MOSCOW. Feb 21 (Interfax-AVN) - Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov and field commander Ibn ul Khattab remain in Chechnya "deep underground," Chief-of-Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Anatoly Kvashnin told the press on Thursday.
Referring to reports that Shamil Basayev, another field commander, has managed to escape from Chechnya, Kvashnin described them as assumptions because for about half a year Basayev has not shown himself at all, which means that he is in deep hiding or has left Chechnya or has been reduced to naught.