN RALLY


Anti-terrorism rallies, which started on Monday to accompany the two days of official mourning for the victims of the Beslan siege, will climax in a massive event outside the Kremlin.


Television newscasts and slick advertisements featuring cultural and sports personalities have been promoting the rally, and media quoted city police as saying they expected at least 100,000 people to take part.


"What has happened in recent days cannot be called anything but war," figure-skating champion Igor Bobrin said in one advertisement for the 5 p.m. (9 a.m. EDT) rally.


"We must feel that we are standing shoulder to shoulder."


But opposition politicians said the Moscow rally was deliberately planned to stave off criticism of the Kremlin's handling of the crisis and Putin's failure to ensure security for ordinary Russians.


Pressure on the media to toe the Kremlin line increased on Monday with the sacking of the editor of the respected daily Izvestia, which splashed harrowing pictures of the hostage drama in its Saturday edition.


"There is a need for a political protest, but the slogans which are being prepared ... do not reflect what needs to be done to avert a repetition of the tragedy," liberal politician Irina Khakamada told Ekho Moskvy.


"The rally will only reflect state ideology."

BUNGLED OPERATION

Critics say Putin failed to keep a pledge he made on coming to power in 2000 to end a separatist revolt in Chechnya. They also say troops bungled Friday's operation to storm the school and free the hostages.

In the past two weeks Chechen rebels, who have waged a 10-year campaign for independence, have also been blamed for the downing of two airliners, killing 90 people, and a Moscow metro suicide bombing which killed 10.

The hostage crisis has had ramifications beyond Russia's borders, leading NATO (news - web sites) Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer to call a meeting of NATO states and Russia for Tuesday to discuss the issue.

Chechnya has always been a problem in cooperation between Russia and Western countries, many of which question Moscow's rights record as it fights separatism in the troubled region.

The European Union expressed solidarity with Russia on Monday, trying to defuse a row after Moscow reacted angrily to a request by the Dutch EU presidency for an explanation for the carnage at Beslan.

French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin qualified this, telling a radio debate France wanted to express solidarity "but also we want to have all the necessary information and we remind Russia every time we meet of the need to respect human rights."

Putin, a former KGB spy, refuses to negotiate with anyone in the Chechen separatist camp, including fugitive President Aslan Maskhadov, who denies involvement in the school siege.

The Kremlin leader backs Chechnya's new President Alu Alkhanov, elected last month in a poll denounced by rights groups as rigged.