16:16, 10 May 2004

Russian tycoon: Murder of Kadyrov is 'utter defeat' of Putin's policy in Chechnya

"The murder of Akhmad Kadyrov is an utter defeat of Vladimir Putin's policy in Chechnya," Boris Berezovsky [the Russian tycoon, who has been granted political asylum in Britain] said in a phone interview on May 9.

According to him, people from the Russian president's circle promised to present Aslan Maskhadov's head on a plate by the day of the inauguration of Putin. "Instead of it, Putin received his own head distorted by the mirror of the Chechen tragedy," Mr Berezovsky said. "The power has shown its absolute weakness, and above all absolute incomprehension of what is going on in Chechnya and in Russia."

There is no military solution to the Chechen problem, Boris Berezovsky holds. "There is a complicated political process, which Russia will have to start sooner or later. The tragedy is that Russians and Chechens keep on dying, and this doesn't at all advance the resolution of Russia's main problem - the preservation of its territorial integrity," Mr Berezovsky said.

Editors note: See also the article "Terrorist act in Grozny leaves 6 dead".

Source: Ekho Moskvy Radio