VLADIKAVKAZ, November 16 (RIA Novosti's Albina Olisayeva) - Much bigger figures are looming behind Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov, Chechen separatist leaders assumed to have masterminded the Beslan school hostage-taking act of early September. The opinion belongs to a parliamentary Beslan investigation commission, Alexander Torshin, its head, said to a news conference.
"They are household figures. The people are pursuing their ends. They are evidently working outside Russia. I don't want to mention universally known names now. The men are sitting pretty in London," was the only vague information that came from the MP.
The Beslan tragedy is to be regarded as a link in a chain of terror acts to strike the entire Caucasus and undermine Russia, he pointed out.
"The game is on at a very high level, and we shall do what we can to track down those who plotted and perpetrated the act." Thus, the commission intends to appeal to the Foreign Intelligence Service for relevant information.
