Russia Moves To Thwart Future Terror

Moscow police arrested an alleged member of a Chechen terrorist gang who was suspected of planning a new attack, while top Russian officials on Thursday presented a barrage of intelligence information to support their allegation that the separatists' top elected leader was behind last week's deadly raid on a Moscow theater.

Police arrested Sergei Krym-Gerei, allegedly a member of prominent Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev's gang, after receiving a tip, said Filipp Zolotnitsky, a spokesman for the city police department for fighting economic crimes. The 36-year-old suspect, who came from Russia's North Caucasus region, was carrying 17.6 pounds of mercury in a bottle.

Krym-Gerei was arrested by a group of police agents, including a man and a woman who carried a mattress with the task of prevent Krym-Gerei from breaking the bottle, Zolotnitsky said. He was detained several days ago, he said.

Krym-Gerei has refused to give any testimony, but police suspect him of possessing the mercury with the intention of committing a terrorist act.

"Such an amount of mercury would poison a very large number of people," Zolotnitsky said on NTV television.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky and others said that the rebel raiders' leader, Movsar Barayev, had said he was acting on orders of a top rebel leader, Shamil Basayev, who himself was acting on an order from separatist president Aslan Maskhadov.

At a news conference, officials played tapes of conversations they intercepted between the hostage-takers and contacts outside the theater. In two of the Chechen-language calls, which were translated into Russian, a voice identified as Barayev's said "Aslan" had given his blessing to the operation.

"There was other clear evidence that Mr. Maskhadov was fully aware of the developments and the people in the hall acted with his knowledge," Yastrzhembsky said, though he did not offer further proof.

Yastrzhembsky confirmed that Maskhadov had been placed on an international wanted list.

Moscow has sought to erase any distinction drawn by foreign governments between rebel warlords such as Basayev and those who also serve as political representatives, including Maskhadov and his aides. Denmark on Wednesday detained Maskhadov's foreign envoy, Akhmed Zakayev, at Moscow's request. Zakayev was in the Danish capital to attend an international Chechen conference.

"It is our deep conviction that the events in Moscow were tied with the plans of the organizers of the conference in Denmark," said the spokesman, Sergei Yastrzhembsky. "The political and military wings of the terrorists acted in unison."

The government has also placed top Chechen political representative Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, reported to be in Qatar, on an international wanted list, Yastrzhembsky said.

Yastrzhembsky said the alleged evidence against Maskhadov and Zakayev essentially ruled out any peace negotiations over Chechnya.

"We can see that the image of Maskhadov — even in the eyes of those who pushed Moscow toward negotiations with Maskhadov — has seriously paled," he said. "Name one leader (in Chechnya) with whom we could negotiate. I don't know of any such person."

In another intercepted call presented at the news conference, Abu Bakar, earlier identified in media reports as Barayev's deputy, claimed that his band had more than 100 accomplices around the Russian capital who were ready to carry out suicide attacks.

Yastrzhembsky said that the claim could have been false and intended to frighten authorities, because the hostage-takers were aware their calls were being monitored.

The news conference came a day after Russia's health minister confirmed that a powerful opiate was used to subdue the attackers during the storming.

At least 117 people, not including the assailants, died as a result of the use of the aerosol compound, based on the fast-acting opiate fentanyl, which was pumped through the building's ventilation system before special forces stormed the theater early Saturday.

Some 184 former hostages remained hospitalized Thursday, eight of them in serious condition, the Interfax news agency reported.

Health Minister Yuri Shevchenko said Wednesday that the compound itself was not lethal, but became so when used on people who had been starved of oxygen, dehydrated, hungry, unable to move adequately and under severe psychological stress.

However, injected, skin patch and oral doses of fentanyl sold in the United States carry warnings that the anesthetic can be fatal if administered in too high a dose, and that doses must be customized, taking into account the patients' size and any previous exposure to similar drugs.

Meanwhile, Chechens living in Moscow complained of increased harassment following the theater siege and said police were making unannounced visits to their homes.

Elita Usmanova, 33, a young Chechen woman, said police armed with automatic rifles showed up at her apartment and took her two teenage sons to the local police station, where they were photographed, fingerprinted and questioned for several hours before being released. She said she was afraid to let her children go to school or leave the apartment, for fear they would be detained again or attacked on the street.

"Friends called and said it's better to stay home. The police are stopping women and children, there's no difference," she said.

The approximately 50 heavily armed men and women who took more than 750 people hostage during an Oct. 23 performance of the musical "Nord-Ost" demanded an end to the war in Chechnya.