MOSCOW. Nov 1 (Interfax-AVN) - Some 100 rebel groups totaling 1,500-2,000 members currently operate in Chechnya, the Kremlin information department told Interfax on Thursday.
"There are several hundred mercenaries from neighboring and more remote countries" among the rebels, it said.
The biggest rebel groups are led by Ibn ul-Khattab (up to 500 members), Shamil Basayev (up to 450), Rizvan Akhmadov (up to 200), Aslan Maskhadov (up to 150) and Salamov (up to 100).
The presidential information department noted that the rebel groups are capable of receiving reinforcements from abroad, for instance from Georgia and other neighboring countries, where up to 1,000 militants are concentrated.
It said that money and other means supplied by non-governmental Islamic organizations abroad, and also the returns from the illegal trade in oil products and other illicit operations in the North Caucasus, form the material foundations for the terrorist operations of the unlawful armed groups.