20:29, 1 December 2003

$5 million reward offered for Shamil Basayev's capture

A $5 million reward has been offered for reliable information on the whereabouts of the Chechen separatists' leader Shamil Basayev. The Russian Interior Ministry's press service informed on November 30 that commanding officers of the republican special units Ramzan Kadyrov and Selim Yamadayev had announced it in Grozny the day before. The above mentioned sum will be given by some Chechen businessmen living beyond the bounds of Chechnya, according to the commanding officers. Kadyrov and Yamadayev refused to call the businessmen's names. The reward will be paid out for Basayev either detained or dead, they specified.

To remind, earlier President of Chechnya Akhmad Kadyrov, former commander of the federal forces in the North Caucasus Gennady Troshev, as well as leaders of the Rodina election bloc promised to pay out a reward for Shamil Basayev's capture too. Troshev offered $1 million; Akhmad Kadyrov did not call the exact sum but promised that "children and relatives would be supported"; the leaders of the Rodina bloc offered $100 thousand from their election fund.

Source: Rosbalt News Agency