Russia Wants To Expand Terror List

(AP)  Russia took its case for expanding the global war against terrorism to the United Nations, demanding the Security Council draw up a new list of terror suspects who would be subject to extradition.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose country has denounced Western countries for granting asylum to Chechen leaders it has linked to violence, said there can be no double standards in defining terrorists.

"Those who slaughtered children in Beslan and hijacked airplanes to attack America are creatures of the same breed," he said in a forceful speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

"Harboring terrorists, their henchmen and sponsors undermines the unity and mutual trust of parties to the anti-terrorist front, serves as a justification for their actions and actually encourages them to commit similar crimes in other countries," he added.

Russia circulated a draft resolution stressing the need for the 15 member nations to "cooperate fully" in tracking down the perpetrators and organizers of terrorist attacks.

The proposed text also asks the committee monitoring what governments are doing to fight terrorism to consider how to draw up a new list of "individuals, groups and entities involved in or associated with terrorist activities."

The list, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, would be separate from that drawn up after the Sept. 11 attacks, which targets terror suspects linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network or Afghanistan's now deposed Taliban regime.

All 191 U.N. member states are required to impose a travel ban and arms embargo on suspects on that list and freeze their assets.

Russia now wants similar punishments for those on the new list as well as speedy extraditions.

The United States was reviewing the proposal, said Secretary of State Colin Powell, who met with Lavrov for about 30 minutes on Thursday.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw supported the initiative and said Britain would "work closely" with Russia on the wording to prevent terrorists from abusing asylum status.

"We cannot let terrorists exploit a protection designed for the persecuted, not the persecutors," he said.

But the draft was short on specifics and Straw stressed that neither Britain nor any other European Union nation would return suspects to face the death penalty.

Council diplomats said the resolution was likely to be formally introduced on Friday.

Lavrov didn't single out any countries in his speech, but Russia was particularly upset by Britain's granting of refugee status to Akhmed Zakayev, an envoy for Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov, and U.S. asylum for Ilyas Akhmadov, whom Maskhadov named as his foreign minister while he was Chechnya's president in 1999.

The introduction of the terror resolution comes about three weeks after militants staged a series of attacks in Russia, including the hostage crisis at a school in Beslan that killed more than 330.

Lavrov has accused Maskhadov — who has a $10 million bounty on his head — of being involved in the school seizure. Maskhadov has denied he played any role; Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility.

The draft resolution calls for cooperation between nations to find and prosecute terrorists. It said terror attacks cannot be justified by "consideration of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or other similar nature."

The document asks U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to submit his views on establishing a fund to compensate the terror victims. It could be financed by assets confiscated from terrorist organizations, the proposal said.

Russia also suggested drafting conventions on international terrorism and the suppression of acts of nuclear terrorism.

The counterterrorism committee is monitoring a post-Sept. 11 resolution that requires all nations to stop supporting, financing and providing sanctuary to terrorists.

Lavrov said the world was facing a turning point and needs to recognize the "true nature of international terrorism."

"Through their actions throughout the world, the terrorists have once and for all placed themselves in opposition to civilized mankind," he said.

By Kim Gamel